First Golden Perch

[peakanimal]

Hi raiders

On the weekend I decided to fish a creek near Cowra for some carp. A friend and I arrived at the first spot at 7.30am. The creek was not running and only had some deep holes left. We were using un-weighted worms and on my first cast produced a carp. Then my friend caught another one soon after and we ended up with 5 carp in quick succession. We decided to move spots and this is when it really came interesting. We soon caught another 5 carp all on worms. I cast out a bunch of un weighted worms and placed the rod in the rod holder. I sat back and noticed that the line began to move. I hooked up and began fighting the fish thinking it was another carp. But to my surprise it was my first yellowbelly. Soon after my friend was on and he also landed a nice golden perch. All up we ended up with 10 carp the biggest being 65cm and 3 perch. All the carp were killed and all the perch were released after a few photos.

[Mik]

Pelagic

Nice report & pics mate & very nice Yellas!

Well done on the release. They don't taste too good that size anyway as they hold alot of fat in them over about 2Kg.

Don't s'pose ya wanna tell where exactly you were?

Edited March 6, 2007 by Boofhead

[Jaybee]

Hey Pelagic,

Yeh nice report mate. I must try some more fresh water fishing as I've done very, very little. Maybe that way I could relax and enjoy a cold tinny or two.

Is that right Boofhead? They aren't good eating when theyr'e that size. Do they lack in flavour or tast muddy or what?

Cheers Jeff.

[Mik]

Jeff

Yeah mate they get very fatty over 2kg. It also depends where you catch 'em as to their taste quality (Or so I'm told)

We caught a Yella at christmas time that was about 3.2kg. At the time we didn't know much better & being stoked with our first yella for years (Last one I caught was when I was about 12) we kept him & whilst it was nice it was definatley full of fat. You can see the fat bubbling away when you pan fry.

We also caught some silvers - Silver Perch (In a dam, banned in rivers & streams) which were around 1.2 to 1.6 kg & they were VERY tasty compared to the big Golden.

Now that I know better I release any big Perch, Silver or Gold, and would only keep anything under 2kg. (Of course releaseing any under legals) Plus, big perch are the foundation of the population (Or so I'm told, stand corrected if someone knows better) so releasing the bigg'uns is good for future fish.

I have been told by a local who fishes both impoundmenst & he tells me Yellas from Windemere Dam don't taste as good as they do from Burrendong Dam. From what I've seen of Windemere it seems much clearer water than Burrendong so I'm not sure why the fish taste better at Burrendong. Perhaps it has something to do with Alge Blooms or something?

Just for the record, here's the legal bag lengths & limits for these two beauties.

Golden Perch (Yella Belly, Goldie etc)

Length - 30cm

Limits - 5 per day in streams, rivers or dams & impoundments

Silver Perch (Silvers)

Length - 25cm

Limits - 0 in streams & rivers

- 5 in stocked impoundments only

[Jaybee]

Jeff

Yeah mate they get very fatty over 2kg. It also depends where you catch 'em as to their taste quality (Or so I'm told)

We caught a Yella at christmas time that was about 3.2kg. At the time we didn't know much better & being stoked with our first yella for years (Last one I caught was when I was about 12) we kept him & whilst it was nice it was definatley full of fat. You can see the fat bubbling away when you pan fry.

We also caught some silvers - Silver Perch (In a dam, banned in rivers & streams) which were around 1.2 to 1.6 kg & they were VERY tasty compared to the big Golden.

Now that I know better I release any big Perch, Silver or Gold, and would only keep anything under 2kg. (Of course releaseing any under legals) Plus, big perch are the foundation of the population (Or so I'm told, stand corrected if someone knows better) so releasing the bigg'uns is good for future fish.

I have been told by a local who fishes both impoundmenst & he tells me Yellas from Windemere Dam don't taste as good as they do from Burrendong Dam. From what I've seen of Windemere it seems much clearer water than Burrendong so I'm not sure why the fish taste better at Burrendong. Perhaps it has something to do with Alge Blooms or something?

Just for the record, here's the legal bag lengths & limits for these two beauties.

Golden Perch (Yella Belly, Goldie etc)

Length - 30cm

Limits - 5 per day in streams, rivers or dams & impoundments

Silver Perch (Silvers)

Length - 25cm

Limits - 0 in streams & rivers

- 5 in stocked impoundments only

Yeh, thanks for that Mik. Like I said I'd like to do some more fresh water in the near future.

Regards

Jeff