Murray Cod Growth Rate

[myangle]

Just added a picture.

As a mostly exclusive salt water fisherman I have no idea about growth rates of fresh water fish.
A mate of mine stocked a dam on his property at Stanthorpe with Murray Cod about a year ago. This morning he found a dead one which was over 12 inches long and weighing in at around 1 kilo.

Aside from the fact that it was dead for no apparent reason, is it possible for the fingerlings to grow that much in 1 year? There is nowhere else it could have come from because the dam is only about 3 years old and it is stand alone with no permanent inflow of water.

[shane 234]

wierd, i know that it would be possible for bass or silver perch in a decent size dam to make it too that size, but not too sure bout Murray Cod.

[wamjam]

12 inch in a year is about right but being a kilo sounds a lot ,normally a pound for the first year all depending on food and conditions. Have you had any big frost there ? , might be what killed the fish if the dam isn't very deep.
wamjam

[myangle]

12 inch in a year is about right but being a kilo sounds a lot ,normally a pound for the first year all depending on food and conditions. Have you had any big frost there ? , might be what killed the fish if the dam isn't very deep.
wamjam

The dam is quite big and around 10 metres deep. Not sure about the food supply but the dam is no more than 3 years old. May only two.
The fish were bought from a hatchery. It would be nice if there were 100 or so of those in the dam.

[aussiebasser]

The dam is quite big and around 10 metres deep. Not sure about the food supply but the dam is no more than 3 years old. May only two.
The fish were bought from a hatchery. It would be nice if there were 100 or so of those in the dam.

My guess is that it would be less than 3 years old. The growth rate varies depending of water temp, food source, dam size and stocking rate. Fitz just posted up a report on Sweetwater about some Cod from around there:
http://www.sweetwaterfishing.com.au/....html#msg19684

[wamjam]

The dam is quite big and around 10 metres deep. Not sure about the food supply but the dam is no more than 3 years old. May only two.
The fish were bought from a hatchery. It would be nice if there were 100 or so of those in the dam.

If these fish were put in only a year ago then 12 in must be possible . There is always a few dominate fish so maybe this fish was one of a few that fought harder for food and coming into winter maybe he met his match and lost his spot on the pecking order.
wamjam