We all know swimbaiting for cod is a game of centimetres. From those painstakingly numbers between 95 and 100cm on every brag mat in the country, to the agonisingly ‘close but far’ centimetres you land your Swimbait from a perfect cast.
Another often overlooked, but equally important, measurement is the diving depth of your Swimbaits. The most popular way to inch your lipless lolly closer to structure is to strap a weight to your bait, but if you are looking for more of a subtle flutter then you could also try increasing the gauge of your hooks.
Ask any lure maker and they will tell you one of the toughest things to get right about a floating Swimbait is the internal weighting system that allows them to sit level with the waterline.
As anglers, we can use this to our advantage when we are fishing shallow rivers like the Broken, Ovens, Edwards or ‘Bidgee and want our non-chin weighted Swimbaits to track that foot or so deeper.
The one bait this works exceptionally well with is the Jackall Gantarel. Attached to the top tow point and with its standard feather hooks, it floats quickly back to the top after a few cranks of the handle.
However, if you strap on thicker gauge hooks, like the BKK Raptor-Z or Fangs, the lure will not only swim deeper off the cast, but become neutrally buoyant and hang in the strike zone on the pause.
I didn’t believe how big of an impact this had until I was fishing side-by-side on the ‘Bidgee with a mate who was running standard Gantarel trebles, while I opted for a tricked up treble version.
As the water was gin clear we both noticed how much deeper my lure was tracking to the point my mate asked if I was running it’s bigger brethren, the Jackall Gigantarel.
This simple change, without exaggeration, added 30 to 60cm of depth per cast and saw my Gantarel cruise tantalisingly above the submerged sticks and stones that litter the river, encouragingly, proving all the difference on that occasion.
So, if you are chasing small water cod on Swimbaits and want to hang your bait in the strike zone for longer without adding any external weight, simply up the ante on your trebles, you’ll be surprised what centimetres this small change can find.
