The Power of One. Redfin are a school fish-find one and you'll usually find plenty.
IT WAS just a week or two ago I was up to midnight cleaning a massive bag of redfin. These are a great table fish but being a noxious introduced species that breed like rabbits there is no bag limit in most states and that's where the problem lies-you can end up with hours of cleaning work after your day out!
Funnily enough on the next two visits to the local lakes around Canberra a short session off the bank produced zip. A friend and I were laughing at the contrast...you would've bet on at least a few redfin. We blamed the cold miserable conditions and the shorter session that made it harder to locate the school.
Then at the weekend before last I got to go to Bathurst to watch my 12-year-old daughter's team play soccer. A sensational event and it was great to be able to watch sport like it should be ie seeing players with natural talent and love of a game. I'd much prefer this these days than a televised professional sport where we have been led to wonder if some of the sporting talent is actually chemistry talent!.
Of course I couldn't resist slipping out for a fish in between games so one of the dads and I checked out Ben Chiffley Dam. It was my first visit there, and what a scenic spot especially thanks to recent rains that greened the hills.
From inside the car I was pumped and most keen anglers feel the same when seeing new water for the first time it's like an all new toy shop to explore.
The time of the evening was perfect, but upon stepping out of the car the mood dropped it was cold windy beanie weather, not good for the golden perch I was after. It turned into a 30 minute lure washing session with a few laughs as to why we were even there!
The next day the conditions were the same, and again we only had a very short time in which to fish so we decided before hand our chances were slim and the pressure was relieved further the mood was great.
I had a swag of new lures to run through the water and check their action, while my mate stuck at practicing casting and the retrieving floating diving lures; a common technique for golden perch. He got pretty good at it and deserved a fish but was pumped just to learn the drill and take in the scenery.
If we had half a day and maybe the hobie to cover some water on the troll our chances of finding a few goldens or a school of redfin would've increased exponentially but we still had a great time seeing a new place.
There is still plenty of fish in the freezer, and it was particularly nice to come home without having loads of fish to clean I guess that's why they call it catching 'sweet' stuff all.
Coastal reports
In other fishing news the striped marlin bite continues to go reasonably well. Autumn is the best time to chase these fish on the south coast; when the weather comes good it usually does so for a few days and the marlin start to localize in areas boats will team up to help each other.
On the estuaries flatties have started to slow a little on the colder days but are still bitting well when conditions are warmer. Yellowfin bream and blackfish are in some estuaries tending to gather closer to the entrances.
Bait fishing for trout is picking up momentum at Jindabyne and Eucumbene. Expect at good bags of rainbows if you have several morning or afternnon sessions to play with. There has been some big browns in the mix including a freak 5.2 kilo brown from Yens Bay. Best technique is an artificial trout bait in honey worm (bardi grub), or blood worm (midge) flavor. Float these baits off the bottom on a running sinker rig, and tip them with a scrub worm or mudeye if you want to see bigger brown trout in your catch of rainbows.
See you on the water.
Rob Paxevanos
