queensland NPD 22/7/09.

[rayke1938]

Went there this morning with neighbor who had never been freshwater fishing before.It was a nice morning glassed out till around 10.30 when breeze got up.

Graham and John also went up in Grahams boat.

I got a nice fat yella on the faithful napjaru and John got a 51cm bass also on napjaru. Couldn't raise a nibble on bait once again but at least I managed to break the donut cycle.

The redclaw were very scarce for me but Graham managed around 50 out of his pots. He had same bait as I plus some potato that he had par-boiled in brown sugar.

Wont be back there till next week as off to Esk on Friday for multicultural festival.

Cant make up my mind what I want to do have option of watching morris dancers or taking lump of masonite and a tin of paint and watching paint dry.

Cheers

Ray

[Rocket75]

two nice fish there Ray, that yella is a hefty specimen

wonder if the absence of redclaw and the lack of bites on bait is related...maybe an effect of the flooded banks are rotting ?

any other theories ?

take the paint I reckon...just do it in a well ventilated area or you may start enjoying it

[Feral]

Cultural festival at Esk? - Be strange to see Morris Dancers wearing flannies!

Take a couple of handfuls of size 12 trebles, make the morris dancing much more interesting!

[EMP]

Damn. I think I want to quit my job.

Fat fish there, Ray.

EMP

[Little Grey Men]

Thats a nice beefy lookin' yella Ray, interesting colour as well.

[shayned]

Come clean Ray, I know you're just going to see if you can find some young ladies who perform the national folk dances of Poland.

[rayke1938]

Back to fishing the yella had nothing in its stomach and it was hooked in the side of its head. The last yella that I caught was also head hooked. I wonder if they are only headbutting the lures as an annoyance reaction as I got about 4 other small hits with no hook up during day and the neighbour was the same.

Cheers

Ray

[Dinodadog]

you are on the money there Ray, over the last 2 weeks I have had heaps of hits without hookups where they seem to give it a side swipe as it goes past. When they are hungry they realy whack it.

[chris_stewart14]

I got a letter from the PRFMA today saying they are concerned with the lack of littlies in the dam and lack of bait. Is there a regulation on how many red claws people can take? They seem to be coming out of our little stretch in their tens of kilo's per day. Great Yella!

How long does it take a Bass or Yella to reach 50cm?

[rayke1938]

50 cm bass is aprox 15 years old. No regulations on numbers of redclaw in waters outside of their natural habitat.

The dam appears to be full of shrimp judging by numbers we get in redclaw pots.Quite often outnumber redclaw.

[Little Grey Men]

Yella's grow faster than bass and attain much bigger sizes. I'm not sure how much faster they grow. Shayne....you there ?

[Do$tylz]

thats a good yellow there Ray.

Interesting to know that the potatoes seemed to have made the difference in the red claw haul.

And whats the go with the catches or bass being less??? wasn't it this time last year (or the year before) that people were catching them non-stop on metal slices??

[shayned]

As far as I understand it, the growth rate varies between strains, sexes and individual fish, of course, amount of food available is a factor too.

Attached are photos of the three strains, the rule of thumb is that Murray-Darlings tend to be more golden, Fitroy Dawson are darker and Lake Eyre are silver and elongated. To confuse things a little I think early in the stocking efforts some of these strains where crossed for release into impoundments although this practise should no longer occur. It is also thought that the gold colour can be achieved via manipulation of diet and conditions.

According to Brett Herbert from DPI&F males grow faster earlier but the females catch up around 9 months.

At around 14 months they average around 600gms but with significant variances between individuals ie weights will vary between 300gms and a kilo. Apparently fast growers can be identified during the weaning process, the individuals which easily wean and accept varied food sources have the best growth rate.

This supports aqua culturists reports that in some lakes Golden Perch can reach legal size 12 months after stocking, easily outstripping Bass and in some reports even performing better than Silver Perch. Reportedly Goldens can add around 400gm per year after the first year and the girls tend to grow larger than the lads, leaving them behind after the second year. The largest ever reported capture was in the 1930's and reportedly went over 20kg's cleaned. A 13kg specimen was recorded in a Qld impoundment at a comp a couple of years ago.

DPI Victoria report Goldens will grow well in farm dams and can acheive an overall length around 43cm in 5 years. The longest reported golden reached 75cm.

Murray Darling Top And Lake Eyre Bottom

[shayned]

Next Photo, Murray-Darling Top of image, Fitroy Dawson Bottom

[Brian D]

Ray the deckie - turn it up.

Did you bring John back or did you chuck him?

[rayke1938]

Little Grey Men wrote:

Thats a nice beefy lookin' yella Ray, interesting colour as well.

The colour is a bit flat probably due to camera flash and being against dark carpet in boat in the sun she was lovely bright yellow.

Also with regards to Shaynes remarks about colour the ones we used to get out of the Thompson at Longreach were quite pale.

That was over 50 years ago which would have been before any stocking influence. The ones out of Dogwood creek and the Condamine around Miles in the same era were quite yellow.Never really noticed any difference between the Dawson River ones at Taroom and the ones from around miles but then again I never took much notice.

Cheers

Ray

[yellahunter]

Onya Ray thats a cracker yella

pretty fish they are, definately one of my favs,

mate dont worry about not gettin em on bait,

who baitfishes when your getting em on lures

I got one of those napjarus but havent given it a swim as the Hinze bass just love spinnerbaits

cheers

Ben

[shayned]

rayke1938 wrote:

Little Grey Men wrote:

Thats a nice beefy lookin' yella Ray, interesting colour as well.

The colour is a bit flat probably due to camera flash and being against dark carpet in boat in the sun she was lovely bright yellow.

Also with regards to Shaynes remarks about colour the ones we used to get out of the Thompson at Longreach were quite pale.

That was over 50 years ago which would have been before any stocking influence. The ones out of Dogwood creek and the Condamine around Miles in the same era were quite yellow.Never really noticed any difference between the Dawson River ones at Taroom and the ones from around miles but then again I never took much notice.

Cheers

Ray

Sorry nearly forgot, there may be another distinct strain from the Bullo-Bancania area, the other rule of thumb is that the Murray-Darling Strain grows the biggest but the f

Fitzroy-Darling strain is a better strain for angling,which is why I think the strains used to get crossed by breeders.

[Feral]

Looks about right with the breeds there Shayne, here is a Yella I caught in the Barcoo in about 1990 (Lake Eyre system). Looks identical to the colours in your photo.

My notes say this one was 70cm, but no brag mat shots in those days, it definitely weighed 7lb. (It was all about weight in those days, length was not much of a concern)I've caught impoundment yella's of about 45cm that weighed that much!)

[faulked]

jeez when did you get on to the reverse aging process feral your looking great these days compred to 20 yrs ago

jason

[shayned]

Thanks Feral,

Nothing to say What I think is right but nice to get some real fead back which supports part of it. Aiways willing to change my mind if the evidence is ok though.