Canberra angler Lee Davis hooked a fish on a scrub worm last week in Lake Burley Griffin, near the Black Mountain boat ramp, and was mystified – what was it?
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Turns out it was an Australian bass, weighing about 650 grams and possibly two or three years of age. It was in perfect condition.
So how did it end up in Lake Burley Griffin? Bass have never been stocked in the lake and are not raised in hatcheries. Only native fish are destined for stocking the lake.
They do not occur in any of the rivers in the immediate region, but are common in south-coast streams where they spend part of the year in fresh water but must migrate to salt water to breed.
One suggestion is someone has been stocking the lake, without permission, which is illegal and dangerous to the local ecology. It's surprising the fish survived Canberra's cold winter.
The ACT Government has and presumably will investigate to determine if more bass are present in the lake.
Burrinjuck goldens active
Golden perch in Burrinjuck Reservoir have continued their spring burst of activity, moving from the main body of the reservoir to upstream sections of the Goodradigbee, Yass and Murrumbidgee rivers.
The best catches have been made in the Goodradigbee Arm upstream from Wade Island and in the Murrumbidgee Arm, around Good Hope and Hume park, while just a few have shown as far upstream as Taemus Bridge.
Most have been taken on scrub worms, live yabbies and shrimps fished close to shore, but some anglers have done well on lures. One angler at Bloomfields tried a variety of lures to nil effect then switched to the renowned Burrinjuck Special and landed six fish. Others landed a few on bibless minnows.
There has been reports of improved catches of catfish in Wyangala Reservoir recently. Anglers fishing the Abercrombie Arm with scrub worms caught plenty. They also caught some golden perch up to 52 centimetres, on yabbies.
Local goldens hungry
Satisfying numbers of golden perch have shown in Ginninderra, Tuggeranong, Burley Griffin and Googong, taking lures, yabbies and scrub worms. Best lures have been Hogback, bibless minnows and medium-sized deep divers.
The fish are feeding just outside the weed beds during the day but move into the shore to feed at night.
That augurs well for the Pride of the Perch competition scheduled for Burley Griffin on Sunday. Latecomers can register on the day at the lake, at the Black Mountain boat ramp.
Fishing was tough going at the recent Snowy Mountains Trout Festival. Bait anglers who put in the hours in Jindabyne and Eucumbene caught fish on Power Bait and scrub worms but catches generally were pretty lean.
Fly anglers landed a few fish but there was no pattern to rising and feeding fish. Best results were with dark tungsten nymphs, mudeye patterns and medium-sized dark woolly buggers. Trollers probably caught the most fish, using Tasmanian devils, blades and small minnow patterns.
Jervis Bay worth visit
Kingfish, salmon, tailor and trevally have shown consistently in catches in Jervis Bay and surrounding areas in the past two weeks, taken on lures and bait. The best of the kings fell to live squid, caught on the western side of the bay.
St Georges Basin also fished well, including good catches of bream and flathead and snapper up to 48cm. Some nice mulloway up to 12 kilograms were taken on live bait and soft plastics.
Mulloway experts fishing during the night around Batemans Bay have landed some excellent fish. Some have been taken under the Batemans Bay road bridge but the rest came from secret spots.
Among the catches, John Hilyer's 25kg and 30kg fish are going to be hard to beat.
Bryan Pratt is a Canberra ecologist.