From: David Russell

Just before Christmas I took Ken, my brother-in-law and good mate, for a week's cod fishing at lake Mulwala. Being fond of a little comfort we stayed in a cabin at the Mulwala Holiday Park. We also decided that the only meals we would prepare would be breakfast, dining out for all the others.

On arrival we found that the continuous bout of heavy weather that Victoria had experienced had blocked the park's boat ramp with a logjam of flotsam and jetsam.

Very strong winds and the occasional burst of heavy rain kept us of the water for quite a while. After a leisurely lunch at the "Left Bank" we did the rounds of the tackle shops to find out how the fishing was and to add to our ever-increasing lure collection. This proved to be a very telling move.

The weather finally settled down somewhat so Ken and I decided that we should actually go fishing.

We launched my 3.7m Stacer at the nearby Ski Club's ramp and then berthed it at the park's marina. This is a great facility to have access to, particularly when fishing the bottom end of the lake as we intended to do.

My wife Jenny and I had given Ken a new Shakespeare baitcaster and Ugly stick rod as thanks for innumerable things that he had helped us with over the years. Now was the time to put it to the test.

With our rods rigged, with new leaders tied on to the 14lb braid and in Ken's case a brand new lure clipped to his leader we headed over to the old river bead near the bridge. The wind proved to be too strong there for comfortable trolling. We switched our attack to the willows over by the Yarrawonga boat ramp and started to troll the edge of the deep water.

I had brought my little hand-held GPS along with the aim of plotting the channel edges so that I could establish a number of tracks to follow rather than trying to guess using shore marks where I should be going. This also proved to be a very useful move.

We had just crossed over from one side of the channel to the other and the sounder showed that we were coming over a steep bank. I was just about to swing the boat back into deeper water when Ken's shout of "I'm on!" dragged my gaze away from the electronics and to the bow of the boat. Ken was indeed on. A couple of minutes later a fat little cod about 52cms was scooped up in the net. Ken had been given orders to bring home some fish to eat so this one went into the esky to go home.

Needless to say we were very excited and Ken was delighted with the performance of his new tackle, especially the purple, yabby pattern Orgee Plough.

The first of Ken's cod taken on his new gear.

A casual look at the sky caused our excitement to dwindle. A huge mountain of black clouds sent us scurrying back to base and we barely managed to tie the boat up when the heavens opened and the wind howled. Time to pull the cork on a nice bottle of red and then head off to the Ski Club's Chinese restaurant for dinner.

Next morning saw me bailing out several centimetres of water before we could head out and tackle the cod again. Windy conditions saw us back over in the lee of the willows and we trolled up and down the edges of the riverbed zig-zagging our way as I continued to develop a plot of the river. This session proved to be fishless but by the time the wind had driven us ashore I had a pretty good track on the little GPS for future use. The inexpensive Garmin E Trex is great little unit with an easily followed paper trail. Excellent when you're eyes aren't as sharp as they used to be.

After lunch at the usual spot we went fishing again. The wind had settle right down so we were able to work the riverbed and adjacent waters near the bridge. This is a favorite area and has been kind to us over the years. Last season brought me my best ever cod of over 10kgs.

Things were pretty quite until we headed under the bridge. A few suggestive marks showed on the sounder and as I was telling Ken about these he ripped his rod into the area with an aggressive swipe. He was on again. This fish proved to be a small yellowbelly and was duly released. The purple Orgee had struck again. A few more passes produce no more fish but my tracks were starting to show the shape of the river and I had several waypoints established to guide me to some very interesting features that I hoped would produce some fish.

The current turbulent weather again curtailed further trolling. Although our results to this point were not startling at least we, well Ken had caught some fish.

The middle of the week saw the weather much more settled. The rain had gone and the wind had backed right off. This pleased me greatly because the last two days had seen me lose two lures because the strong wind would not let us hold over the snag to be able to effectively use the tackle-back.

Using the tracks and waypoints that we had established over the last couple of days saw us heading up the Yarrawonga side of the river. I steered the boat across and back over the edge of the riverbank. The idea was to get the lure to run up and down the slopes hopefully pulling it past the areas where the cod would be holding. In the past we had often caught fish as the lure crossed over this area. This time I was doing it on purpose, not by accident. Here the GPS was very useful in showing roughly where the riverbank was.

As we turned and headed back into deeper water after I had run us way up into the shallows, Ken's rod tip whipped past my vision as it was pulled down by a vicious strike. He was most definitely on. This was no tiddler. A concerned look on his face Ken watched anxiously as the rod pumped up and down. A solid cod was down there doing its bets to shake the lure free. This was not to be however and after several tense minutes a hefty cod surfaced beside the boat. Clamped securely in its jaw was that ever-reliable purple lure. Carefully I slid the net under the fish and lifted it into the boat. Ken let out a sigh of relief. For a guy who only fished occasionally he had done a great job. At 6.5kg Ken decided that this fish was definitely going home to feed his family and no doubt give him bragging rights.

After cleaning and organising with the caravan park owners to freeze the fish we called a halt to fishing. It had got quite hot so we decided to have a late afternoon session. I was sorely tempted to purchase one of those lucky lures but I already had a tackle box full and any way one of those would work for me.

The afternoon session brought another couple of cod caught and released by Ken, including one well over legal size. He also took a nice yellowbelly, just for variety.

At the end of this day the score was Ken four cod and a couple of yellow belly, all on that same lure. Me, well I was getting plenty of practice reading the depth sounder and GPS.

Thursday, our last day as it turned out, saw us on the water early. Ken quickly pulled another small cod from the shallows in front of the Ski Club. This time it was on the baby brother of the big Orgees, but purple again. A troll over near the yacht club saw Ken again pull a cod from off the river's edge and finally I managed to score a just undersize cod. This one was on a yellow and black Plough. I knew I would find a lure that would work.

Our final session for the day produced one more undersized cod for Ken and his purple lure. I will definitely have one next time. The wind pushed us of the water as usual and brought to an end what had been a very nice trip.

Ken's new rod, reel caught around nine cod, two kept and the rest released and a couple of yellows of which he kept one. I caught only the one fish for the trip but the pleasure of helping a good mate have a great time and catch plenty of fish far out weighted any disappointment I might have had over my results. As always, I learned a lot from the trip and I hope to apply this knowledge to the next one.

I know Ken can't wait.

I wonder if my local tackle shop has got any purple, yabby patterned, Orgee Ploughs?