Fly fishing for Murray cod - The Adventure So Far | Andrew Colston

My fly fishing journey started in 1999 when I was 11 years old. I was riding my push bike all around town mowing lawns and doing odd jobs, at the rate of 5 dollars to save up to buy my first fly rod. At the time, I had my eyes on a Shakespeare fly kit that was about 100 dollars from K-mart. I'd had a lot of help from my local community as word had gotten around and it didn't take long to save towards my goal.

I spent every day practicing my casting in our backyard and watching Rex hunt and Bushy on TV after school learning and trying to perfect my casting. Being a young bloke with no real transport other than my bike, my chances at trout were low and there wasn't a lot of trout in our area as we were more Murray cod dominated, so I practiced a lot chasing carp on fly which was a lot of fun! Murray cod on fly was extremely challenging and unfortunately, I didn't commit enough time to it, as it was easier to catch them on a lure. Years went by and I put the fly rod down at 18 moving around between NSW and Victoria fishing salt and fresh water while working as a chef.

I moved back home in 2018 and went back to my roots chasing Murray cod videoing my adventures and working as a tradie building frames and trusses. In 2022, I put name in for a job at Adventure Camping and Fishing, a Compleat Angler one-stop outdoors store in Wangaratta, Victoria. It was there that I started putting myself out there really focusing on videos and photography.

After 12 months of being with Adventure Camping and Fishing, I stepped back into fly fishing and forgot how much I loved it! Like everything with fishing, I just wanted more, so after months of talking about chasing Murray cod on fly with the team at Manic, I pulled the trigger on purchasing a Primal Mega CCC 10wt and Lamson Liquid Max combo which I absolutely love! And my Murray cod journey began. At the start it obviously took me a couple of days to get used to as I hadn't used anything bigger than a 4wt in years, but I think I picked it up quickly.

These days I find it difficult to put the fly rod down as it has opened up some many possibilities to target not only Murray cod or trout, but hopefully many more species too. But for now, I have plenty more personal bests to tick off here and appreciate all those who follow along to enjoy that with me and my family.

 Written by Andrew Colston | Adventure Camping & Fishing