They’re not our most glamorous freshwater species, but redfin certainly keep a lot of Canberra anglers entertained virtually year-round.
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You don’t have to venture far at the moment to find a few hungry reddies eager to snaffle a lure or bait.
Lake Burley Griffin is the hotspot, with redfin of all shapes and sizes biting across the lake. Small soft plastics, vibes and deep divers will entice fish at any time of the day.
Autumn is when larger fish start rearing their heads. A slowly worked plastic or vibe, fished in the deeper sections of the lake or around weed edges, could easily produce a 40cm-plus reddie.
Don’t discount the city’s smaller waterways either.
Almost every suburban pond contains redfin these days - the result of deliberate (and highly illegal) stockings or the accidental transfer of fry and eggs by birds.
There’s a pond 100 metres from my house that I walk or ride past on a daily basis. It’s about a quarter of the size of a football field and very shallow – yet it’s teeming with redfin.
I only found out when I saw a couple of local kids pulling fish after fish from the pond on deep-diving lures. There are some big fish in there, too!
Golden perch are also on the move in Burley Griffin as the mercury dips.
They’re holding in tight schools around submerged structure, mainly out in the middle of the lake.
They’re of good average size, with some around the 50cm mark – and even bigger!
You can’t beat a vibe, metal blade or soft plastic fished deep to tempt these fish. You may even encounter a Murray cod or two as bycatch.
Significant rain on the south coast this week is good news for estuary anglers.
While the falls weren’t heavy enough to open any of the closed systems, a minor flush-out will help reinvigorate the fishing, which has been pretty steady anyway.
Bream fishing has been the stand-out. Good numbers of solid fish are coming from around Tuross on soft plastics and vibes. A few of these fish are genuine 1kg bruisers and terrific sport on light tackle.
Speaking of bream, it was worrying to see so many mature fish perish recently in two separate fish-kills in estuaries in the far south.
The fish deaths, at Wallagoot Lake near Tathra, and, more recently, tiny Meringo Lake at Moruya, were caused by extreme heat and low oxygen levels. Mullet, blackfish and eels also died.
Both these lakes have been closed to the ocean for a long time and it’s a sobering reminder of what could happen to other estuaries if the severe drought persists
