Murray Cod Lure Fishing
Murray cod are Australia's largest freshwater fish and one of the most exciting lure fishing targets on the continent, targeted with large hard-bodied lures and swimbaits cast tight to submerged timber and rock structure in the Murray-Darling river system. The species is highly territorial and will aggressively strike lures presented near their favoured snags.
Target Species
Fishing Locations
- • Back Darling Pools
- • Delatite Arm
- • Bellbridge Point
- • Mulwala Submerged Timber
- • Dubbo River Snags
- • Albury-Wodonga Snag Holes
- • Echuca Log Snags
- • Wagga Wagga Deep Pools
Fishing Tips
- 1
Murray cod are structure lovers — position your cast to land a large lure (surface lure or deep-diving hard body) within 50 cm of an undercut bank, fallen timber, or bridge pylon.
- 2
Surface lures fished at night or dusk produce the most aggressive strikes; cod will travel several metres to attack a large noisy surface lure in low-light conditions.
- 3
In cold water (below 15 °C), cod slow down dramatically — switch from large fast-moving lures to a slow-rolled 5-inch paddle-tail swimbait retrieved at half speed with pauses.
- 4
Use a strong, abrasion-resistant leader (40–60 lb fluorocarbon or equivalent mono) — cod engulf lures and their hard tooth plates and gill rakers are extremely abrasive on gear.
- 5
Large golden perch occupy the same habitat as cod — scale up to 100 mm+ lures to select for cod over perch if you're specifically targeting trophy-sized fish.
Gear Setup
Murray Cod
- Rod
- PE3–6, 7–8ft medium-heavy to heavy baitcasting
- Reel
- Heavy baitcaster 300+ size (Abu Garcia Revo Beast, Daiwa Tatula Type-HD 300)
- Main Line
- PE3–6 (30–65lb braid)
- Leader
- 40–80lb fluorocarbon, 50–80cm
- Lures / Terminal
- Large bibbed minnows 100–180mm (Jackall Gantarel), paddle tails 6–10 inch, spinnerbaits 1–2oz, surface lures (Jackall Mikey, McCraw)
- Drag Setting
- 8–12kg
Snag-heavy snooker; use maximum drag and haul hard — cod are powerful and bolt for timber