Dedicated to Australian native
freshwater fish |
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January 2005 Newsletter Reports
Snowy River Bass Catch – 31 October – 1 November This Snowy River Bass Catch was a bit different as Fisheries department had arranged for the weekend to be used to catch bass that can be used for breeding and then restocking of the Snowy River. Bass surveys have identified that most of the fish are from 2 year classes, 15-16 year old and 23-24 year old. Fisheries will stock 50,000 bass fingerlings per year for 3 years in an attempt to increase the bass population in the Snowy River system and reduce the reliance on these 2 year classes. Monitoring will be done on the restocked bass to check their progress, and to determine if the sand slug in the river is a barrier to juvenile bass moving upstream. Orbost Angling Club and NFA East Gippsland assisted the Fisheries guys in catching a total of 25 bass over the weekend. The Ingram and Miners team fished around Jacksons Crossing on Friday and Saturday and then moved down to Jonkers for Saturday night. The first bass of the weekend was caught by Mark Ainsworth from Fisheries. The biggest bass, a 50cm+ fish, was caught by Kevin De Hoedt fishing just below the Buchan River junction on Friday night. Kevin's weekend went downhill from there, especially on Saturday morning when he went down the first rapid below the Buchan River junction and his fishing rod fell out of the canoe and was lost. It wouldn't have been too bad, except that the rod was a brand new, early birthday present from his missus. After he stopped crying, Kevin kept going downstream and ended the day with 1 bass. Carl Hodgkins fished with Kevin and caught 2 bass on Saturday. Bryan Mathews and Trevor went into Jonkers on Sunday and fished the water that had already be covered by the Ingram/Miners team. Despite fishing 2 nd hand water, Bryan and Trevor managed to catch 3 bass while the other team didn't get a fish. The secret lure that was used was a soft plastic spinnerbait fished over the deep weed beds. The fish caught over the weekend were transported by Fisheries back to Snobs Creek hatchery where the fish are now in ponds until breeding is done. Border Bass Challenge – Genoa 22 – 23 January Numbers were down a bit on previous years, possibly due to Australia Day holiday being on a Wednesday, which didn't make it easy for a long weekend. Craig Ingram and Brett Miners took their kids into Bass Track on Cann River on Friday and camped overnight on the river. Brett and Arial each caught one bass, with team Ingram ending fishless. Annemeike Ingram earned the “Icecream Award” for taking a two piece fishing rod into the Cann River, and then finding out that the two pieces were from different rods and didn't fit together. Luckily Brett had listened to the ‘be prepared' motto and had a spare rod. Rob Patterson and family fished various spots for no luck, but did see some spots that will be worth a return visit. Mumsie and Cam Armstrong fished the Wallagaraugh River on Friday night and Saturday for 4 bass. Bryan Mathews and Trevor fished Tamboon Inlet on Friday and camped at Broome Track for 4 bass. They then fished the Wallie above the highway on Sunday morning for no fish. Carl Hodgkins who had slept in then caught a bass on first cast at a snag that Bryan and Trevor had just finished flogging. Even after giving Bryan and Trevor each a soft plastic spinnerbait that caught the fish, they didn't catch anything. Stevo and Carl Hodgkins hiked into the Genoa River on Friday and camped overnight and fished through Saturday for a total of 3 fish. There was heaps of fish visible in the water, but they just wouldn't take a lure. Stevo spent a very frustrating half an hour trying to tempt a school of 5 bass that were visible from the bank, but had to admit defeat and give up. The bar-b-que on Saturday night was as usual excellent with sweet corn and steak on the menu. Thanks to Stevo and Craig for cooking the barbie. The kids had a great time on Saturday night, especially when Stevo opened his tackle box and started handing out his lures to the kids. The weather was reasonable for the weekend, but there was a bit of rain on Saturday, and it must have been very localised as only Stevo and Carl got wet as they hiked up the Genoa River . A total of 14 bass were caught for the weekend. The biggest bass for the weekend was a 42cm fish caught by Mumsie in the Wallagaraugh. The winning team with 8 fish was: Bryan Mathews, Carl Hodgkins, Will Ingram and Cam Armstrong. Soft plastics can be used for bass, and one of the more successful methods is to include a jig spinner (also called ‘beetle spinner') onto the soft plastic. The jig spinner is a small wire frame and blade, similar to a spinnerbait, that the soft plastic jig head is clipped onto. This can then be fished either as a constant retrieve, or in a series of retrieve and pauses, so it sinks back down to the bottom on each pause. The weight of the jig head can be varied depending on the depth of water. Soft plastics that work well are 3 inch Slider bass grubs in ‘motor oil' or ‘baby bass' colours. These can be used to fish any structure including snags, weedbeds, rockwalls and under overhanging trees. It can also be trolled behind a canoe while paddling between fishing spots. The AGM will be held on Monday 21 January 2005 at 7.30pm at 39 Rupert St Bairnsdale Bemm River Estuary Perch Catch – Late February 2005. Location and dates to be confirmed. Mitchell River Bass Catch – April 2 -3. Camping at Jeff Johnsons. Lowrance Native Fish Challenge – Yarrawonga 19/20 February. Contact Graeme Creed for more information on 9848 2285 Pilkington Native Fish Competition – Yarrawonga 16/17 April. Contact Graeme Creed for more information on 9848 2285 Monday 21st February – Bairnsdale – Includes AGM Monday 4th April – Orbost Monday 6th June – Bairnsdale Monday 8th August - Bairnsdale Membership fees for 2005 are now due.
Fees to NFAEG Treasurer, Bryan Matthews, Barkly Street, Wiseleigh, VIC, 3885 East Gippsland Catchment Management Authority trial of LUNKERS East Gippsland CMA has received funding for 2004/05 to trial the installation of underwater fish habitat structures in the Mitchell and Tambo Rivers in the estuarine sections along Paynesville Road and Metung Road. CMA has been working with Fisheries to develop underwater habitat structures that are built into the river bank and will provide overhead cover for fish, especially bream. NFA has been to 2 meetings with CMA and Fisheries to discuss the progress of this program, and to provide whatever advice we can. The structures that have been chosen are called LUNKERS, which is a term from USA and means Little Underwater Neighbourhood Keepers Encompassing Rheotaxic Salmonids. In plain English this term means creating habitat for TROUT. Because the structures will be creating habitat for estuary fish, a new name should be given. Any suggestions would be greatly welcomed by CMA. One suggestion is GRUBS (Gippsland Rivers Under Bank Structures). Because these LUNKERS have only been made from timber and used for freshwater fish, CMA had to develop a design that can survive in the estuarine environment, especially attacks from Toredo worms. The structures that have been chosen will consist of precast concrete box culverts which will be built into the river bank below water level and provide an enclosed cavity for fish to shelter in. The length of LUNKERS at each site will only be about 20m, and the bank will be rehabilitated above the structure so that nothing will be visible above water level. CMA will be constructing the trial structures in the next few months, and there will be ongoing monitoring to determine the effectiveness of the structures. A site inspection for NFA members during construction of the LUNKERS might be possible, and further details will be provided closer to the date. |
