Two Dream fish in one trip!

[Member]

Lake Windamere producing once in a lifetime catches!
It’s not often that an angler is lucky enough to bag the fish of a lifetime, but Chris Bird recently bagged two in the one trip!Casting lures, Chris managed to boat the two thumpers by casting Lipless Crank Baits towards the shore line, with the 595mm Silver Perch reportedly hitting the lure, a Jackall in Aussie Prawn Colour, right on the shore line as soon as the cast touched down.
The whopping 606mm Yellowbelly also scoffed a Lipless crank bait, this time a Strike Pro, in 5 metres of water just off the bottom. Well done to Chris and thanks very much for the great photos.  We look forward to hearing about your next trip to Windamere.
All the facts: Lake Windamere
With an altitude of 531 metres, Lake Windamere was constructed in 1984 and has a surface area of 1030 hectares, or 2668.7 acres. It has a maximum depth of 55m with an average depth of 20m.
Lake Windamere has been well stocked over the years with Murray cod and Silver perch, and is world famous for consistently producing massive Golden perch, which are perhaps even the biggest in the country.
Catfish also call the dam home, but they were indigenous to the Cudgegong River prior to the dam's construction. Rainbow and brown trout were also introduced into Windamere in 1984, but this stocking attempt failed due to the high water temperatures during the summer months. Very rarely Freshwater Blackfish is also caught in Windamere Dam.
There is coin operated boom gate access via the Cudgegong Waters Park, and camping is permitted at the dam. The only boating restrictions that apply at Lake Windamere is an exclusion zone around the dam wall.
Matt Hansen.

[Member]

Awesome fish! They look great. Good effort.

[Member]

Great fish Matt, thanks for sharing.

Kind of kills the myth of not being able to catch silvers on lures.

Both fish are most definately trophy fish, well done to Chris.

Cheers Dave

[Member]

Wow, what a pair of stonkers.  That Silver is awesome.

[Member]

Those are awesome fish 

Great information there Matt. 

fitz..

[Member]

Hey fitz,
Much of that info came from sweetwater... Its amazing what you can find on this site... And on the net in general!

I have just been down the main street of Dubbo and the flooding is simply astounding! The visitor infomation centre, shopping centre carparks, and much of the main strip of the CBD is now under water! They are just calling on the radio to evacuate much of Coonamble by 8pm tonight..... Simply mayhem across Central NSW...And the thunder rolls as I type....
Cheers, Matt

[Member]

Exceptional daily double.
My congrats.
Windi has long held a mother lode of big silvers - and pod gutted goldens that are the heavy-weight lifters of the clan.
BTW  how's the algae at Windi?
I 'm planning to call in in the next coupla weeks.
The pic is a bit of a blast from the past.Silvers that size have you wondering whatr the hell you've hooked...pull like blazes!
(I know the bloke pretty well who wrote the first ever stuff in a national magazine in Windermere)

[Member]

Harro,
Has been a red alert issued recently for both Burrendong and Windy. Here is an extract from our local rag last Tuesday...
People need to be on high
alert for algae in dam
A high alert Red Level Warning for
blue-green algae at Burrendong Dam
was issued yesterday by the Central
West Regional Algal Coordinating
Committee.
Routine monitoring by State Water
and NSW Office of Water detected
high numbers of potentially toxic
blue-green algae at Burrendong Dam.
Red Level Warning indicates that
waters are unsuitable for recreational
use and may also pose a threat to livestock.
This alert is in addition to the existing
red level warning at Windamere
Dam.
Boiling the water does not make it
drinkable as the species of blue-green
algae identified is potentially toxic
and may cause gastroenteritis in
humans if consumed and skin and
eye irritations after contact.
Local residents and visitors should
avoid any water that appears bright
green, where obvious green scums are
present, or a distinctive odour is
noticeable.
Blue-green algae are usually very
obvious, appearing as clumps or
specs in the water and are often associated
with a strong musty or earthy
odour.
People are advised not to enter the
water, and are further advised not to
drink untreated water or bathe in
water from the river while a Red Level
Warning is in place.
Landholders should remove stock
from the river foreshores as bluegreen
algae are known to cause stock
illness or even death.
Pet owners are warned that dogs
are particularly susceptible as they
ingest algae by licking their coats.

[Member]

Great fish there Matt. Chris has done well to get two different species that size! Have caught my fair share of 60's out of that dam and they never fail to impress me with their sheer size, well Goldens anyway, yet to get a silver out of there.

The algae situation is an interesting one. Last trip there a few weeks back we found 4 distinct water clarity's across the dam with the brown inflow from the cudgegong at the ramp to the algae laden mid section of the dam showing up two levels of clarity depending on where the wind was coming from and what shelter you had, to dirty and really scummy water that coughed up the most fish for us. It's no secret the place is calling out for a drink! All this water heading down the Macquarie and Hunter could have fallen a little further North and West and been of far more use to the state. Odd that Burrendong is under threat of outbreak. Would have thought all the water that's been through there in the last few months would have flushed it too much for algae to take hold?

Cheers
Stephan

[Member]

great photos mate!

arghh its been raining here a fair bit..so i can't get out

[Member]

That Silver is a stonker!!  I haven`t seen one grow that large before.

Silvers take Fly readily as well as lures. The attached photo is a nice Silver from Cania taken on a black dahlburg on the sink. This one smashed steves fly about 2 secs after touchdown.

The size wasnt all that large, just special because of the species. They are rare and great to catch.

Post up your silvers guys

Randall.

[Member]

Couple of very nice fish , well done
The Silver is a cracker

Regards

Pete

[Member]

The algae situation is an interesting one. Last trip there a few weeks back we found 4 distinct water clarity's across the dam with the brown inflow from the cudgegong at the ramp to the algae laden mid section of the dam showing up two levels of clarity depending on where the wind was coming from and what shelter you had, to dirty and really scummy water that coughed up the most fish for us.

Yeah its funny that the fish hang under the thick algae , The picture of Chris with the big Golden has the dam wall in the background , the end where the algae is thick to putrid ! , we had a trip chasing some natives on fly and the crappy water was the most productive , there was quite a few dead fish around the banks " Silvers and Golden's " Pete Hanrahan scored a nice Silver on Fly , the fish wasn't released as the gut contents were examined for clues to the code on  Silvers , the gut contents were as if you gutted a trout , nymphs , mudeye etc " Pete said the fish tasted superb ! " The Silver was caught on a black bead head nymph !

The clear water up the top end was excellent clarity but we didnt raise a fish in it !
Ken

 

[Member]

(I know the bloke pretty well who wrote the first ever stuff in a national magazine in Windermere)

Something in Fisho along the lines of  "Come the next flooding rains west of Sydney ...."?

A paraphrase of course; the memory doesn't funtion quite so photographically nowadays.

Ball-tearer of a silver. Where have all those gone to at the  'Juck??

[Member]

Bert

Plenty ask the same , where are they , Those Silvers , I do have it on good authority that Silvers are still present in reasonable numbers ,Recent surveys by fisheries confirmed this ,
 i have only seen a few small ones in the last few years .

Regards

Pete