Captain Pugwash

Can't argue with that champ. Calamari and Kingy for dinner! You beauty......

Thanks Neil Cheers Peter

Gidday fellow Raiders, I am looking for advice / assistance. I have a couple of dams on our family farm stocked with natives. The only fodder fish in them is bloody gambusia. I have also put in yabbies and shrimp but I would love to stock some Bony Bream in there. I have scoured the "net" looking for where to buy them but it seems impossible as there are so plentiful in the our western rivers. But I'm told that they are VERY difficult to catch / trap and die very easily if they are handled by humans. I was hoping someone might be able to steer me in the right direction on how I can source some. Cheers Peter

There are lots of redfin and small bass in the dam. I think Ivo is correct. The redfin breed in plague proportions, as do the carp. I believe there is insufficient natural food production to keep up with the amount of fish in the dam.

They don't go anywhere. I believe the dam is way overstocked with bass and also has thousands of redfin which breed like rabbits. There is not enough natural food to allow the fish to grow at normal rates. You do get the very occasional 30cm+ fish but there are hundreds of tiny ones in between. On the plus side it means they are quite aggressive lure takers!

I don't know of any other places in Sydney to chase Redfin.

There are lots of redfin in Manly Dam but generally they are quite small. They will take small hardbodies, plastics and bait. Cheers Pete

Great report. Well done lads

Well done. You'll always remember your first cod on a lure.

Well done Neil. I would so love to stock some trout cod in to my dams but at the moment they are not selling them to the public as they all go in to the rivers. Fair enough of course but I can't wait to get the opportunity to have my own little playground get another species!

There are plenty of bass in Manly Dam champ, mostly are fairly small. There are also redfin, silver perch and stinking carp. Use surface lures early morning and late afternoon. Very small divers and small blades during the day. Fish the edges and against the weed beds up the back of the dam. cheers Pete

I burley for silver perch in my dams with bread. It works a treat! i have also had success with bread bringing bass on the bite in Manly Dam. i have heard that dirt with chopped up worms works but i have never tried it. cheers pete

You will find carp anywhere in the nepean river champ.

100% agree with you Abecedarian. What i can also add is don't follow the nsw pdi guidelines. My dam is only about 3 acres and i put 4000 natives in there as well as the large population of catfish that was already there. Every fish i catch is as fat as a fool meaning there is heaps of food for them. The dam leaks badly and 50% of it is only a couple of feet deep. So as the level drops heaps of grass grows and when it fills again the fish go mad in the shallows. I stocked it with yabbies, freshwater prawns and shrimp. It is also teaming with gambusia which is not a native fish but they breed like rabbits so provide plenty of fodder for the fish. Cheers Peter

I have tinnies with electric motors on the dams. And yes I am living the dream. Cheers peter