Yesterday.

[Chilli]

Hi guys and ladies, as I see there are some here now, yesterday I packed the detector, and just in case a fishing rod. Weather forecast was all over the place. Was not a detecting day. Some drizzle light showers, very low cloud cover at the ranges we went to. Got there and me and the misses looked at each other and said "fish". The only reservoir there was way low, about 30%. Was very surprised as there has been great rains elsewhere. But they must have missed out.
A dozen casts using a favourite pink soft plastic. Nothing. Then, hit and run. Great, just had light gear line. Landed a nice 2 lb redfin, caught several more smaller, and another just a bit smaller than the 2lb, about 1 1/2 not pictured. Turned out a nice day. So we went for a 3 hr drive around the area. We found but didn't stop what looked like a few old, nothing left visual wise, old home sites.
We are going there tomorrow. Eating the fish later tonight. Love redfin, they are introduced from the late 1800s to very early 1900s from the UK. Thanks UK, they don't grow big but they taste great👍😀
In the net below with my favourite Pink Yumm lure from the US, cant get them here now, have about 30 left, great lures. That ones on a 1/8th jig head. Killer redfin combo. Trout too.

With my now no longer made Shimano rear fighting lever drag spin reel. Its big for a 2500 reel but thats to accommodate the rear drag system which gives it length.
An amzing reel. I have a 1000 size which I put some drag washers in from an old Mitchel rear drag Copper Head reel into. They both are silk smooth drag wise which was not typical of rears. I replaced a couple in the 2500 too with custom carbon washers. 👍😀

Love where we were.

Edit. And cooked and eaten. Was awesome.
Misses had half of the bigger one. Said she was done and I had the smaller one. No picture, I demolished it 😆
Great little res, lots of minnows and yabbies they eat so tasted great.
Below is the 2lb cooked 🤗

 

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[newnan man]

Looks like a large perch. Nice.

 

[pepperj]

Nice looking fish and meal, got a hunger on just looking at the plate.
How deep are the waters still in the reservoir ?
Was reading about the flooding going on in certain parts and the Japanese mosquito issue.

 

[Chilli]

Looks like a large perch. Nice.

Hi, yes. Introduced English Perch from over a century ago. But they took to our waterways like crazy. We are happy to catch them as they grow bigger here than in the Uk and Europe. I have only caught them to 5lb. But they have been recorded here up to 8. Which for them is a great size and great eating. They go mad for Pink, Orange or Red lures. Pink I reckon is Redfin candy 😆

 

[Chilli]

Nice looking fish and meal, got a hunger on just looking at the plate.
How deep are the waters still in the reservoir ?
Was reading about the flooding going on in certain parts and the Japanese mosquito issue.

Yeah I love them to eat. I love fishing but only fish for those I can eat. That res was way lower than I expected, was a bit surprised to be honest as others in our district are at 70 to 80%. This was real low. Normally this at say 50% is 30 to 50 foot deep. I know as I cast right out and count down till the line stops. This day it was just 5 to 7 second drop, so id say the depth was just 15 foot! Still healthy, lots of minnows hugging the shore and popping here and there, but very low by its usual standards. It is a two Res area. A Top one, then this lower one. The top res was bone dry.
This area must have missed the recent rains because if it got what we had 65 km away in recent months it would have been full.
I only fished here as the others close to home are full of toxic blue green algae. This was crystal clear thankfully.
Yes there was big floods in New South Wales our sister state, crazy rain.
Our area here though is a dry belt. Rains can and do, and did flood an area just 60km from our town a few months ago. Our town when they got 100ml rain just got 25ml. Even driving to this res we saw water on the sides of the roads. But nope, even though this res is nestled in between some great hills and on a range it must have got near nothing. It never fails, its just a stupid narrow dry belt. North great rain, south great. This it goes either side. Always has.

Edit.... the top reservoir there.
Has been dry for 20 yrs! It used to be a tourist place where dozens and dozens of people with campers and caravans went every yr at Xmas and Easter to camp and stay, canoe on the top lake which may have been 100acres in size, just a guess. They'd swim, canoe, fish, no power boats. But it was always packed as its a beautiful place. Stocked with big trout back then for the tourists, none stocked in the lower for over 15 yrs now.
Dry now for 20yrs. If you went to the top res area now you would not even see where it was or believe one was there. 😕

 

[worldtalker]

Yeah I love them to eat. I love fishing but only fish for those I can eat. That res was way lower than I expected, was a bit surprised to be honest as others in our district are at 70 to 80%. This was real low. Normally this at say 50% is 30 to 50 foot deep. I know as I cast right out and count down till the line stops. This day it was just 5 to 7 second drop, so id say the depth was just 15 foot! Still healthy, lots of minnows hugging the shore and popping here and there, but very low by its usual standards. It is a two Res area. A Top one, then this lower one. The top res was bone dry.
This area must have missed the recent rains because if it got what we had 65 km away in recent months it would have been full.
I only fished here as the others close to home are full of toxic blue green algae. This was crystal clear thankfully.
Yes there was big floods in New South Wales our sister state, crazy rain.
Our area here though is a dry belt. Rains can and do, and did flood an area just 60km from our town a few months ago. Our town when they got 100ml rain just got 25ml. Even driving to this res we saw water on the sides of the roads. But nope, even though this res is nestled in between some great hills and on a range it must have got near nothing. It never fails, its just a stupid narrow dry belt. North great rain, south great. This it goes either side. Always has.

Edit.... the top reservoir there.
Has been dry for 20 yrs! It used to be a tourist place where dozens and dozens of people with campers and caravans went every yr at Xmas and Easter to camp and stay, canoe on the top lake which may have been 100acres in size, just a guess. They'd swim, canoe, fish, no power boats. But it was always packed as its a beautiful place. Stocked with big trout back then for the tourists, none stocked in the lower for over 15 yrs now.
Dry now for 20yrs. If you went to the top res area now you would not even see where it was or believe one was there. 😕

Any crocs around where you are?

 

[billb]

Very nice big healthy perch
I heard on the news yesterday that the algae is causing a problem with the coral on the Great Barrier Reef also

 

[crashbandicoot]

Very pretty Chilli! Hope you and the Missus have a great time!