Gippsland Lakes

GIPPSLAND LAKES Brett Geddes

b.geddes@bigpond.com For this report I’m going to update you on the local bass, but be prepared because the numbers will impress you, and one fish in particular is the biggest bass I’ve heard of in these parts.

It’s fair to say the bass stocking here in Gippsland has been a huge success story, but it’s also interesting that a few much bigger and older fish that have been around since before stocking are also showing up.

BRUISER BASS

For the last decade bass have become a major focus for anglers, particularly in locations like Lake Glenmaggie, and the upper reaches of rivers including the Macalister, Latrobe, Nicholson, Tambo, Avon, Thomson and especially the Mitchell.

With two years of increased stream flows it seems the bass have responded in a big way. While chasing bream and perch I’ve been so excited to see bass turn up in sizes that shocked me. Over the last few months, I’ve even beat my PB twice with a 51cm fish and then soon after with a 52cm fish!

These are stunning fish that I never thought I’d ever catch, especially in areas where historically I only caught estuarine species. Other anglers fishing local streams have also recently returned bass from 36-48cm and every one of those fish have been in absolutely incredible condition. I don’t just mean fat and round, but you can tell they are fast growing fish with a tiny head attached to robust, muscular bodies. They look almost weird, but it proves they are living in a very healthy environment. This brings me to the biggest local bass I’ve ever heard of, that actually came in as a by-catch!

COMMERCIAL

CARP ZAPPERS

Peter Ingram lives in Sale and is our local legend when it comes to harvesting pesky introduced fish. He hauls in European carp using an electrified net that stuns the fish from the platform of his 9m aluminium punt.

The stunned fish are placed into bins of oxygenated water and then packed into an ice slurry. Peter sells fresh carp to the Sydney and Melbourne fish markets and even turns some of them into an amazing fish sauce. He has harvested the pests from many local areas, including the Tambo River and even near Hollands Landing, but lately has had his best success in the Latrobe.

His workmate Wayne Dredge has been taking some ripper photos and sending them to me. I’ve followed the boys while they work the river edges for a few hours at a time fishing from my kayak and it’s an amazing process. Every so often a native fish like perch, bream or bass will briefly come to the surface before it’s quickly released.

Over the last few years Peter says bass have increased in huge numbers across the Gippy Lakes and recently some recordbreaking fish have appeared. He showed me pictures of an incredible 62cm bass that left me dumbstruck and speechless. To think these fish live just 10 minutes from my doorstep has caused me many sleepless nights.

Oh sure, I’ve caught them here at 46-47cm and just recently a healthy 43cm bass, but nowhere near 60cm, or god forbid any bigger! I looked up the biggest Aussie bass and found a 57cm fish at 4.45kg from Lake Somerset in Qld caught by Dan McCoy. Wikipedia tells me the maximum size in rivers appears to be escaped stocked dams over the last 30 years or so.

Of most interest to me is that Peter says these days there are big numbers of much smaller golden perch, and so they are now breeding in the local area. I know of just a few gun anglers who

Is this the biggest bass ever from the Gippy Lakes? Peter Ingram holds up a 62cm bass just before release, which was probably close to 5kg in weight! Declan Betts is not just a gun bream angler, and managed to land a cracker Lake Wellington bass to prove it.

have caught them on rod and reel and eventually I hope to bump into one.

LOOKING AHEAD

After so much rain and high stream flows again this spring, get ready for yet another bumper spawning run for our bream. I noticed back in mid-August that bream were already spawning, and that was extremely early for these parts.

That tells me the bream will probably have two breeding runs this year, and further bolster our growing bream stocks. Expect big schools of bream in the upper Mitchell and Nicho rivers over the next few months.

Right now the dusky flathead will be waking up and moving down towards the Metung area where you will also find truckloads of whiting waiting for you.

around 2.5 kg and 55 cm in Southern NSW waters, and around 3kg and 60–65cm in northern waters. At any rate, this beast from the Latrobe is up there with the best bass in the country, and possibly over 30 years old.

What’s more, just a few days later Wayne sent me pictures of Peter holding up a Latrobe River yellowbelly that also looked every bit of 60cm long and about 5kg. Yes, you read that correctly, golden perch right here in the Gippy Lakes, and he has caught them a lot bigger! This is definitely far away from their native range of the Murray-Darling system, but I’m quite sure they have

LAKES ENTRANCE

Steven

Pryke The bluegreen algae grasp over the Gippsland lakes has continued to grow in strength, with an algae warning along the 90 Mile Beach and throughout the Gippsland lakes. Everyone has been encouraged to reduced contact with our local waterways, and unfortunately this has had a major impact to the town in recent times. Hopefully it won’t be long and the algae will clear up and everyone can return to fishing and enjoying the Gippsland lakes.

LAKES ENTRANCE

With the current algae situation the local fishing scene has been pretty quiet. Some anglers have ventured out though, and the Metung Yacht Club has been a popular spot for bream lately. Anglers have had great results fishing metal blades around the base of the jetty. A good sounder has been very handy as the bream have been moving up and down the wharfs, so locating them can be one of the hardest tasks. Once you have located these schools, dropping a metal blade close to the structure or school, and slowly working it back to the boat has been a deadly approach.

Silver trevally have been a common by-catch lately, and these fish find it very hard to say no to a wellworked blade. LAKE TYERS

The lake seems to be getting better and better lately. At the time of writing the water temp has dropped down to 13°C but masses of bream remain on the flats and have been destroying minnow-style hardbodies and soft plastics. It’s the most consistent I reckon I’ve seen the bottom lake fish, with most days seeing me land 20+ bream with the majority ranging from 35-40cm.

After a few red hot sessions lately I’ve found myself going back to the same couple of lures each time. The Atomic Shiner 45 and Atomic Jerk Minnows have been highly productive, along with the old Squidgy Flick Baits or Ecogear Aqua fished very lightly weighted and cast up into the shallows, or cast towards any active fish you can see.

With the water temps getting colder and colder it’s hard to say how long this brilliant edge and flats bite will remain. Personally, I haven’t been fishing anything deeper than 1.5m lately; some fish have even been coming out of 20cm water on clear sand flats, or sight fished as they grub around on the bottom. HAVE YOU

BEEN FISHING?

If you have been out for fish lately and have a great pic, please send it to stevenprykefishing@gmail. com with a short description, and you could be featured in an upcoming edition of Fishing Monthly.

Bream have been biting well on hardbodies and soft plastics.