Anglers are catching cricket scores of redfin in the local lakes. Most of the fish have been small but two anglers found a patch of larger fish at Tuggeranong and landed 30.

Murray cod and golden perch have been harder to come by, probably because redfin get to the lure first. Nevertheless a couple of nice specimens came from Burley Griffin and Gungahlin on lure and one medium-sized fish was caught in the upper Molonglo on bait.

Troll with the times

Eucumbene and Jindabyne fished well for trollers with lead core line and Tasmanian Devils and for bait anglers with bardi grubs, scrub worms and Power Bait.

Early morning, late afternoon and evening were the best times.

A man with a plan

The Chief Minister, Jon Stanhope, did a splendid job this week at Lake Ginninderra, launching the ACT Fish Stocking Plan for the next five years.

The plan outlines the Government's intention to stock Murray cod, golden perch, silver perch and rainbow trout in local streams and lakes. The plan also offers a pleasingly long-term commitment to maintaining fish stocks for recreational and conservation purposes in all of the waterways.

The launch coincided with the release into the lake of 15,000 Murray cod fingerlings.

The next round of stockings will include Murray cod for Burley Griffin and Gungahlin, golden perch for Ginninderra, Googong, Tuggeranong and Yerrabi and silver perch and rainbow trout for Googong.

Rich pickings

The big carp and redfin competition scheduled for Lake Burley Griffin on Sunday 15 February is shaping up to be the biggest and best ever, according to organiser Jim Seears. He has announced that prize money has been increased to just over $10,000. There will also be prizes for children.

The beaut thing about this competition is that it is designed as a day of family fun that doesnt necessarily require a lot of skill. That's because all of the prizes will be awarded for mystery weights, selected by the push of a computer button.

The person with a fish nearest to that mystery weight wins the prize. The prizes will be awarded for carp and redfin only and any native fish must be returned to the water.

To catch a carp or redfin all you need is a rod and line with a small running sinker rig and a hook full of tiger worms or scrub worms.

Tip of the week

Don't waste any fish you catch in the Carpathon. Redfin, even small ones, are delicious to eat and carp can be frozen or salted to use as delicious bait for flathead, snapper and morwong at the coast.

Dr Bryan Pratt is a Canberra-based ecologist