First light is the best time to fish these flooded banks as the cod will have moved into the shallows (sometimes less than a metre) to feed on baitfish throughout the night. All sized cod, even the larger ones are active and need to feed more than they do in winter. I said publicly quite some time ago “the waves created by swimbaits being cast at Copeton will have far reaching effects”. https://pastebin.com/i58XHRqS
Water temperature is a critical regulator of blackwater events as warmer water temperatures increase bacterial activity and markedly reduce the intrinsic oxygen carrying capacity of water; events that may be tolerable for fish in winter or early spring may be catastrophic in late spring or summer due to the increase in water temperature. In the winter of 2011, I spent a lot of time fishing a remote river location, which during the summer is virtually un-fishable due to the dense foliage from the surrounding willow tree’s and the high flow from summer rains.
Their bulk and fat layers insulate them against the cold. The old adage of “find the bait and you find the fish” could never be more true. The leading white-coloured rays on the pelvic fins split into two trailing white filaments,[7] while the pelvic fins themselves are usually a translucent white or cream, tending toward opacity in large fish. Check out the trailer for the Murray Cod in Dams series: Join the Social Fishing Community Email List to get FREE updates and content! I say this because the environments we have created in these impoundments are false ones that suit such a large, long-living predator. Murray cod are a popular angling target and aquaculture species. Female Murray cod, upon first reaching sexual maturity, have egg counts of no more than 10,000. Great time to be a Cod tragic. I realised pretty early on that the dedication required would be way beyond most people in my circle of fishing friends.
The best depth to fish in winter is from 1-5m of water, and this goes for all of the above structure types. The winter months in our large impoundments, lakes and dams is a proven time of year that has provided numerous anglers with incredible personal bests and trophy catches, myself included. The female then leaves the spawning site. More than once I’ve heard the dull thump of a hapless baitfish disappearing into the cavernous mouth of a mighty Murray cod, and on one occasion I even caught that same fish a cast or so later. Again this is so important in clearer winter waters. Such temperature suppression typically extends several hundred kilometres downstream. The breeding of Murray cod and other Murray-Darling native fish was adapted to these natural flow patterns. Wild Murray cod in impoundments like Lake Mulwala, with their faster growth rates, do not reach sexual maturity until they are well over 60 cm (2.0 ft) in length. Murray cod were originally the most common large native fish in the Murray-Darling basin. Sometimes… it doesn’t hurt to mix it up a little and impart some twitches or even a quick burn within your retrieve.