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Lake Mulwala is the traditional home of Murray cod fishing and over the last 10 years anglers have really worked out how to fish the shallow weeds.

These areas were considered very hard to fish and led to frustration. The anglers knew the fish were there, they just didn't have the techniques, tackle and ability to get in there and amongst them.

Step forward to the 2018 Lake Mulwala Cod Nationals and the event was won by a team fishing exclusively in the weed! And, many of the fish caught in this event came from the weed. It was a real watershed moment for the weed fishers of Mulwala and it feels like a long-term trend has been born, especially given the incredibly fast growth rates of the weed and the equally fast growth rate of the angler's skills.

I am going to detail the approach of brothers Ian and Matt Rogers. These two anglers have worked and fished hard to refine and nut out their weediquette. They've spent countless hours in the search for these weed dwelling fish. They're tactics, and this is only one of many tactics these days, are very productive and a whole lot of fun.

What to look for

Mulwala is a very daunting place. It's massive, it's filled with timber and weed, it has numerous channels, holes and offshoots and they're all filled with fish.

The 'perfect' or 'ideal' weed area in Mulwala is around 1.5-2m deep with thick and luxurious weed growing to the surface in places but mostly within two feet of the surface. Luckily, in the top half of the lake, let's say from Hogans Road Boat ramp upstream, there are acres and acres of this habitat. There are pockets of similar weed further down the lake around Kyffins Reserve and pretty much any of the shallow margins, but let's concentrate on the larger flats areas.

Unfortunately, most of the weed you fish is the introduced pest weed species elodea. It's that bushy weed with lots of leaves that grows right up to the water's surface in thick masses. This weed spreads easily via fragmentation and as boaters we probably have a bit to do with its abundance in Mulwala. The local swan population also loves getting into the weed, although they're not chasing the elodea, they certainly rip it up in their search for the bulbs of the native strap weed.

While you can catch fish just in the weed with no other structure, it wouldn't be fishing in Mulwala if the timber wasn't involved in the equation. Weed banks that have plentiful timber produce more fishing opportunities and therefore, generally speaking, more fish. The timber also has a very interesting part to play in areas where you can fish. Much of the timber has a gap in the weed around it or along it, freeing up space for anglers to fish their lures.

Stand up snags and laydown snags are both productive areas to target in the weed, with my experience showing no big preference either way in regards to numbers of fish caught from either.

While timber is always important in Mulwala, there are little honey holes in amongst the weed, for no apparent reason that allow you to pick pockets within vast weedy stretches.

I have a feeling that there is a laydown snag in the mud or a trimmed off stand up snag cut off right near the bottom that stops the weed growing, but there are opportunities in apparently barren weed fields if you go looking.

These pockets are fantastic places to fish as you have casting alleys, small crop circles and even interconnected crop circles that just scream fish. In my head I imagine the fish using these areas as feeding highways, cruising the edges of the laneway or crop circle and waiting for a carp, small cod, redfin or crustacean to panic and flick. It's engaging stuff and these locations can produce the biggest fish.

In a nut shell, look for 1-2m of water, lots of weed with laneways and crop circles, with visible stumps and laydowns. This really does mean a lot of area in the top half of Mulwala is suitable for fishing the weed.

How to Hardbodies

Traditional Murray cod hardbody lures seem, at first, to be the wrong lure to use. Their bibs drive them into the weed, destroying their action as they collect kilograms of weed on the way back to the boat.

But, and this is a very big but, there are lures on the market that fit the bill perfectly. Most are locally manufactured or cottage lures and they work very well when fished in the right areas.

With hardbodied lures you are rarely able to do long cast with extensive retrieves. You are constantly doing shorter underhand casts that are accurate and very specific in their delivery. You want to land your lure as close to the weed edge as possible and retrieve your lure as close to the weed or timber as possible as well.

Casting underhand also provides a softer landing for the lures, which can make a lot of difference, especially if the fish have been heavily pressured.

Unlike traditional lure casting at timber with hard bodied lures, you can't cast beyond the snag or hole in the weed so you have to cast to a place where your lure will not foul straight away. This is easier said than done.

