Sweetwater Fishing Forums
General Category => General Discussion => Topic started by: Freshwater Newby77 on April 17, 2014, 05:42:58 PM
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Gidday all.Well the young bloke and I have been trying to catch bass around lowood/fernvale area,as regular readers would know,without any luck as yet.I saw on one of the posts asking about lures for bass,that fitzy said bass are rubbish eating.Being an ex bayside lad,I'm wondering if bream get that far (fernvale)up the river,or if not,what can we catch worth eating? We release pretty much every fish,but the young fella just wants to eat one that he's caught.cheers.Marty
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Nothing you catch above Mt. Crosby weir is worth eating except Forkies. Fillet them and get the stomach lining out and they are edible.
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Not in the Brisbane /Stanley system but Mangrove Jack are the best eating fish out of the Sweetwater these days.
BG
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There's mullet & tilapia in the river mentioned. Both are good eating.
Maybe 15 years ago I did catch a yellow fin bream in the the river near Fernvale.
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Yeah.I saw on the same post that you rrecommended tilapia fitzy(hope u don't mind me calling you that).
So they're declared a noxious pest but good eating eh?
Well thanks all for the input.I didnt know mullet was good eating either.The only thing iI've ever seen it used for was in a crab dilly.There you go,learn something new every day.Cheers.Marty.
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Yeah.I saw on the same post that you rrecommended tilapia fitzy(hope u don't mind me calling you that).
So they're declared a noxious pest but good eating eh?
Well thanks all for the input.I didnt know mullet was good eating either.The only thing iI've ever seen it used for was in a crab dilly.There you go,learn something new every day.Cheers.Marty.
Mullet
Next time you're at a tackle store check out a smoker for cooking mullet, best way to do them IMHO. Good luck catching them, there is an art to it, one which I'm only a novice.
Tilapia
Tilapia are noxious (which means bad for our environment) but are great eating. Only drawback is that it's illegal to keep one, but it's also illegal to let one go if you catch one..... What the...???? However I'm not aware of anyone ever being fined for taking one home for dinner. If I take the kids fishing & they catch any tilapia, the fish goes home & gets eaten & the heads go into the fire pit. Tilapia feed millions of people around the world.
Cheers
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Mate a good tip with anything from the freshwater, be it blue claw, red claw or any of the fish species, I soak the flesh in salt water for 2 hours or overnight.
It makes the world of difference to the flavour. That's my thoughts, others may have other recipes.
Gordon
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Cheers Gordon,& thanks Fitzy(always a fountain of knowledge).Yes,I saw that about tilapia,& thought "What the????" myself.Bloody govt.Make it clear as mud.
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I rarely eat freshwater fish but I do keep any yellas I catch in the river for friends who eat them.
Also convert them into mud crabs ;) very nice to eat.
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Spangled perch are amazing eating if you can get a good sized one
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Many people who are not used to freshwater fish do not like the taste. I grew up eating them so enjoy them.
I release all river fish and keep only a feed from the stocked impoundments.
I sprinkle a little salt on the fillets before freezing.
All fish depend on the water quality in which they were caught eg muddy watter = muddy fish
My rating of the best eating
1) Spangled perch
2) Bass
3) Eel-tailed catfish (never tried fork-tailed)
4) Golden Perch
Haven't tried cod or tilapia so can't comment on those.
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I cant eat seafood so it doesn't worry me but the young fella wants to eat a fish he's caught .Other than that,& the pests,we are strictly catch and release.Being land based,all we have managed so far,is a catfish and juvenile perch at hamon cove.
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The eating quality of fish also depended on the water they come from, or more specifically the food web within that waterway (lake, creek, river etc) . Eg lakes with boney bream in them tend to produce bigger fish, faster...but fish that feed on boney bream often taste terrible.
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Hey im new to the site so sorry for late reply im from nsw and the best eating fish is redfin just dont think you guys get them up there maybe you should go on holiday down here for some reddies as soon as you find one there will be hundreds as they school up big especially in dams/lakes my best trip would be 247 redfin in 7 hours
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Hi. I'm in the same boat (but shorebound)
What sort of places close to Qld border have those Redfin and how do you catch them?
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Hi im unsure as to how far north they are the furthest I know of is dubbo they are called redfin perch best lures are small soft plastics blades and tiny spinnerbaits but whatever tickles your fancy will catch these as they are super aggressive imagine piranhas without teeth its not uncommon to hook 2 fish on one lure
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Copeton Dam near Inverell is the closest the come to Queensland, thank Christ!
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Is that thank christ in a good way or a bad way? Lol and as for better ways to fish for them i use berkley or zman 2-2.5 inch grubs 1/8-1/4 oz blades 30-50mm lipless crank baits and pretty much all bream/bass subsurface lures such as atomic hards 1/8 spinnerbaits inline spinners used for trout pretty much any lure that represents baitfish insects yabbies or even baby redfin as they are canibals any colours will work but i like purples greens red and hot pink slow rolling the lures i find is the best retrieve or with the blades slow hopping works to i have even caught them on slow falling micro jigs and ps bass/bream gear is all thats needed for extra fun use a 1-3 kg rod and 4 lb braid they wont bust you off normally
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We don't need English Perch in Queensland. We have European Carp and Tilapia, that's enough feral species.
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We cant even get rid of the stupid redfin now and mate honestly if they were going to be in qld they would be there by now the only good things about them are they are fun to catch and eat apart from that they are good for nothing. I fish a dam here in central nsw where redfin have gotten rid of all other stocked species and the only thing left to eat is their own young yet the population is huge in there and they are pretty big in there i quite often use lures aimed at barramundi or murray cod to cull the bigger ones as for the qld part its probably to hot for them to survive there
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http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/fisheries/pests-diseases/freshwater-pests/species/redfin-perch (http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/fisheries/pests-diseases/freshwater-pests/species/redfin-perch)
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Thanks for all that info, especially the dpi link. its far better than the Qld site.
The Redfin are probably too far away for me but since I always have a rod in the ute I'll give it a go anytime I'm down that way :)
In the mean time we'll try find some carp west of the Gold Coast.
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Id wait a month and chase bass thats what im hanging for here I live 5-10 mins from the hawkesbury/nepean system and get alot of bass yea its to bad the redfin are far for you as I love eating them they are so sweet and can get big ones like they are the size of bass unless you find a stunted school
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Copeton Dam near Inverell is the closest the come to Queensland, thank Christ!
Last time I was at copeton in the summer we caught them by the hundreds on small bass sze lures, they gave my kids hours of entertainment
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That's cool. For the most part if something is happening that's all they need.
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Yea the lures I like most for land based redfin are any minnow style hbs used for bass and bream such as atomic hsrds up to 50 mm or 2-3 inch zman plastics or even blades if you can get down and find some populations of them on 1-4 kilo gear you will not regret it if you find them