| new south wales fishing report - 18/10/12 with compleat angler |
Dated: 19 October, 2012
Snowy Mountains, Canberra & Surrounds
Report supplied by Compleat Angler Canberra
Anglers Puzzled By The Mystery Of The Missing Redfin
Anglers fishing Canberra's urban lakes are puzzled by the lack of redfin this season. Normally, by this time of the year the redfin, one of the most prolific fish in local waterways, have emerged in vast numbers from their winter torpor and can be caught almost anywhere on baits such as scrub worms and tiger worms and on shiny, spinning-bladed lures. The larger ones are welcomed as a sport fish and a nice meal for the barbecue. The smaller ones are less well regarded, viewed more as pests which steal baits and hog lures but which nevertheless provide junior anglers with a lot of fun.
This year the fish just haven't shown in most areas. A few patches of larger fish have been caught in deeper water and these obviously have spawned in recent weeks, which suggests they are exhibiting normal behaviour. The small fish, however, are just not turning up. Anglers have speculated that the fish may all be still out in deep water, reacting to the late winter we are experiencing and that they will show around the shallow lake margins as the water warms. Others suggest the EHN virus, which normally kills a proportion of the fish each year during summer, may have become more active this year and initiated the culling process earlier than usual. Others have suggested a link with the prevailing blue-green algal conditions that have plagued waterways this year. In any event there may be cause for concern --any major shift in fish behaviour should be viewed as significant and attempts made to determine the underlying reasons.
Acton Action
An angler fishing near Acton ferry terminal with scrub worms and two rods last weekend exemplified the situation. Normally he would expect to be plagued by redfin of varying sizes but especially the small ones. Instead he never landed one. He got 15 carp and one Golden Perch, but no redfin. That may be a
blessing in fishing terms but significant environmentally. We will continue to monitor anglers' reports.
Burrinjuck Patchy
There were scattered patches of good fishing in Burrinjuck this week. An embarassing number of Murray Cod were caught, given that it is the Closed Season, but some of them just can't help grabbing at a lure or bait meant for other fish. Luckily, all were returned to the water as unharmed as possible.
Some nice Golden Perch were caught. One group bobbed live shrimps near Macy's Bay for 16 fish. When they ran out of live shrimps they switched to peeled yabbies and landed a few more fish.
Another Golden Perch weighing 3.9kg was caught on a bardi grub at Scrubby in the Murrumbidgee Arm.
Stream Trout Active
Most regional trout streams have cleared since recent rain and should fish well this weekend. Small dark dry flies have accounted for some nice brown in the upper Muurumbidgee and the Moonbah and hopefully the Goodrdigbee will start to fish properly this weekend. Small streams, carrying good heads of water for the second year running, should be worth a look, as there are big fish inn some of them.
Anglers should note that streams such as the Gudgenby, Paddys, Orroral and Cotter are restricted to lure and fly only; no bait fishing is allowed. Anglers were seen illegally bait fishing at Vanity's Crossing on the Cotter River last weekend.
Bait fishing is permitted in the Murrumbidgee River and catches this week included one Golden Perch and a Murray Cod at Point Hut and a protected Macquarie Perch at Casuarina Sands.
Albury/Wodonga
Report supplied by Mason's Compleat Angler Lavington
Gidday Fisho’s!!
It’s improving! Slowly but surely Lake Hume is getting better. Every week there’s more reports of just about everything picking up. Trout, Nonexistent for the winter, are being caught in small numbers, lots of these fish are small Rainbows which would be this year’s stocking but we are hearing of the occasional 1kg model that must be from the previous drop and there’s still the occasional Brown out there as well. Trolling Tassie’s is obviously the most common method used but we’ve heard of reasonable number’s trolling those shallow divers around the shallows too.
One bloke in particular has been consistently picking up a few keeper Reddies and one or Two Trout on just about every trip out and he reckons if you’re in 4 meters of water you’re in twice as much depth than you should be. He’s trolling shallow minnows such as Rapala’s and Nils Masters & doing well.
Quite a few others we’ve spoken to at the Compleat Angler are doing ok on the Reddies too. I sat OK, not brilliantly. The bulk of fisho’s are angling around timber and picking up plenty of little blokes with the odd keeper showing up; worms seem to be the favourite bait at the minute although Yabb’s seem to be picking up the odd better fish. The other consistent comment we’re getting is that the Reddies are nearly ready to spawn with most carrying either eggs or milt. The Yellas are still pretty thin on the ground, the odd ones being picked up but again, a week or so of consistent warm weather should hopefully give them a shot in the arm.
Let’s hope it all happens before the Leigh Martin Marine Mercury Classic. Yep it’s on again, this year’s comp is on the 10th & 11th of November and there’s over $40,000 worth of prizes up for grabs. Entry forms are available from our Compleat Angler Store & other Tackle stores, You can also go to the Lake Hume Classic Website, there’s heaps of different categories with juniors, seniors, teams, mystery length ect so you’ve got every chance of picking up a prize but you’ve got to be in it to win it so support the Commercial Club Fishing Section & The Bellbridge Rotary Club & Hook in!
Dartmouth’s so close to dribbling over the top it’s not funny, the count downs been on for awhile now and where nearly under 1% to 60. It won’t surprise me if it’s trickling over by next Saturday, who knows. The fishing’s been ok at Dart as long as your lure or bait is being dragged around behind a fender or Cowbell. There’s a few Trout coming in Flat lining but it’s a distinct advantage to have either one of those attractors in front.
Haven’t heard much to report from Mulwala, as far as I know the occasional Yellas coming in but it’s generally pretty quite.
The river below Albury’s dropped off a fair bit over the past week and would be well worth a look. We’ve been getting pretty good reports of Trout being both spun and angled on the gravel bar’s & the occasional Yellas attacking Hard body’s around the timber. It’s this time of year the Yellas move into gear directly below the Lake Hume wall too.
The streams are still a bit inconsistent because of the weather but most people don’t seem to be having too much trouble picking a Trout or two up when they’re right.
Jindabynes going ok but not great, Eucumbene’s probably the best of the two at the moment though and Tantangra is fishing better than both of them. Blowerings still off the boil but again a bit of decent weather might change that.
See ya next week.
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