G'day fishos. Another smoky old week again eh?
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Hopefully, this predicted rain might show up with a gentle breeze and just blow it all away with a bit of luck.
Anyhow, there's been a few fishos out this week and a few fish caught but the prize for the weirdest catch has to go to Chris Travers.
Chris was fishing in the Bowna arm of Lake Hume and managed to hook himself a freshwater catfish (Tandanus Tandanus). Now, this is a species that we haven't seen in this area for many, many years.
You could travel to Colombo Creek and find them but they've been missing from the Murray and its tributaries above Mulwala for at least 60 years that I know of.
It would appear that this 53cm specimen would have every chance of being related to another four catfish that I've heard of come out of that area and all have been caught within a couple of kilometres of each other.
Originally, about three or four years ago, I had a customer come in to tell me he'd caught two "catties" off the bank at the Bowna Reserve.
He must have seen the disbelief in my eyes so he went home and brought them in to show me.
Unbelievably, he brought another one in that he'd caught from the same spot a week or so later.
A junior member of the Kinross fishing club then landed another one off the bank about halfway between the Bowna and Tabletop reserves a week or two after that and I hadn't heard of another one until Chris' effort.
I remember writing it all up in the fishing report at the time and surmising that they must have come from a farm dam which had burst.
A month or so after those captures, I had a local "cocky" from the area come in to tell me that that was the case and he'd lost a heap of catties when his dam had flooded so we'd have to conclude Chris's fish would be from the same batch I suppose.
Obviously, these fish can survive without any issues in the Hume, were originally native to the area, are a reasonable sport fish and taste pretty good too.
I'm not sure how many hatcheries produce them but I'd love to see them added to the species list out here!
Not sure they'd ever get to the point of becoming a sustainable species in their own right given that they nest and carp and redfin would give them heaps of grief, but would be more than happy to have them stocked as a put and take fishery.
Wouldn't it be great to have something else to chase?
The Murray, from Albury down, is flowing pretty well and while the cod aren't going crazy, most fishos are picking a couple up.
The Jindera anglers Club successfully released 3000 little cod last Saturday, when plenty of members, a few bystanders and a dozen or so boats turned up to help spread them about. A few of the members hung about for a fish as well but apparently the "weighmaster" wasn't troubled too much.
The Murrumbidgee is still going great, with constant reports of good numbers of cod.
There have been some belters amongst them and we now have another member to our Compleat Angler Metre Club, with Pat Clark, of Wagga, joining twice in the same night after catching two monsters! We've already got a few local members so check out all of these great fish and photos on our "Compleat Angler Metre Long Club" Facebook page.
Dartmouth (50.8%): is accessible to fishos but no stories to go by from the last week or two.
You'd reckon downriggers would be the go if you were going to chase a trout or two but I'd reckon a lot of fishos will hit the lake to chase the yabbies, which are still on the chew big-time particularly in the darker hours.
Lake Banamboola would also be well worth a look.
Make sure you hit any of the shops up that way for an ice-cream or maybe the pub for a beverage, as they've all been pretty quiet over the last week or three and would only be too happy to see you.
Streams: Are probably struggling a bit with the lack of water but cooler weather and the promise of rain may help over the next few days.
On one hand, we don't want to get too much because we don't need massive fish kills from ash etc pouring into the water.
On the other, we need these fires out and need decent rains for regrowth.
Lots of roads leading into the mountains are still closed so be sure to check your destination before planning a trip.
Blowering (37.4%): now has access but obviously reports have been pretty thin on the ground of late up there too.
There's no reason to believe that it shouldn't be producing a few cod and I'm sure if you got up there and trolled or angled at the right times you'd have to be in with a reasonable chance of nailing one.
Yellas and reddies, on the other hand, were "only just" before the fire events so I'm not that confident they'll be any better.
Eucumbene (29.78%) and Jindabyne (76.36%): are both accessible too and again, fishing reports have been non-existent.
I would imagine things would be a bit tough on that front and downriggers would probably play a fair bit in most fishos' success stories that we hope to report on next week.
Send your fishing pictures to 0475 953 605.