“Don’t take a knife to a gun fight.”

That simple, well-versed sentence could not ring truer when looking at rod selection for the mighty Murray Cod.

Obviously, the turn of phrase refers to deliberately being undermanned in battle and entering a dust-up with a distinct disadvantage.

But it’s not as straightforward as it sounds, thanks mainly to the ‘big bait’ phenomenon that’s swept Australia’s cod community.

Here’s why:

Round One

For Murray Cod, with a growth potential greater than a human featherweight boxer, the size of the fight is always unknown – although undersized encounters are frequent.

For the smaller fish these ‘fights’ would be adequately handled by the angler with a metaphoric ‘knife’.

Generally, these metaphoric knives would be rods that sit between 2-3kgs, like a Shimano “Bass Raider’ or popular Penn PinPoint series of rods.

However, we all unashamedly admit the goal when chasing Murray cod is to sail past the magical metre mark.

This ‘prized fight’ is when you, as an angler, better hope you don’t have a knife as the cod and it’s powerful tail will always be packing some serious heat.

Look, if the cod misfires you may secure a historic victory, but why put the decision in the hands of your opponent.

As a result, it’s best not to enter any serious cod water without a sturdy lick of graphite or composite, closer to the 4-8kg mark, like the 6kg Venom Baitcaster rod or Omen G2 6’7 12-20lbs MH. 

Round Two

The second fight on the cod card is a heavyweight bout courtesy of the explosion of big baits in Australia.

Bait wise, I’m talking about monstrous chunks of metal, wood, resin, plastic, or sometimes all of the above, that tip the scales north of 150g!

Five years ago you would have been laughed out of any freshwater tackle shop in Australia if you asked for a cod rod between 10-15kg.

Brandishing a wry smile, the tongue-in-cheek response would go something like “What do you need that rod for, you gonna club the cod into the boat.”

Fast forward to today and every freshwater tackle store worth their salt has a loaded rack of 7 foot plus, 10-15kg ‘swimbait’ rods ready to rumble.

No doubt they would help in crowbarring a true Murray River Dinosaur from the depths, but, for the majority of even metre plus fish, a 12kg stick is a little overkill and can really stifle a fair fight.

So why bring such a big gun and turn it into a lopsided fight?

Well, primarily, swimbait rods are not designed for the fight, but to allow anglers to throw 150g+ baits and not snap their leader, braid, rod or sanity.

Rods we use, and rate, in this range are the 10kg Venom Swimbait rod, Bone Voyager 734XXXH and the MUSE Black range of Swimbait casting rods from 13 Fishing.

Both big sticks with plenty of backbone to fling any microwave-sized baits.

So, while swimbait rods may stifle elements of the fight, they do allow you to chuck behemoth baits, which is a sure fire way to tempt a gun-wielding cod into combat.