How old would a bass over 500mm be?

[Member]

Hey people, last month I caught a tagged bass between the weir and colleges  last moth and have just got the info back on it!

Hears the details:
Australian Bass tagged by T ROBINSON, re-tagged by myself
4737 days out, 10/10/98- 22/09/11
Recaptured 120km   in the Brisbane river
130mm growth, 300mm to 430mm
The bass travelled over two dam walls and over the weir, was in excellent condition 

How old would those bass over 50 be??

Last month I tagged over 75 bass in the river with my biggest going 555mm, I'm planing to take the kayak up river next week. Can you fish below the Kholo bridge or is it off limits to fishing? Never been up that way before.

Cheers, Mick.

[Member]

Can you fish below the Kholo bridge or is it off limits to fishing? Never been up that way before.

Cheers, Mick.

Mick

From everything I have read it is off limits...I suspect there would be some good bass in there,,,

Cheers

[Member]

Ahh bugger! Think I'll sick with the spots I know.

[Member]

Go hard Mick

dont know where this closed water below Koholo comes from? Keep hearing it but can never find any solid proof.


Brisbane River: Old Mount Crosby Weir to 50 m downstream of the weir; 200 m upstream to 400 m downstream of Mount Crosby Weir; and Wivenhoe Dam wall to 600 m downstream of the dam wall.

[Member]

That fish would have been caught by Tony Robinson from Marburg.  He and his dad Pete fished plenty of comps for Bass over the years.  Tony works for Alvey and also does reel repairs for Charltons.  I very nice bloke.  There are a lot of variables.  My brother caught a tagged bass in Moogerah that took 12 years to grow from 300 to 530.

I think below Kholo bridge is banned for boating, not sure about fishing though.

[Member]

Thanks for the info guys, much appreciated! Might ask around a bit more about the area....

[Member]

nice recapture! below kholo bridge is no public access, its not enforced by fisheries but Ipswich city council. the bridge has the signs in clear view on the pylons.. try up stream and you will find a few bass 

[Member]

Thanks Wes

[Member]

I got a couple of 50+ tagged Bass earlier in the year.

One tagged in Lake Somerset in October 1997 at 290mm , recaptured in May 2011 at 530mm in the Brisbane River at the Lockyer creek junction.

The other one was tagged at Mt Crosby Weir in June 2005 at 270mm , recaptured in May 2011 at 550mm in the Brisbane River at the Lockyer Creek junction.

And just to really confuse people on growth rates between dam and river , I caught another that was tagged in Lake Wivenhoe in May 1995 at 390mm , recaptured in May 2011 at 440mm in the Brisbane river at the Lockyer Creek junction .

So I have no idea on how fast or slow they grow . Good be 15+ years...who knows. Do SunTag have a website with their catch data for us to peruse?

Cheers,
Dave.

[Member]

I seriously doubt that tagging data gives an accurate indication of growth rates. To put it into some perspective, if I was to stab a star picket into one of my kids back & leave it there & expect him/her to grow normally I'd be kidding myself.

- Inconsistent tagging locations on the fishes body 
- Mostly untrained persons inserting the tags 
- Parellex inaccuracies in measurements 
- Inconsistent measuring devices 
- Unsanitary taging applicators and tags can cause infections

There is some data given out, but a grain of salt should be taken with the info it diseminated.  As a management tool for restocking tagging has confirmed what we already knew, in that fish can & do travel downstream through barriers. Apart from that I don't see any value in a tagging program for any bass in Somerset / Wivenhoe etc. It couldn't be used as a management tool anyway, outside of the suntag newsletter, relevant information is not shared with the fish management body. So I kind of get back to the question I asked Bill some years back, that is "why are fish tagged in these lakes"?  I'm still waiting for a half decent answer......