FISHING THE FAST WATER

The lights of my Subaru pierced the pre-dawn darkness as I turned into the entrance of Worldon's Reserve, sixty kilometres east of Wagga Wagga. Located just over half way between Gundagai and Wagga Wagga on the northern bank of the Murrumbidgee River, Worldon’s offers an excellent base to access the fast water flowing from the foothills of the Snowy Mountains.

I hadn’t been to Worldon’s for many years and my memory of the access tracks was a bit rusty. Given that the reserve is a disused sand mine, I didn’t want to choose the wrong track and end up getting bogged.

With my boat faithfully trailing behind, the first obstacle I faced (which I didn’t remember) was a creek crossing that thankfully was dry. Despite the steep banks on either side threatening to strand my Subaru, we quickly passed the hazard, keen to launch the boat and get fishing.

Through the crossing, the left fork in the road was correctly chosen. We bumped across a sand/pebble road which opened out at our launch site at the upstream boundary.

The other tracks through Worldon’s Reserve can be challenging with deep sand, mud and steep climbs. These tracks lead to better camping and bank fishing locations downstream of our launch site, and should only be accessed using 4WD.

My fishing partner for the day, Shayne Graham, earned the nickname ‘Arnie’ for his size and strength. Arnie is a big man and with his pushing power in mind, I had faith reserving the boat across the muddy flat toward the water.

As the back wheels of the Subaru approached the sticky mud, and with the boat in barely enough water to launch it, Arnie called for me to stop. He unhooked the winch and gave the boat a mighty shove. The boat flew off the trailer, landing well into deep water.

‘That’ll work,’ he said with a grin.

Our target for the day was Murray cod. In the fast flowing water toward Gundagai, huge cod live in the deep holes amongst the drowned timber. Our aim was to use diving lures, such as 90mm AC Invaders, #1 Stumpjumpers and Custom Crafted Hammerheads to try and extract one of these wily old cod.

My four stroke Yamaha idled silently along a back eddy as we tied on our leaders, tested knots, and sharpened hooks. I noted the sounder dipping sharply from one metre at our launch site, to three metres. With several large snags protruding from the depths, it looked very fishy. We fished this slow water unrewarded for two hours before deciding on a change of tactics.

Racing across the glassy water we rounded bend after bend before Arnie turned and smiled. His look was knowing, in that we found the feature we were looking for – a rock wall.

This particular rock wall protruded ten metres above the water and five metres below. It formed an impenetrable barrier on the outside of a tight U-shaped bend. A feature such as this always spells fish in the Murrumbidgee. Predators such as Murray cod, golden perch & trout cod hide in the cracks and crevices waiting for the current to sweep unsuspecting prey down to where they wait in ambush.  

Arnie was in prime position running his lure hard up against the rock wall as I manoeuvred the boat as close as possible to the rocks.

‘I’m on,’ Arnie called,

“So am I,’ I responded as we battled a pair of fish.

The 15kg braid we used quickly subdued our first fish of the day and a pair of fat 1kg redfin were swung aboard. Redfin are excellent eating and these two were destined for a light frying in beer batter.

With our stomachs taken care of, we got back to fishing our rock wall. Redfin are a schooling fish and we discussed how we could keep them biting, when my rod bent double in my hand.

The fish powered hard away from the rock wall, turning downstream and accelerating. With line pouring from the reel, I held on, grinning like an idiot, when the fish nonchalantly spat the lure out.

‘That was no redfin,’ I said.

Arnie just grinned.

We reached the top of the wall without attracting any more bites, but this first trolling run had spurred us to keep working this structure. The anticipation was electric as we passed by the site of the big hit. No joy for us this time as the fish was probably sulking under his favourite log.

Moving further along the rock wall, I didn’t have to wait long for another bite. The fish ran into the current and stayed deep, unrelenting to the pressure I applied. Arnie grabbed the net and we waited expectantly to see the yawning mouth of a cod appear from the depths, however after several dogged lunges, I coaxed a thumping trout cod to the side of the boat.

Closely related to the Murray cod, the trout cod is perfectly suited to life in the fast water. They are driven by a broad paddle-shaped tail powered by the strength & aggression of a pit bull terrier. Trout Cod fight well above their weight and are a tough opponent to land. (It must be noted that they are a totally protected species and are in the early stages of re-establishing wild stocks in the Murrumbidgee River. As such, they should be returned to the water unharmed).

Arnie was keen to get back to fishing and we worked our rock wall for another hour without raising another strike. It was time to move on.

Expecting another long drive to find a suitable trolling bank, we were surprised to see a fishy looking clay drop-off around the next bend.

Arnie once more had the inside running with his fluorescent yellow Stumpjumper nudging along the clay, when his rod tip snapped back and immediately straightened up.

‘Missed him,’ I said

‘Yep,’ Arnie grinned again.

It was nearing lunch time and Arnie was rummaging through the food when his rod (sitting in the rod holder) crunched over as a fish grabbed his lure.

Food went flying as Arnie grappled with his rod. The big man had his drag wound up tight and he ruthlessly skull-dragged a small trout cod to the boat. With the fish released, Arnie got back to his sandwich, but this time had his rod in hand when again his rod tip was reefed back. The rod bucked at an extreme angle and then sprang straight. The blood drained from Arnie’s face.

‘That was a nice bite,’ I stated.

‘Oh yeah,’ he said somewhat disappointed, ‘That was a big boy.’

We tried in vain to raise this fish again, before giving up and moving further upstream, where we found another rock wall. This bend oozed fish appeal with a creek mouth, fallen trees, steep rocky banks and the current was absolutely pumping. To keep the boat moving forward required a fistful of throttle to the point where our lures were blowing out of the water, before diving back down as they reach an eddy.

It was in these eddy’s that we hoped to find a big cod resting. The extreme current made it hard to fish, but within two passes 90mm Invaders had accounted for three trout cod and taken numerous hits. With the lures swinging wildly in the current, it was hard for the fish to connect with the hooks. It didn’t worry us as the action was fast.

We hadn’t landed our big cod and we decided to leave the fast water (and the trout cod) and head back toward the car to fish some of the deep, slow water to see if we could wake a Murray cod.

Our toil for the rest of the afternoon was not rewarded. Pleased with the trout cod and redfin we hooked as by-catch, and the massive bites we had missed, we decided to call off our attack and return another day.

© Jamin Forbes March 2006