▲TopMudgee Region Fishing Report – January 2008

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▲TopMerry New Year and Happy Christmas

I hope everyone had a good Christmas and planning a even better 2008. I know there are a lot of new rods, reels, lures, fly fishing outfits’ etc running around now after Christmas and am expecting a lot of new photos! From all reports I have got the fish are still really biting everywhere. I hope the rain continues and fills up the dams a little more.

Dunn’s Swamp and Windamere are still fishing well for Yellowbelly and Cod as is the lower Cudgegong. The Trout fishing will heat up again as the water clears. It’s a good time to be a fisherman in Mudgee!

▲TopWindamere Dam

Windamere is still really fishing well and the general response I have been giving to people when asking what they are biting on is anything that’s in the water! But on a serious note I have still been getting them on black or darker colour lipless crankbait lures and the baities have been doing well with yabbies.

It’s good to see the number of cod getting caught at the moment. There are a lot of juvenile fish emphatically grabbing lures as they are trolled past. Remember the legal minimum size for cod is now 55cm.

Over the past week I have been finding fish up in fairly shallow water as well as tight and high in the water column against steeper banks where there has been some flooded vegetation. I got a nice cod and a yellowbelly in the first 20 minutes of fishing the other day before I had even made it passed the first stand of timber at Windamere as you head left after the boat ramp. Both fish were caught within 2m of the bank.

I was visited by a couple of members from the Sea Bees Boating Club Inc from Sydney at the shop last week. They were heading up for an inner-club tournament and Windamere. Noticing our fishing competition leaderboard on the wall they produced photos of cod 2 members of the club had caught at a yellowbelly tournament they held late last year.

The first cod measured in at 102cm!! and the second fish a massive 125cm!! Both fish were released. They were both caught trolling whilst targeting yellowbelly.

▲TopRe-stocking

I was chatting with 2 members of the Kandos-Rylstone fishing club recently and they informed me that had recently released 75,000 Golden Perch and 36,000 Murray Cod into Windamere recently. The results of their efforts such as these in the past are showing all the time with great captures recently at Windamere. One young bloke from their club landed a 40lb cod recently too. A top fish and well done to the club on their re-stocking efforts.

▲TopDunn’s Swamp

If anyone happens to be swimming or SCUBA diving at Dunn’s Swamp and come across a brand new couple of day old kids fishing rod there is one young local angler who would like it back. It seems his father who is a notorious local angler (and I’ll give you no prizes for guess who it is) thought he would place it in the water to see if it floated. It floated all the way to the bottom. Seriously, who would do that? Good work Peter. And no, that’s not made up, it’s a true story.

▲TopBurrendong Dam

I’m hearing some good reports coming out of Burrendong lately with the rising waters. One local angler who managed to launch a boat at the Mudgee end and putter down towards the main body of the dam caught some good Yellowbelly trolling large stump jumpers along the rocky banks. I also heard a report of a cod over 60 pounds being caught.Another bloke told me the fish were boiling in the newly flooded gullies as they chased food.

The Cudgegong Arm nearer the main basin is alsol fishing well at the moment; Yellowbelly to 51cm and silver perch up to 40 cm are being caught. Locals from over that way are using purple feral cat lures and red green jackals.

▲TopLower Cudgegong River

Ian Innes caught a nice cod at Lawson Park of all places during the week. It was caught on one of his green and black spinnerbaits in 3/8 size He said “I'ts my first Cod in the Cudgegong and i didn't know they were their this close to Mudgee.”

▲TopOther

▲TopCatch and Release Tips

With a lot of big fish being caught recently (and by demand of local anglers) I’m going to run something I put in a couple of months back. It is a set of tips for catch and release fishing. Although many anglers ay have the best intentions by catching a fish and then releasing it, if not done properly many of the fish will ultimately die which is the opposite of what was intended. These tips are endorsed by NSW DPI Fisheries:

To maximize a fish's survival when practicing catch and release, it is important to follow a few simple rules:

• Use methods and rigs that increase the frequency of mouth hooked fish (rather than gut hooked), for example:
• Target fish using artificial lures
• Choose non-offset circle hooks when using bait
• If the fish is hooked deeply, cut the line as close as possible to the fish’s mouth rather than removing the hook. Compared to removing swallowed hooks from bream and mulloway, simply cutting the line increased their short-term survival from 12% to more than 85%. Up to 76% of the released line-cut, gut-hooked bream then shed their hooks within around three weeks
• Minimize the length of time the fish is out of the water
• Ideally unhook fish while it is still in the water
• Try to remove hooks and release fish as quickly as possible
• The use of needle-nosed pliers or hook retrieving devices can greatly reduce time spent unhooking
• Remove hooks from mouth-hooked fish.
• Use fish-friendly landing nets with soft knotless mesh
• Avoid knotted landing nets which may damage the fish’s scales, skin, eyes and fins
• If live wells are used, maintain good water quality by using flow through, aerated system.
• Poorly designed live wells reduce fish survival – particularly silver trevally where survival dropped from 98% to 63%
• Other practices to help increase survival include:
• Use suitable tackle for the species that you are targeting and minimise the time spent to land the fish.
• Use barbless hooks or hooks with reduced barbs to make hook removal easier and minimise hook damage
• This can be achieved by squeezing barbs down with pliers, or filing down larger barbs
• Handle fish firmly and carefully. Avoid dropping fish onto the bottom of boats and other hard surfaces.
• Use wet hands or wet gloves when handling fish to minimise damage to its skin.
• A smooth, wet surface or vinyl covered foam is the most suitable surface to place fish on in order to remove hooks. Remember, many surfaces, especially metal, can become very hot in the sun.
• Do not hold fish by the gills or the eyes.
• Take care to revive fish upon release if they appear exhausted (struggling to hold themselves upright and/or unable to swim away)
• Gently hold or push the fish through the water so that it obtains a good flow of water over its gills. If there is any water current, hold the fish upright facing towards the current until it starts to show signs of recovery If you are going to take photos of your fish before release, support the fish properly.
• Use barbless hooks or flatten the barbs on your hooks
• Using circle hooks reduces gut-hooking and increases fish survival
• If a fish is hooked in the gut or gills cut the line rather than rip the hook out.
• Cheaper hooks will rust out quicker when the line is cut
• The least time spent un-hooking a fish the better
• Never put your fingers in the fish’s gills, never!
• Needless removal of hooks is the greatest impact on fish survival
• When using a braided line, always use a mono leader! Not only will braided line physically cut the fish, but having no stretch means it puts large amounts of pressure on a fishes jaw.
• Always wet your hands before touching a fish on handle fish smoothly.
• Never ever hold a fish only by the jaw, use your other hand to support the fishes body.
• Never squeeze the fish
• Try to buy a knotless net. E.G a rubber net.
• Support the majority of the fishes weight with your hands
• Use a comfort lift if not using a net
• Never use a keeper net for C and R
• Try to fight the fish as quickly as possible
• Never let a fish float off belly up, hold in the water upright and use your other hand to swoosh water of the fishes gills until it swims out of your hand.