WA
Excellent spring fishing ahead FRESHWATER
Peter Fragomeni
There was a time when we would look forward to September because it was once the official opening of the trout season in WA.
I again witnessed this on a two week fishing trip down to the south of the state recently. The fishing was slow because of the swollen water, making it hard to get to the better areas to present a lure or fly to where the fish normally lie. I found using heavy jigs and
8lb fluorocarbon, resulting in recovering most of my tackle. Even the dams proved hard, as the high rainfall clouded the water to the extent that visibility was around 300mm in some waters. The few trout we ended up with were mostly wild
on farms growing avocados, although these dams would offer a great opportunity if they were stocked with trout and permission granted to fish them. I can see why our rivers suffer low water levels through the summer period in low rainfall years, as most of these catchments has been placed on vital springs that once fed the rivers. Most dams were full and overflowing well at that time, fortunately. I managed to visit the Pemberton Trout Hatchery and had a good chat to the manager Terry who has been running it for a number of years now. I have known Terry since the 90s when we electro fished one of our club dams, which was stocked with Tasmanian brown trout that were flown over as eyed ova and hatched at the hatchery
Bec Crossingham is a member of the Territory Women’s Hunting and Fishing Group and loves to get out and fish the freshwater south of Perth.
Little scenic farm dams offer some fantastic spring fishing if you are lucky enough to have access to one. Although most of the dams were open all year it was the streams that were closed for the trout spawning season. This has changed in recent times with the decision to abolish the trout closed season, so now we just look forward to the warmer days that September brings, and of cause the annual hatchery stocking of ex brood trout that are placed into our dams throughout the south of the state. The good news is the very wet winter has resulted in higher dam levels, also rivers flooded on many occasions this season. It’s something I haven’t seen since 1996, which happened to be the year I caught the state record rainbow trout in Pemberton. That year two other big trout were caught that nudged the 3.5kg rainbow that engulfed my fly in July.
soft plastics the better option as I could achieve better depth in the fast water, and it didn’t hurt the hip pocket when you snagged up on obstacles hidden by the high water. The weaker jig hooks tended to straighten when extreme pressure was applied to the
stock but lacked the condition of those on previous trips. This should change because high water means better food being available from the flooded areas of both rivers and dams alike. The redfin fishing was also slow for me, but other
Rainbow brood trout are held at the Hatchery in circular pond for two years, and are then released into our dams after being stripped of their eggs and milt.
Newly hatched rainbow trout fry being held at the Pemberton Trout Hatchery. There will be around 300,000 released this spring throughout the rivers and streams in the south of WA. anglers have been getting a few from different waters than the ones I’ve been fishing. Driving around the Pemberton area I was alarmed by the number of dams that have been placed
before being released into this particular dam. On my latest visit the staff had just finished the sorting of brown trout eggs, and although the numbers were down it seems they will have plenty for future stocking. They do a great job of providing us with trout in a marginal and sometimes hostile environment, with summer conditions not favourable to salmonoids in this part of the world. There were around 30,000 rainbow yearlings still in the ponds with 10,000 already stocked into the rivers and although still small,
PREDICTED DAM LEVELS Overall storage in our dams that allow public access and recreational activities is currently 52.3% as of the end of July, compared to 38.2% at the same time last year. This is a great turnaround, with huge rains falling in all catchments recently. Perth experienced its wettest July since 1958 with around 280mm but dwarfed the 1958 record of 450mm. I noted that Dwellingup just south of Perth recorded just over 400mm but although well above its July average of around 230mm it fell short of the 1946 record of 573mm for July.
Damian Gansekoele with a nice cod that fell to a 175mm Frillseeker fished slowly in the dark. 102
SEPTEMBER 2021
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to the rainbows. AUSSIE NATIVES Reports have been slow over the winter, but things should start to warm up in the coming months. I have a number of anglers asking me how the progress is going on stocking some of these species here in WA. The truth is I don’t actually know as it seems it’s been put in the too hard basket with all the red tape, and nobody is willing to pursue it. WAROONA DAM A few trout from last year’s stocking are still showing themselves, and with the brood stocking stepping
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Vince Gervasi from Prestige Tackle with a superb silver he landed on one of his many trips. These fish would offer some great summer angling if there was a controlled government stocking into selected WA impoundments. there are plenty going into our waters this year. The 500 brown broods look great as usual, and should offer some exciting sport to those lucky enough to land one this year. They are hard to produce in this state, so I encourage anyone who catches one to consider releasing it as they are known to survive better in our redfin waters, opposed
up it should improve through spring. Most of the popular lures are working but my advice would be if you are fishing from the shore then use something that will cast a long way. Water should be up so pay attention to the shallow areas, especially early in the morning and of an evening. Redfin are still being caught but not in the numbers
