Sweetwater Fishing Forums
General Category => News Views & Press Releases => Topic started by: Editor on September 02, 2011, 12:03:44 AM
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1 September 2011
Trout cod numbers bode well for recreational anglers
Recreational anglers could be fishing for trout cod in two lakes near the historic town of Beechworth in the future thanks to a stocking program carried out by Fisheries Victoria.
Surveys undertaken earlier this year found promising numbers of trout cod at both Lake Kerferd and Lake Sambell. The surveys followed the stocking of 15,700 trout cod into the lakes between 2008 and this year.
Surveys were carried out in May to assess the survival rate and growth of the stocked trout cod.
Reasonable numbers were found at Lake Kerferd, with fish from each of the stocking years present. Smaller numbers of the species were detected in Lake Sambell, but enough to provide us with encouragement that it stands a good chance of becoming a successful recreational fishery for trout cod in the years to come.
The survey at Lake Kerferd detected trout cod in reasonable numbers along the dam wall, with 34 fish sampled ranging from 7cm to 32cm in length.
Trout cod in these two waters and elsewhere in Victoria remain protected and if caught accidentally must be returned to the water unharmed.
If the stocked trout cod continue to survive and grow well in lakes Sambell and Kerferd, Fisheries Victoria hopes to formally open a limited recreational fishery for them in years to come.
Source: Vic Fisheries
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I wonder how many years it'll take until they open it up. Coincidently, I was one of the first people to water ski on Lake Sambell, in Beechworth. It must have opened in the early '60's. From what I can remember it would have been a Redfin fishery. I've never fished Kerferd in Stanley which makes me think it was a no fishing lake originally. We had relations in Stanley so I'm sure if we could have fished it we would have. Surely with the numbers of Trout Cod now in Ovens and King systems they should be open for recreational fishing with enforced bag limits. When I was down there a couple of years ago, if you dropped a worm in the Ovens, you caught an undersized Trout Cod. Locals were getting very frustrated with them.