The correlation between snags and fish is undeniable. A major appeal of freshwater fishing is the excitement of casting a lure into a fishy looking snag, knowing if you place it right, the chances of a strike are high.

Most freshwater species are ambush feeders and use snags to their advantage. On a recent canoe trip down a north-western NSW river, the importance of directing casts to the ‘right’ part of each snag became clear.

Murray cod are known to congregate around submerged logs – especially those offering significant amounts of smooth, horizontal wood. If you find an entire tree lying horizontally on the riverbed, chances are there’ll be a resident cod or two nearby.

The best way to fish these snags is to retrieve your lure parallel to the tree. On the trip, I began fishing from the bank and could only land casts at right angles to a big gum tree sitting under the surface. After dozens of fruitless casts I launched my canoe and attacked the snag from a different angle. Slow-rolling a spinnerbait (one word thanks Kat ) along the tree saw me land a cod on my first cast, with another one following it to the canoe.

This reminded me that simply landing a lure next to a snag doesn’t always get the job done. Casting towards the snag meant I was swimming my lure away from the tree and into barren water. By changing my angle and retrieving alongside the tree, the lure stayed in the strike zone for much longer and dramatically increased my chances of hooking a top-line predator.

In the middle of the day, casting lures into shady pockets is a recipe for success. Landing an artificial as close as possible to a vertical rock face or under a shady willow greatly improves the chances of hooking a fish. Even being out by five or ten centimetres can be the difference between an angry hit and a timid follow when fish are resting in the shadows.

The points of snags are also gun places to direct casts. If there is a rock bar or cluster of trees in the river, the first cast I’ll make is always towards the point of the snag that comes closest to the main current in the river. You can bet the biggest predators sit in this prime position as it gives them a good view of any bait washing downstream in the current.

After directing a few casts on the downstream side of a rock bar for no results, I changed my tune and sent a cast upriver. I worked my diving hard body with the current and bought it across the outermost face of the rocky point. Knowing the current would wash the lure within centimetres of the main rock, my hands tensed as I watched it approach the prime spot. Two feisty golden perch left their cover as they competed for the lure.

I landed the first one and sent the lure back to the exact same spot, only to catch three or four more fish from the point.

What I found most interesting was the way they all hit the lure at exactly the same part of the retrieve. While I knew there were fish congregated around the entire rock bar, they were only focused on hitting bait within a very small window – where the current lapped the main rock and created a small eddy out of the main flow.