land_based_fish0316 Posted December 12, 2014 Share Posted December 12, 2014 Hey Guys My Brother has recently purchased land at Razorback in NSW. On this property is a Dam/Lake that is approx 14 acres in size. We have taken a depth at the deepest point we could find and that is approx 10mtrs. The water is extremely clear and I think that is due to all the vegetation under the water. It also has around maybe 20 old dead trees coming up out of the water spread across the dam. We are looking to stock the dam and I was wondering if anyone had any good suggestions on where to start as we have never done this before. I thought maybe starting with yabbies would be a good idea to get them up and running and giving the future stocked fish as well as our selves something extra to eat. I have had a couple of traps in the dam already a couple of times and a couple of over nighters and had no success with yabbies which I thought was a bit strange. Fish well we were looking for types that will breed in the dam thinking the likes of gold and silver perch. also I am thinking that there would have to be eels in this dam as it is huge. birds will also play there part as they are already perched in the old dead trees coming out of the water. Any suggestions on where to start and what would be good suggestions for future success. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 12, 2014 Share Posted December 12, 2014 silvers are perfect and bass are great but wont breed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
W4z Posted December 12, 2014 Share Posted December 12, 2014 Hey mate, have a look at this info pack by DPI. http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0019/40663/Fish-in-farm-dams.pdf Some really good information in there. Things like they suggest stocking bass east of the divide, or golden, silver perch or murray cod west of the divide. Although they recommend that, it would depend on if you want fish that will breed in there or if you are happy to keep stocking (ie with bass). Also suggests first putting in some kind of small species to start the food chain. Local is meant to be best. Does anyone know the legalities of using a net in a creek to collect small fish? I've heard of people doing it but don't know if it's allowed. (Mostly for fish for their aquarium) I'd be really keen to hear how you go with it all. Can you keep us posted? Cheers and good luck Luke Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
W4z Posted December 12, 2014 Share Posted December 12, 2014 Another interesting thing is that when calculating how many fish to stock a dam with it goes off the surface area of the dam rather than the volume of water. They say this is because it doesn't matter how deep the water is, it will still have roughly the same amount of food available to the fish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luderick -angler Posted December 14, 2014 Share Posted December 14, 2014 One thing with golden perch is if they eat all the yabbies etc they turn vegetarian and become almost impossible to catch in a dam! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
W4z Posted December 15, 2014 Share Posted December 15, 2014 Is there many reeds in the dam? Big fan like that and I'm thinking there would be a lot of habitat for smaller bait fish (like some galaxia or smelt or something) to hide in if you can find them and give them a chance to breed up first. Might be best to find the closest hatchery to you and have a chat with them. I'm sure they'd have plenty more of info on the subject Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bessell1955 Posted December 16, 2014 Share Posted December 16, 2014 I have stocked our dam with yabbies. I have placed 1000 of them in it but not one survived. They did not like the environment. I don't know what went wrong. I thought eels may have eaten them so I had a professional eel trapper net the dam. He did not catch one eel. He also netted two other dams nearby, again with a negative result, I gave up trying to stock the dam. I hope you have a far better result. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Pugwash Posted April 5, 2015 Share Posted April 5, 2015 Hey champ, I have a farm at Camden which is very close to Razorback. I have dams with Murray Cod, Golden Perch, Silver Perch, Bass and Catfish. Out of these only catfish breed prolifically in dams. They say cod will but it is rare. The others will never breed in dams. One reply suugests yellowbelly turn vegetarian but that is incorrect. Silvers do become vegetarian but they certainly still bite on worms, etc. I would defintely put yabbies, shrimp, freshwater prawns and baitfish in there for a full year before introducing fish. 14 acres is a massive dam so i would be inclined to stock all the species mentioned above. The only rule you need to follow is to make sure the dams overfow is netted so that western nsw species cannot escape into the local river system. If you wanted to go for a lesser number of species i would suggest catties, silvers and bass. The catties breed which provides heaps of food for the others. The cormarants will be a major problem. Best you can do is provide plenty of cover for the fish like pushing trees into the dam and throwing drums with the ends cutoff into the shallows. If you want any more info please contact me. Cheers Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shred Posted April 6, 2015 Share Posted April 6, 2015 Hey champ, I have a farm at Camden which is very close to Razorback. I have dams with Murray Cod, Golden Perch, Silver Perch, Bass and Catfish. Out of these only catfish breed prolifically in dams. They say cod will but it is rare. The others will never breed in dams. One reply suugests yellowbelly turn vegetarian but that is incorrect. Silvers do become vegetarian but they certainly still bite on worms, etc. I would defintely put yabbies, shrimp, freshwater prawns and baitfish in there for a full year before introducing fish. 14 acres is a massive dam so i would be inclined to stock all the species mentioned above. The only rule you need to follow is to make sure the dams overfow is netted so that western nsw species cannot escape into the local river system. If you wanted to go for a lesser number of species i would suggest catties, silvers and bass. The catties breed which provides heaps of food for the others. The cormarants will be a major problem. Best you can do is provide plenty of cover for the fish like pushing trees into the dam and throwing drums with the ends cutoff into the shallows. If you want any more info please contact me. Cheers Peter[/quote far out mate sounds like your house is the place to be! caught any good sized cod out of them? