Farm dam report 9-1-07

[Tim_01]

Hey everyone,

I've finally had the chance to give the dam I've stocked a good fish. Arrived yesterday at about 3:00pm and fished 'till sunset for one fish; a yellowbelly which took an atomic 3" fat grub. Camped the night and overslept in the morning to fish from 6:30am 'till about 11:00am and caught another two fish, both yellowbelly, they took a Gulp 3" minnow. Managed to measure and take a photo of the last fish, it went 33.5cm . From 45mm to 335mm in a bit over 12 months, not bad Although i didn't catch as many as I'd hoped nor did i catch any bass i'm still happy to know at least a few survived

cheers,

Tim.

[Tim_01]

upside down

[Tim_01]

the dam

[robyoung1]

What a grouse dam! Shouldn't be any probs with fish doing well in there mate.

thanks
rob

[bdowdy]

nice looking dam the fish should be right in there. cheers bdowdy

[Tim_01]

thanks guys

[Truck]

It must be a pretty healthy dam with plenty of food for them to grow as fast as they have.....

I have been told they usually put on 500-700g in the 1st year and 500g approx every year after this. ( this is in an avarage river system) so might be a little faster for you in that dam.

In a few years you should have yourself a few good fish in there!!

Truck

[blue-mako]

Start releasing Freshwater Gar and Mullet and they will be growning even faster. Maybe even some Redclaw or Shrimp. How many exactly did you put in there?

Troy

[Tim_01]

hey troy,

initially i put forty bass and forty yellowbelly in there. Then another 2 larger bass (approx. 35cm) in the middle of last year. havent seen/caught any bass yet . Any ideas of where i could get shrimp, mullet and gar from? i wont stock any redclaw, not native.

thanks,
Tim.

[blue-mako]

If there's any local Freshwater streams or Dams you could go catch a few with Shrimp/Yabbie traps. Gar and Mullet you'd have to catch with bread and a small hook since you can't net anywhere with no tidal flow. I know dams like North Pine are chockers full of Gar. Just put some bread as bait in a yabbie trap and place it in under a meter of water where most Gar will hold to keep away from predators.

If you could get a hold of some fish stockers then it wouldn't be hard at all to get them. What dimensions does the dam have? Remember only 1 fish per cubic meter of water. Any more and it's too crowded.

Troy

[Tim_01]

thanks for the info i've enquired about snub nosed gar fingerlings before but no one sells them. the dam is roughly a tear drop shape; and approximately 40m wide at one end, 15m wide at the other and 60m long. Max depth is 8-9m. I'll try and get a few gar from north pine next week. Are many spangled perch caught in north pine?

thanks,

Tim.

[blue-mako]

Apparently there used to be thousands of Spangled Perch in North Pine before the water levels dropped. But I haven't heard of any one catching one nor have I seen any along the bank or caught one myself. If they are there you will usually catch as many of them as you would Bass, if not more! Also they become pests as you will use a larger lure to avoid the Perch when targeting Bass, but a Spangled Perch will litterally take a lure bigger then itself.

Nabs12, another Ausfish member has Spangled Perch in his Dam as well as Bass. The Spangles were in there before the Bass and they just became annoying when Bassin'. We usually just throw them up on the bank for the birds to eat. I would stick to Gar or Mullet since Spangled Perch will be in competion for food with the Yellow Belly and Bass that you have already got stocked in there, whereas the Gar and Mullet won't. Bass take quite awhile to grow so there's no surprise you haven't caught any. Nabeel's have been in there I think for over 3 years and they are only 28cm fork at max.

I always thought Redclaw Crayfish were a native species? .

Troy

[Tim_01]

Good point, i'll stay away from the spanglies and try and catch some gar & mullet instead, thanks again for the info Troy!

cheers,

Tim.