Catching Winter Cod.

[Curado]

Anyone got any tips for catching cod in the colder months?

What level of water would you normaly find them in, deep in the hole or in the shallows?

What would you do different to get them to bite?

Anyone?

[buzzo]

Adam I hope to get to Mul a couple of times in the next 6 weeks or so, for at least two days at a time.
I intend to fish big in both deep and shallow water.
Can't see any reason why big cod at Mul wouldn't be straying into the shallower water chasaing a feed like a lot of big cod do elsewhere at this time of the year.
The most important ingredient I have been taught is persistance

Buzzo

[prop]

my winter catch rates have proved to me anyway that cod dont frequent shallow water because the water is more oxygenated and warmer in deeper water than water closer to the surface Most of the cod I catch in winter is on the troll generally with larger lures running around 25-40ft this was b4 the lakes drawdown rapeathons During that I found the fish thick as thieves in an area where you cant troll 4 the ski boats in summer Another interesting point that we discovered was a large lure out the furtherest with a slightly smaller lure running within 6 ft as it, running at the same depth was a winning formula. This is a good topic curado as I am still in a steep learning curve to try and crack the code of consistent native fishing around here Looking forward to other anglers opinions

[Curado]

. This is a good topic curado as I am still in a steep learning curve to try and crack the code of consistent native fishing around here Looking forward to other anglers opinions

Thats why I posted it.

It will be nice to find out what people do to get on to a fish.
I normaly have a lot of trouble getting onto a fish in winter and any tips will help.
It just might be that I fish the shallower water most of the time.

I have been thinking of taking a thermometer out fishing and find out how different the temp is from the surface to the deep water.

[wes80]

my winter catch rates have proved to me anyway that cod dont frequent shallow water because the water is more oxygenated and warmer in deeper water than water closer to the surface

Prop, the deeper water may be slightly warmer but the more oxygenated water will always be the shallow water in winter and closer to the surface will hold more disolved oxygen because of wind/wave action and photosynthesis plus the fact that colder water holds more DO..

I always found in winter it's just persistance, if casting snags then do more casts, if trolling then do twice as many passes over the same water as you would in summer. Also big cod love shitty weather, deep settled in lows are a great time to pick up good fish in my experience.

cheers

[bigshrimp]

Don't get sucked into just fishing deep Curado , theres some nice fish in the shallows .

[Weaver]

Don't get sucked into just fishing deep Curado , theres some nice fish in the shallows .

Ditto biggus,.. seen some good fish come out of 5 feet of water.

[wang fisho]

When i use to fish mulwala all the time, i always fished the deep water in the river course in may and june, usually targetting snagpiles in around 30feet of water with ultra deep diving lures. Back then swagman jumbucks were by far the best.

[Curado]

I went and tried some different deeps today.
1st cod trolled in 5m of water on the first run.
2nd cod trolled at the same spot as the first but on the second run in the oppostie direction.
3rd cod flicked on the edge of a channel and hit the lure just under the surafce. Its was the first cast at the snag.
And the 4th cod in 1.2m of water, as so hit the lure just under the surface. Also first cast at the snag.

No hits all hook ups.

So it just shows that they were in all deeps.

Surafce water temp was 10.1 in the morning and got up to 10.7 in the arvo.

The brom dropped from 1030 to 1022 which I think was the key to the days fishing.

[acmick]

my advice mate is take a warm coat, always wear your beanie and don't be afraid to wear your slippers.

cheers acmick

[prop]

good stuff Curado the current lake temp is encouraging, with the high over us and the barometer high I knew that theyre would be some willing participants Olny problem was that I had to work and to make matters worse im bachin all wend and the weather is goin to be crap

[Gropper]

Something I found interesting fishing above the weir at Torrumbarry last week, the surface water temp was in the 15 degree mark. Yet below the weir the next day the surface temp was in the 18 degree mark. 3 degrees warmer, I know where i'd be!

I have been told on good authority it takes the deeper water longer to heat up in Summer but once warm, longer to cool down. This would make sense because below the weir the water was being released from the bottom, where the deeper water would be.

cheers,
Wayne

[Curado]

Something I found interesting fishing above the weir at Torrumbarry last week, the surface water temp was in the 15 degree mark. Yet below the weir the next day the surface temp was in the 18 degree mark. 3 degrees warmer, I know where i'd be!

I have been told on good authority it takes the deeper water longer to heat up in Summer but once warm, longer to cool down. This would make sense because below the weir the water was being released from the bottom, where the deeper water would be.

cheers,
Wayne

Interesting.
I wonder if the surface temp above the wall was still 3 degrees cooler that same day, you would think it would be.
How different do you think this would make to the fishing below the wall compared above the wall.

With the warmer temp and most likely more air in the water, below any weir wall should be better fishing.

I have heard and I have found it to be true so far that if the water temp is below 10 degrees it is a waste of time to fish for Cod.
Anyone else found this?

[Curado]

good stuff Curado the current lake temp is encouraging, with the high over us and the barometer high I knew that theyre would be some willing participants Olny problem was that I had to work and to make matters worse im bachin all wend and the weather is goin to be crap

I didn't know what the weather was going to do, I was just lucky.
Most times it doesn't work out that way.

I would just fish the weekend anyway if you have the chance.

[codmac]

I have heard and I have found it to be true so far that if the water temp is below 10 degrees it is a waste of time to fish for Cod.
Anyone else found this?

Curado, we have caught heaps of big cod in water temps as low as 9 degrees. Smaller fish however dont seem to like the cold. This one was landed when the water temp was at 8.5 degrees.

Rod Mac.