Australian lure specialist Josh Read has shaken down a new Alloytec jet punt on a Murray cod river running at what locals say is its lowest level in 40 years, picking up a string of cod on weedless rigged Ricky the Roach soft plastics including an 81cm fish that ate within metres of a deep run.
Fishing solo on the opening session, Read described the conditions as the most extreme he has encountered on the system. The water was so skinny that even the jet drive on the back of the new punt was being tested on every push upstream.
"The river is low as I have ever fished it," Read said, "and the old dairy farmer was telling me it's as low as he's ever seen it in 40 years."
With only a few hours of light remaining after launch, Read leaned on the jet motor's shallow-running capability to push roughly a kilometre upstream, threading a section of rapids that he admitted made him nervous every time. The plan was simple — cover ground, fish his way back, find clean structure and target Murray cod holding tight to log jams in the shallow current.
He wasted little time. Within ten metres of the first productive corner, a fish ate his weedless Ricky the Roach as he was still bedding in to the punt's casting platform.
"That's two two bites in about 10 metres," Read said. "He's a smidge better. Saw him coming, eh? He'd probably be a 60cm fish."
The Murray cod measured 63cm and was released on the spot, although the strike folded the soft plastic enough that Read needed to re-rig before the next cast. Off camera, he walked viewers through his preferred weedless rigging method — a long, square slit down the belly of the plastic, a screw-lock head twisted in straight and the hook point bedded along the dorsal fin line so that the lure swims true and the gape opens cleanly on the strike.
He was candid about how new he is to the technique, but said the principle is straightforward.
"You want to get nearly through and the idea is that the weedless hook doesn't have as much plastic to poke through," Read said.
The session's most exciting moment came on the second day, when Read returned to a rapid he had pre-fished the previous afternoon. After a missed strike from a fish he estimated at around the 80cm mark, an 81cm cod ate cleanly on the next pass.
"That's a better fish," Read said as the rod loaded up. "He's a much better fish. Watch him come out and eat it."
The fish was netted, measured at 81cm, and released after a quick photograph. Read described the fish as "fat as mud" and noted the dark colouration typical of skinny-water cod that live in the heavily structured runs of the upper system.
The trip ended ahead of schedule when SD card and GoPro issues forced Read to abandon the planned overnight camp and run back to base to sort the footage. He returned the next morning with fellow angler Frank, refished a portion of the previous day's water and managed to drop another better-class fish at the boat before turning the punt for home.
For Read, the takeaway from the maiden voyage was less about fish numbers and more about how the new boat handled what he described as a borderline unfishable river height. He flagged the run as a clear endorsement of jet-driven shallow punts as the right tool for skinny-water cod work, even when conditions push river levels to historic lows.