If you're lucky you can retrieve at a reasonable rate and get the lure to dive down about a metre, which is usually just out of eyesight. If the weed is thick or the water shallower, you'll need to slow down the retrieve and keep the lure up higher in the water column. Holding the rod tip higher aids this, as does the shorter casting.

These slower retrieves, when the lure does not disappear from sight, provide some of the most memorable sight fishing situations as cod of any size meander after the lure before charging it, usually at the rod tip! This is adrenaline pumping stuff and one of the reasons fishing hardbodied lures is so much fun in the weed.

Spinnerbaits

Spinnerbaits are probably the easiest lures to use in the weed as there is no rocket science to the retrieve. At its most basic form you throw the lure out and wind it in - simple.

The art of catching fish in the weed on spinnerbaits is in the cast. Short and accurate casting is a must and you must be intimately aware of how fast your lure is sinking and how deep it travels while being retrieved. Here is one lure fishing method where the two boys differ in their approach.

Ian tends to fish a little quicker than Matt. This is important for many reasons. With this faster retrieve, Ian covers more water, gets in more casts and triggers reaction bites. The lure travels through the water higher in the water column and catches active fish very well.

Matt, winding slower, probes the gaps in the weed very efficiently. He leaves no stone unturned in any given gap. He'll allow his spinnerbaits to flutter down, he'll pause the lure to keep it down and he'll wind slower so the lure swims deeper in the water column.

The diversity of spinnerbaits you can use is staggering. You can use lightly dressed spinnerbaits with willow blades and no trailer on 3/8oz heads to cut through the weed and fish a bit deeper. You can use larger spinnerbaits with Colorado blades, big trailers, thick skirts and heavier heads to present a bigger profile. And you can use anything in between. It's imperative to understand your spinnerbait and its nuances, rather than look for the Holy Grail of spinnerbaits for weed fishing. By knowing what your spinnerbait does in terms of fall and retrieve, you'll be in a much better place to make the most of your time on the water.

Swimming lures

This includes swimbaits or glide baits these days, so I'll group them all in the swimming lures category for ease of description. The method is the same regardless of the lure size, so it's a convenient way of dealing with the vast number of these lures on the market these days.

Above all of the other lures mentioned, more really big Mulwala fish have been caught on swimming lures in recent years on the weed. It's not that the spinnerbaits and hardbodies do not appeal to big fish, it's more that anglers are throwing bigger lures into shallow weeds and almost excluding smaller fish. Yes, big fish eat peanuts, but equally if you want big, chuck big!

A favourite method is to cast into a zone and work the lure super slow. All of these larger lures work well retrieved slowly. Regular pauses thrown in are not a bad thing as they allow the lures to sink a little. The pause also makes the lure kick off to one side in an injured baitfish look. I find I get captivated just watching the lure swim and roll around and get the fright of my life when a cod comes out and slams it!

The smaller swimming lures like the Bone Focus 130 are usually best retrieved more like a spinnerbait. Again, keep it slow and mix it up. Pauses, twitches and straight retrieves all work. And don't ever forget to throw in the odd fast retrieve to get a reaction bite. The bites on a fast retrieve are epic and 50-60cm fish make you believe you have the beast from the deep with how hard they slap the lure.

Going Green

Fishing the weed is an engaging and time consuming way to fish. Every minute of the session you are analysing where to cast, how to retrieve and where your boat is positioned. Weed fishing Mulwala is not as simple as it sounds unfortunately. It takes time and dedication to be comfortable with the tactics and locations, but the rewards are well and truly there.

I believe that more big fish have been caught in Mulwala because of these weed fishing tactics. Anglers like Ian and Matt Rogers have helped propel these tactics into the mainstream and have put an entirely new perspective on fishing in Mulwala.

If you want big fish in the weed, fish big and slow. If you want numbers of fish, downsize everything and be particular with your casts and retrieves. The weed is loaded with cod of all sizes and it's now up to you to work out what you want to target.