If you want a snapshot of how the Australian native fishing comp scene is evolving in 2026, the Lake Mulwala leg of Teams Fishing Australia is the event to watch. Thirty-five boats. Three days. Five Murray cod, five golden perch, all on artificials, no bait. Combined centimetres for placing. Ten grand for first place, paying down to eighth.
Wildman 'The Fisherman', fishing in a single boat with partner Steve, walked away with 15th — a result built almost entirely on the back of a 40 mm soft-vibe.
"Welcome. Wildman the Fisherman here," the angler told viewers in the cold open. "We're up here fishing the Teams Fishing Australia comp at Cod's Country, Lake Mulwala. Different comp this one — you've got to get five yellowbelly, five cod. Then your combined centimetres has been measured up and the highest wins the big cash of 10 grand down to eighth prize."
The ground rules, in his words, are direct.
"Any lure you can use, you can troll. No bait fishing."
The opening day was the kind of opener every comp angler dreads.
"Started off really bad. We only got the one fish on the first day and we were about 32nd or 33rd."
"Had a good day on the second day. We managed three yellas. As you know, we got to get five yellas, five cod. We got the rest of our cod. So we were up with the cod, but we just had to get yellers — and then it was upgrade."
The lure that made the difference is the small one most cod-only anglers tend to skip. The ZX40 — a 40 mm plastic-skirted vibe — was the workhorse for the entire trip, fished slow on tiny stinger trebles with a lift-drop retrieve.
"Beautiful 51 cm yellow on the ZX40 again," Wildman said over one mid-trip fish. "Look at that beautiful fish. Just on that little ZX40. Look at them tiny hooks."
For anyone who has worked their way around Mulwala on the assumption that small vibes are a yellowbelly-only tool and that cod need a full-size spinnerbait or bibless hard body, this comp footage is the corrective. The same lure pulled both species, on the same retrieve, repeatedly.
Steve's contribution was anchored by a 60 cm cod off a black-grub stinger setup and a string of yellas in the 45 to 58 cm range — fish that would have been forgettable in a different format but that landed the boat inside the upper half of the field once they were converted to centimetres.
"Nose tail — 58. Beautiful. Now for the release," Wildman called over Steve's biggest yellow.
The day-three climb was driven by two morning yellas plus a 57 cm cod off Steve's rod that locked in the upgrade.
"Today we got our two yellers on the last day in the morning. We got another 57 cod. Steve got that, kind of put us back up there, and we ended up finishing 15th position. So we're happy with that. We end up finishing 15th with a bad day."
The broader takeaway, with Teams Fishing Australia rolling out the bag-of-five-cod-and-five-yellas format more widely across native waters, is that the small-vibe game is no longer a back-up tool. It is now a primary native-species lure for any boat planning to enter one of these comps in 2027 — and it pays for itself many times over compared to a $40 cod spinnerbait that catches one fish on day three.
Wildman's wrap-up was a reminder that the comp is half about the fish and half about the company.
"Couple of good meals — and once of all, it was with friends. So it was a good weekend."