Red Fin In Canberra

[Grebbo]

Hi All,

Just a quick report on the redfin situation on the Lake Burley Griffin in Canberra,

For some time now, 2 or 3 weeks things have been relatively quite for me on the lake, couple of reddies here and there, nothing to brag about, until this Sunday.

Took the boat out with a friend around 3.00pm and fished till 7.30pm. bagged around 16 and landed around 25 plus 4 or 5 that really wanted to get back in the water. The longest reddie was around 35cm, all on soft plastics in a “SECRET” location (everywhere really, close to banks in about 5 m of water) even caught 2 right in front of the boat ramp just as we were getting ready to go in .

Water is getting warmer and so are the reddies, it was a grate day for fishing even thought the winds were bloody strong.

Here are some pictures.

[Wastin Time]

Sorry for being nieve but,

What are redfin?

[Grebbo]

Sorry for being nieve but,

What are redfin?

http://www.environment.act.gov.au/__data/a...ininfosheet.pdf

they are a type of Perch, very nice to eat..

sorry having problems attaching pictures...

[Grebbo]

getting redirected to some blank page...

[Grebbo]

when I try to add attachments to my post (50kb)

I get a blank page http://www.fishraider.com.au/Invision/index.php?

[Guest DV8]

Go to "site news and info" section and do exactly what it says to do and the redfin may not get away next time.

Any reports these days of the old stocked trout being caught in Burley Griffin??

Cheers

Davo

[Mondo Rock]

Nice work Grebbo - I knew you'd have a cracker of a session sooner or later. Sounds like it was sooner.

Can't wait to see the photos.

[Grebbo]

As far as the trout are concerned, the local Environment Protection Authority responsible for re stocking the lake with Trout and other species has written the following statement on one of their websites “Stockings of introduced Trout have been abandoned as the lake has proved to be a warm, eutrophic habitat that is not suited to the survival of introduced Trout species” I personally have never seen or heard anyone catch Trout in the lake, there are lots of really good trout fishing spots within 1 or 2 hours drive from Canberra, most being in the snowy mountains, where the water stays cool and crystal clean all year round.

here is the picture, finaly

[johnno]

Thats a nice haul there.

Well done on the catch

[SiNH]

Just a question.

Are you able to soak bait for these species? if so will they take prawns?

Plastics Im thinking grub tails on a slow retrieve?

If you wouldnt mind sharing your tackle and bait info with us?

[Mondo Rock]

I'll let Grebbo fill in the details, but my understanding is that they have recently been responding well to earthworms and yabbies - with some really big reddies taken lately on live yabbies.

I doubt prawns would catch many as prawns are not a freshwater bait, but I've never tried so maybe they do work?

Grebbo, however, caught all of those fish on softies as I understand it.

[Grebbo]

Thanks guys,

Can’t say that I have tried haddon sonars Haraka, actually I’m not sure what they are? A friend of mine that goes fishing with me, had some kind of vertical lures from Finland, that he acquired some time ago, they were strange looking but had a Redfin on the packet, and he did catch a fish on it as well.

I would be surprised if reddies went for a prawn, like Mondo said, they are not that way inclined, you never know? I guess they look sort of like yabbies?

Mondo is right, some of the larger Reddies have been caught on live yabbies, I personally have had little luck using this type of bait.

However over some time now, I had the opportunity to experiment with quiet a few baits on Red Fin and they are:

Hard body lures, around 50 to 70 mm long, medium bib to about 2 to 3 meters, work well when trolling (1st gear on the Minn Kota) or casting in to the bank and slowly retrieving with a slight pulse. Most of the lures I use are of some kind of red or brown colour.

Garden or compost worms on a Paternoster rig, just drop them over and wait. Bit boring but works.

Soft plastics – by far my favourite, again around the 2 to 3 inch in reds and browns on a 1/8 jig head, preferably with a weedless guard on the hook, trolling works but I like to either cast out and let sink to the bottom, retrieve with a 2 or 3 gentle pulses and pause to allow the SP to drop again, or just plonk it over the edge (boat) and lift around 0.5 to 1 meter of the bottom and jig up and down. Currently my favourite SP is a 2 inch GULP in pumpkin seed colour, the fish love it so much that you can actually feel them munching on it!, its incredible, just like fishing for salt water species! All of the reddies in the above photo were caught using such GULP.

Red fin move in large schools, so its very common to fight with your fishing mate over the landing net when frequent double and triple hook-up occur. Find a trough in the lake or river and work the “banks” of it, a 7 to 8 m trough with a 5m bank seams to work best.

Also, weed beds are very productive around 5 to 6m deep, casting in to the reeds and retrieving is another grate way to catch them.

