Few hardbody lures have the cult status of the Stump Jumper in Australian native fishing, but the largest model in the range — the size one — rarely gets the airtime its smaller siblings enjoy. Swiss-born kayak angler Sonny of Sonny Oz Fishing decided to change that with a session posted hours before publication, taking a single size one onto a cold Victorian river and walking away with three Murray cod and a 45cm golden perch.
Sonny was honest about the conditions before he launched. "It's autumn, almost winter, so it might be slow," he said, paddling out under heavy cloud. "Could be hit and miss."
The Stump Jumper has been a benchmark for native-fish hardbodies since the 1980s, available in four sizes and a long list of colours. Sonny rates the brand highly in general but had never hooked a Murray cod on the largest size. That changed on his first cast. A 58cm fish ate a green-and-gold size one against a fallen tree and was steered to the kayak with the lure pinned on the outside of the gills.
Two more cod followed in quick succession — one in the 59 to 60cm bracket and another around 55cm — all on the same lure pattern. "They are on fire," he told the camera, surprised at how quickly the cold-water bite had switched on. He stressed the importance of kayak safety in flowing water between captures: secure the kayak, secure yourself, then deal with the fish.
On the way back to the ramp Sonny switched to trolling through a deeper section of river and added a 45cm yellowbelly to the tally. The size one Stump Jumper, in his hands, had now produced on cast and on troll across two species in a single afternoon.
His closing verdict echoed the consensus that has kept the lure on tackle shop walls for forty years. The Stump Jumper, he said, casts well, swims well and is cheap enough to lose without heartburn. Three cod and a yella in cold autumn water from a single size one model is the kind of result that backs the marketing up.
The takeaway for anglers who have written the size one off as too big for general native work is straightforward. On the right day, in the right water, the largest Stump Jumper still gets eaten by everything in the river.