29th December 2008

Interestingly in the past few trips is the diversity of the fish being caught. The usual Murray cod are being matched by trout cod, golden perch and redfin. The river has a few redfin, but I have been getting a few 'pan sized' reddies each day which is different from the norm. The average number of fish per day is around 12 with the odd hard day amongst the good trips. The weather has a lot to do with how they bite and this season the bite slows for a day or two after a storm passes through.

23rd December 2008

Finally some hot summer weather and some hot fishing to go with it. The cod are biting sporadically throughout the day, with a different peak period each trip, but when they bite its great fun. Either trolling hard bodies or casting spinners is catching fish, but with spinners you need to have pinpoint accuracy as the fish don't like to leave home.

RSF Report

18th December 2008

Still getting rained on and its still reasonably cool for this time of year. Apart from a couple of very hard days early in the week (two and four fish respectively), the fishing has been very good. Nothing massive amongst the catches but plenty of smallish cod attacking spinnerbaits. The water around Wagga is nice and clear in spite of the rain and the temperature is hovering around twenty degrees. If Summer decides to start any time soon we should hopefully see a marked increase in fish activity. My last six trips have yielded 66 fish in total so when they decide to bite you catch plenty of fish.

14th December 2008

A wet bum and no fish? - Unlikely at this time of year, but have definitely had the wet bum side of things in the past few trips. The rewards by way of fish have been forthcoming despite the wet and windy conditions. Trolling hard bodies is starting to produce some fish, but well-presented spinnerbaits are the way to go for all fish species at present. A mixture of fish have been showing up on recent trips with even a couple of redfin per day featuring in the catch. Bait fisherman have been cleaning up on small cod, which is good for a while and kids love the constant action, but you cant beat lure fishing to tempt a big fish.

4th December 2008

RSF Report

2nd December 2008

A warm welcome to those who are visiting Riverina Sport Fishing from other Australian fishing websites. I pride myself on educating people about our native fish, their habits and life cycle. Intrinsic in my tours is how to catch, handle and safely release our fantastic native fish so that future generations can enjoy our waterways and the fish that inhabit them. You can only learn so much from reading websites and if you really want to learn and more importantly, be learned, then a simple phone call to myself on 0427 692522 will allow frank and open discussion.

But enough of that.....and on to the fishing. The river continues to fish well in spite of stormy weather. Casting spinnerbaits or trolling small hard bodies will both catch fish, but you will have to work hard to get results. Patience and attention to detail in lure presentation is required. Bait fisherman are getting plenty of fish downstream of Wagga and as always soaking a bardi grub is a very reliable way to catch a cod. The cloudy weather is holding the water temperature between 18-20 degrees which is ideal. Wind and rain squalls have made conditions hard, but when the sun pokes through and the wind drops the fishing is excellent.

22nd November 2008

RSF Report

17th November 2008

What a weekend. Three days fishing for 48 fish requiring de-hooking. Apart from a quiet Sunday afternoon, the bites were forthcoming with persistence and accurate casting. Murray cod, trout cod, golden perch and a lone redfin saw three separate crews enjoy some of the best fishing the river has produced so far this season. The highlight could have been the 82cm cod to Joel Board, or the hard fighting trout cod to 65cm, but it went to a massive old 'silverback' Murray cod that decided my plastic boat was in its space and charged the boat. We had to look twice to make sure it wasn't a Great White Shark! Not something you see every day...

11th November 2008

A couple of days at Burrinjuck hosting Alan Chipperfield and Brad Murrell saw us dodging gale force winds and rain to try for the goldens that should be thick at this time of year, but we could "only" get cod to 10kg. The wild weather made it tougher than it should have been, but small hard body lures swam in 4-6m of water were snapped up periodically. There are plenty of small redfin which fill in time between decent fish, so with better conditions this week the goldens will return and the 'Juck should fire. Blowering fished well last weekend primarily at night for goldens, but with the full moon this week there will be action aplenty. The river still has a good flow and is clearing downsteam from Wagga, but upstream is clear, fast and fishing well.

3rd November 2008

What a great time of year to fish. Warm days, warm water and hot fishing. The Murrumbidgee, Blowering, Old Man Creek and most other waterways are firing. Spinnerbaits remain the weapon of choice for the active fisherman with well placed casts accounting for more fish than trollers. The river has a strong flow through it at the moment which is allowing access to sections of river that haven't seen much fishing pressure for over twelve months and the fish are responding. I have landed cod and trout cod to 15lb (and lost bigger) in the past week on spinners so now is the time to go fishing.