I have been fishing on the lake at times where I have tried everything as far as lures are concerned, just to be out done by fishermen on the banks with worms, there are days when they jump out of the water to get the lure or when you are reeling in and a school of reddies (40 to 60 of them) chase the lure all the way to the boat.

A hand full of burley in the area you are fishing is also good.

I will try to take some pictures of the lures and post them tomorrow.

Red Fin are a fantastic fresh water eating fish, my favourite by far, and a good fun to catch.

Hope you are up for some reddies on Saturday arvo Mondo!

[SiNH]

Thanks guys,

Can’t say that I have tried haddon sonars Haraka, actually I’m not sure what they are? A friend of mine that goes fishing with me, had some kind of vertical lures from Finland, that he acquired some time ago, they were strange looking but had a Redfin on the packet, and he did catch a fish on it as well.

I would be surprised if reddies went for a prawn, like Mondo said, they are not that way inclined, you never know? I guess they look sort of like yabbies?

Mondo is right, some of the larger Reddies have been caught on live yabbies, I personally have had little luck using this type of bait.

However over some time now, I had the opportunity to experiment with quiet a few baits on Red Fin and they are:

Hard body lures, around 50 to 70 mm long, medium bib to about 2 to 3 meters, work well when trolling (1st gear on the Minn Kota) or casting in to the bank and slowly retrieving with a slight pulse. Most of the lures I use are of some kind of red or brown colour.

Garden or compost worms on a Paternoster rig, just drop them over and wait. Bit boring but works.

Soft plastics – by far my favourite, again around the 2 to 3 inch in reds and browns on a 1/8 jig head, preferably with a weedless guard on the hook, trolling works but I like to either cast out and let sink to the bottom, retrieve with a 2 or 3 gentle pulses and pause to allow the SP to drop again, or just plonk it over the edge (boat) and lift around 0.5 to 1 meter of the bottom and jig up and down. Currently my favourite SP is a 2 inch GULP in pumpkin seed colour, the fish love it so much that you can actually feel them munching on it!, its incredible, just like fishing for salt water species! All of the reddies in the above photo were caught using such GULP.

Red fin move in large schools, so its very common to fight with your fishing mate over the landing net when frequent double and triple hook-up occur. Find a trough in the lake or river and work the “banks” of it, a 7 to 8 m trough with a 5m bank seams to work best.

Also, weed beds are very productive around 5 to 6m deep, casting in to the reeds and retrieving is another grate way to catch them.

I have been fishing on the lake at times where I have tried everything as far as lures are concerned, just to be out done by fishermen on the banks with worms, there are days when they jump out of the water to get the lure or when you are reeling in and a school of reddies (40 to 60 of them) chase the lure all the way to the boat.

A hand full of burley in the area you are fishing is also good.

I will try to take some pictures of the lures and post them tomorrow.

Red Fin are a fantastic fresh water eating fish, my favourite by far, and a good fun to catch.

Hope you are up for some reddies on Saturday arvo Mondo!

Thank you for that fantastic effort putting it all down in writing.

I will bring along my 2" gulps in various colours and go digging in the garden for some worms before I head out from Sydney.

Grebbo you got me itching to fish the lake, never fished there before and Im coming from all the way from Liverpool for a day trip just to try out my luck.

I wish I could head out there this weekend but the other half already has other plans.

Can you tell me if there are people fishing there lately? since Im not local I figured if there are locals fishing there then I would fish near them without invading their space. Its bad to arrive at a new location and find no one fishing, either theres no fish in the area or you are stuck all day trying to find a fruitful spot ( not good idea if you are only there for the day ).

Silly question considering its a lake, but just for confirmation the lake isnt affected by high tides and low tides right?

So if I soak some worms I dont need to cast the line trying to hit the middle of the lake? an average of about a 20m cast should suffice?

Also any tips for locations for a landbased newbie?

Sorry for the newbie questions, just wanted to increase my chances of taking home a feed after a long drive there and back.

[Grebbo]

Hi SiNH,

You are welcome,

Yes there are people usually fishing the shores of Lake Burley Griffin, more on the weekends thought. The lake is not affected by any tides (maybe if one of the politicians fall into it drunk, may be then) so you are safe to set up and stay there all day.

The best location for you would be the stone walls outside of the yacht club in Yarralumla – Alexandrina Dr. & Mariner PL. (nice club to get a drink and a feed in-between fish) another good spot is the Black Mountain Peninsula, Acton, find Nara PL. it has a Rowing club pontoon, fish straight of that ( 10 to 15m out is plenty)

If the reddies are on, it will make little difference where you fish, shoreline or the boat you should bag plenty.

GOOD LUCK!

[Penguin]

Nice fish mate,and plenty too.

penguin