Are garfish common in the Georges River

[SaltyGreek]

My mate, my brother and I recently caught a few garfish in the Georges. Only ever seen them in the system twice prior to this in Oatley bay and at como pleasure grounds. Are they common here because I thought you needed clean water and weed patches to catch them. Places like Shoal Bay at Port Stephens or Port hacking river where it’s clean water is where I’d expect to see garfish and are also places where caught garfish in the past but never in the Georges.

They weren’t the biggest fish btw. The three we got were around 20-25cm each.

Edited March 3, 2020 by SaltyGreek

[wazatherfisherman]

1 hour ago, SaltyGreek said:

My mate, my brother and I recently caught a few garfish in the Georges. Only ever seen them in the system twice prior to this in Oatley bay and at como pleasure grounds. Are they common here because I thought you needed clean water and weed patches to catch them. Places like Shoal Bay at Port Stephens or Port hacking river where it’s clean water is where I’d expect to see garfish and are also places where caught garfish in the past but never in the Georges.

They weren’t the biggest fish btw. The three we got were around 20-25cm each.

Hi SaltyGreek they might have been River Gars which are greener colour and a thicker body, as opposed to Sea Gars which are more of a light blue-ish tinge to their silvery sides

[noelm]

Most rivers and lakes have River Gars, as mentioned, they are a green colour, and the scales are quite firm, not fragile like a Sea Garfish, they are easy to catch, and taste OK, also pretty good bait.

[SaltyGreek]

This is what they looked like. I didn’t know that there were river gars. The only ones I’ve ever caught were eastern sea garfish which taste so good. However we did eat these and they tasted pretty good.

[masterfisho7]

You can get Garfish from a lot of places and are a top eating fish 

 

Edited March 3, 2020 by masterfisho7

[frankS]

Back in the day when I was a kid ,long, long time ago , the ferry used to go between Lugarno and Menai . As the ferry came to the ramp and the ramp of the ferry slid up the ramp of the roadway for the cars to get on/off it was sometimes packed with Garfish and I would be there with a bucket and run onto the ramp and gather up all the stranded garfish. The ferry operators knew me so gave me a minute or two before opening the gates to allow the cars to drive off.

So to answer your question Yes Garfish are OR were abundant in the Georges river.

Frank