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Pugwash Posted April 9, 2015 Share Posted April 9, 2015 Yeah it's pretty awesome. Biggest Cod was 117cm. Bass to 56cm. Silvers and yellas to 5kgs. Cheers Pete Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hucho hucho Posted April 9, 2015 Share Posted April 9, 2015 What do you think about rainwater or brown trout? Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Pugwash Posted April 16, 2015 Share Posted April 16, 2015 We tried trout many years ago and were very UNsuccessful. The cormorants hammered them much more than the natives. I believe that this was probably due to the trout living near the surface more so than natives. AND they couldn't handle the summer water temps. You didn't mention how deep the dam is but it would need to be quite deep to have enough cooler water for them to survive in summer. You would also have to be careful in when you stocked them if you were also putting natives in. Trout fingerlings are much bigger than natives and they would hammer them if put in at the same time. Personally I'd go with Cod, yellas, slivers, bass and catties. Every time you cast you never know what you're going to get! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hucho hucho Posted April 16, 2015 Share Posted April 16, 2015 Yes, that's true. Trout would need very deep water during hot season. 10 m plus maybe? Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PRED-ATOR Posted April 16, 2015 Share Posted April 16, 2015 Hey champ, I have a farm at Camden which is very close to Razorback. I have dams with Murray Cod, Golden Perch, Silver Perch, Bass and Catfish. Out of these only catfish breed prolifically in dams. They say cod will but it is rare. The others will never breed in dams. One reply suugests yellowbelly turn vegetarian but that is incorrect. Silvers do become vegetarian but they certainly still bite on worms, etc. I would defintely put yabbies, shrimp, freshwater prawns and baitfish in there for a full year before introducing fish. 14 acres is a massive dam so i would be inclined to stock all the species mentioned above. The only rule you need to follow is to make sure the dams overfow is netted so that western nsw species cannot escape into the local river system. If you wanted to go for a lesser number of species i would suggest catties, silvers and bass. The catties breed which provides heaps of food for the others. The cormarants will be a major problem. Best you can do is provide plenty of cover for the fish like pushing trees into the dam and throwing drums with the ends cutoff into the shallows. If you want any more info please contact me. Cheers Peter Living the dream mate! that sounds like an awesome set up. all i got is a bloody fish tank lol. Do you get out on a kayak or just land base it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NaClH2OK9 Posted April 16, 2015 Share Posted April 16, 2015 Fish tank?? That's luxury. We have t' stand around a puddle in t' back garden. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Pugwash Posted May 26, 2015 Share Posted May 26, 2015 Living the dream mate! that sounds like an awesome set up. all i got is a bloody fish tank lol. Do you get out on a kayak or just land base it? I have tinnies with electric motors on the dams. And yes I am living the dream. Cheers peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amkr Posted May 26, 2015 Share Posted May 26, 2015 (edited) Fish tank?? That's luxury. We have t' stand around a puddle in t' back garden. Puddle? You were lucky to have a Puddle! We used to have a rain drop, all hundred and twenty-six of us. we were all huddled around one rain drop waiting for the fish. Edited May 26, 2015 by amkr 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abecedarian Posted May 26, 2015 Share Posted May 26, 2015 Yes, that's true. Trout would need very deep water during hot season. 10 m plus maybe? Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk He states in the original post that it's about 10 metres deep. Freshwater tends to be unfavorable to fish much deeper than that due to reduced oxygen diffusion capacity and buildup of other unfavorable dissolvable gasses. Brown trout may be ok, they are a bit more hardy than rainbows but success may be limited. Other species mentioned would be a better alternative. As for carrying capacity, the slope of the banks counts as well. If they're steep then there tends to be less evaporative loss in times of drought which means more water available. But being steep limits the amount of vegetation that can be supported as light supply fades quickly. So carrying capacity becomes a balance of volume, surface area, agitation/oxygenation (a small creek supplying the dam would be better than a static dam) and the quality of the banks. Mind you, just throw them all in and what survives is the correct number... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Pugwash Posted May 29, 2015 Share Posted May 29, 2015 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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
W4z Posted May 30, 2015 Share Posted May 30, 2015 Any update on your dam stocking Land Based Fish? I'm interested to hear how it goes. Fingers crossed I will be trying the same thing in the next couple of years Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now