RSF Report

28th October 2008

RSF Report

21st October 2008

If you fish Blowering with any regularity, you know how hard it can be to fish. The largely barren landscape has few features to target when fishing and with the ultra-clear water the fish can swim too deep for most lures. Dave Carter and I had a quick look last night based on reports from the full moon in days previous and despite great reports of golden perch we could not get near a golden, but managed nine feisty cod to 63cm as by-catch (see pics in gallery). I have spent many years fishing Blowering at night and have my boat set up for night tours. If you want to learn how to fish in the dark now is the time.

19th October 2008

More spring weather and more fish. Golden perch are hard to come by in the river, but reports from Blowering and Burrinjuck have been glowing in the past week. Its a good thing that the Murrumbidgee is infested with cod which makes for an active days fishing. Blowering and the 'Juck are well worth fishing and if your keen to learn more about how to fish these dams, give me a call. As for the river, spinnerbaits continue to be the most reliable lure with hard bodies taking a few fish. To fish spinnerbaits effectively you need to be able to cast very accurately. Practise in the backyard whenever you get the chance and with better casts, you will catch more fish.

RSF Report

6th October 2008

The stormy weather has been good and bad for the fishing since my last report. In a week of fishing and travelling almost 2000km, we landed 57 fish with the top three fish going 87, 75 and 70cm. Some days we hardly raised a scale but later in the week the fish switched back on and the late afternoon bite on spinnerbaits was unbelievable with fish almost jumping into the boat. Once home from my road trip I hosted Des and Tim Goonan for a day on the river and we worked very hard for eight small fish. Whilst the day was perfect the water was a little cloudy. We managed five of the fish on hard bodies which is a change from past weeks.

23rd September 2008

Murray cod on the fly! Shelby Jarrell got a couple of nice fish on the fly rod last weekend. Normally reserved for trout, the fly rod can be an effective tool to target native fish. The fly rod has the ability to make a rapid succession of presentations to a snag which makes it ideal to tease out a fish. I have constructed a fly which works perfectly in the Murrumbidgee, so if you're a keen fly fisherman and want to add native fish to your list of fly rod captures, let me know. In my past couple of tours, I have also cast plenty of spinnerbaits which is far more reliable at present than hard body lures which are not yet appealing to the fish.

19th September 2008

RSF Report

9th September 2008

Another quick trip to the river just to make sure the fish were biting saw Dave Carter land a great cod of 94cm/32lb on a spinnerbait. Aside from this great fish, we had golden's tempted to follow our lures, but wouldn't go the extra distance and bite. Things are happening around the region with Blowering producing some big goldens (spasmodically though) and Burrinjuck also starting its 'golden' run.

3rd September 2008

Finally some warm spring weather is bringing increased fish activity as the water temperature creeps into double figures. The ideal weather was too tempting for Marty Asmus and I, so we slipped out for an afternoon's casting the river for seven solid fish on spinnerbaits. Golden's are starting to school up in the river making them a little easier to find than other times of the year (getting them to bite is the tricky bit!). Blowering is hot and cold, but on its day the fish are hitting shallow running lures trolled or cast over the flats. Spring is great fishing with Burrinjuck and Blowering (not to mention the river) all fishing well right through until Christmas. If you want a guided trip book now to secure your day(s).

30th August 2008

RSF Report

26th August 2008

Freezing cold mornings and icy winds typified my first couple of trips for the season. Hosting George Podmore for a couple of days at Hay we managed some nice cod to 60cm casting spinners but the cold water had the fish struggling to open their mouths to eat the lures. The odd fish was aggressively grabbing at the lures from the surface indicating that it wont be long before they are biting. Backing up after Hay I spent a pleasant day with Chris and Rod from the ACT on the Murrumbidgee near Wagga. A lot of casts were had for a handful of bites, but the 6 degree water was just too cold to tempt more numbers of fish. With warm clear days through this week, the water temp will be rising quickly and the fish's appetite along with it.

14th August 2008

RSF Report

11th August 2008

RSF Report

22nd July 2008

I have just returned from my annual trip to the lower Murray river. This part of the world is home to giant Murray cod and whilst we hooked five of these monsters, we couldn't keep the hooks in any of them. In our party there were a couple of fish landed at 115cm and 113cm (about 60-70lb each), but the best we could get in my boat was a 19lb cod and a 20lb+ carp which ate a 150mm AC Invader. The fish in this section of the Murray are hard to tempt, but if you're after that once in a lifetime fish than this is the place to target them. If you would like to have a go, August is the best month and I'm available to organise a fully catered guided tour for you.

6th July 2008

I hosted a couple of late season trips to Mulwala in the past couple of weeks where the fishing has tapered off with the increasingly cold and miserable weather. A handful of fish each day were caught on a mixture of both spinnerbaits and trolling hard bodies. There are still fish being caught around the Riverina but the water levels make getting to the fish difficult. Once the spring irrigation flows commence and the spring weather is upon us, I will start taking tours again, but until then (August/September) I will be enjoying my winter holidays.

RSF Report