WA
Trout and redfin are flourishing FRESHWATER
Peter Fragomeni
Things have been looking up in the freshwater scene here in WA in the way of trout and redfin. With the
the bottom and stirring mud. A fairly good fight followed and this was Wendy’s personal best in five years of fishing freshwater. I have only achieved two better redfin in five decades of fishing, with the
up in. This would be good news for those that opposed any stocking of east-coast native freshwater species to this state however, it is bad news for thousands of Western Australians that pay the highest freshwater
After suggesting a spot on the opposite bank, our camping neighbours Kody and Kye managed to get into some nice little redfin the next morning. decent late April rains and cooler temperatures, it seems freshwater anglers have been getting into some nice trout and redfin throughout the south-west of the state. I wasn’t so lucky on my trip to Wellington Dam recently with possibly the leanest session I have had in many decades. Although, trout were absent and redfin were hard to locate, we did manage to boat the biggest redfin in 20 years with an impressive specimen of 48cm. This redfin hit Wendy’s lure that showed up on the sounder sitting next to a log in 8m of water. After making a few passes over the spot it decided to hit the Poltergeist that was tapping
biggest going 50cm, caught at Harvey Dam back in the early 2000s when the dam first flooded. I also caught a similar size specimen on fly in the Pemberton town weir back in 1983. Others have done well around the Pemberton area with both trout and redfin turning up in most locations. AUSSIE NATIVES It’s been hard to come up with any good reports recently as most are keeping quiet about their ventures, and rightly so. The illegal stocking that took place a few years ago seemed to have failed, as I would imagine most would have fallen victim to the hordes of redfin that were present in the locations they ended
After three days of constant trolling, Wellington Dam released one of its treasures. This redfin hit Wendy’s lure in 8m of water and, at 48cm, it’s her personal best! preferably with plastics on a drop-shot rig. Glen Mervyn Dam Water very low but big redfin are there for the taking. Wellington Dam As reported earlier this
Redfin prey heavily on native marron and have no aquatic predators. Could the introduction of a predator species like golden perch or Murray cod actually help the marron stocks by reducing the redfin numbers?
Big well conditioned wild rainbow trout are available in some of our dams. The full tails result in great fighting fish on light gear. 104 JUNE 2023
fishing licence fees in the country, and have to endure with the poorest freshwater fishing in the continent. Having said that, the government is investing huge amounts of money to improve the trout hatchery with better guidance and technology. This will definitely give us better numbers and size categories of both rainbow and brown trout, however, it still won’t tackle the warming, drying climate that is predicted to take hold in the near future. The introduction of better suited species is the only answer, but then again who am I to know? DAMS Waroona Dam Reports continue to be scarce so hopefully I will have a better report next issue after spending a few days fishing this water in May. Drakesbrook Weir Local angler Jonah Chiera reports that surface activity has increased recently and a couple of anglers he was chatting to had caught a few rainbows around the 40cm mark. Even the redfin are
improving with some showing up around the edges towards dark. Light jigheads fished on 6lb braid is the key to get distance if you are shore based, patterns aren’t as critical but I would change up until you find what they are taking. Logue Brook Dam A couple of fly fishers from WATFAA fished the shallower bays and landed some nice rainbows on killer pattern fished on long fine leaders. Lure fishers didn’t fare so well. Harvey Dam Trout have gone quiet but plenty of redfin are turning up off the Causeways. Some bigger models are sitting deep around Quarry Bay and off Nicholson Point. Look for schools and fish to the depth they are sitting at,
water hides its treasures and only releases them to those that are patient and persistent. On my recent trip we trolled for three days and covered over 30km of water for only six redfin. In actual fact, I didn’t have a hit on
my rod until the fourth day, whereas Wendy had all the action on her rod, including her personal best redfin of 48cm. I’m not sure if she has the special touch, or the fact that her reel is spooled with 10lb braid, resulting in her lures getting down to where they were sitting, opposed to my 20lb braid restricting my lures achieving that depth. Even though we were using the same lures, hers were getting constantly snagged so it seems they were running deeper than mine. It wasn’t until the last day when we headed up the Collie arm next to the highway around the farmland and found a patch of redfin that were hitting shallow running lures trolled dead slow. There were a couple of young lads fishing next to our camp on kayaks with no luck, so we put them onto a spot on the opposite bank where we know the redfin were sitting. A quick visit to that spot resulted in a great little session for them, and they were all smiles with a dozen between them. Goes to show that you don’t need an expensive boat and electronics to catch fish. I was very disappointed with the trout fishing as not only they didn’t hit any of
Predicted Dam Levels for South West WA Overall storage in our dams that allow public access and recreational activities are currently 50.7% at the end of March compared to 58.9% as of the same time last year. Perth and the South West has experienced a record dry period, placing a huge strain on irrigation needs. Some very heavy rains fell in late March with mainly inland areas receiving the better falls. Our dams are very low and good rains are needed this winter. WAROONA DAM DRAKESBROOK WEIR LOGUE BROOK DAM HARVEY DAM WELLINGTON DAM GLEN MERVYN DAM BIG BROOK DAM
45% 92% 58% 55% 56% 35% 70%
