THE annual Australian bass and estuary perch three month zero-bag limit has ended and the season opens from Monday 1 September.
This three-month no-take season protects the fish during breeding season, safeguarding them into the future and allowing them to successfully reproduce and maintain healthy populations.
To enhance fishing opportunities, the NSW Government is stocking up to 260,000 Australian bass into impoundments, where the fish can’t naturally reproduce, across the State from this October.
This stocking boosts fishing opportunities as well as employment and economic benefits for our recreational fishing industry which contributes more than $3.4 billion to the State’s economy and generates more than 14,000 full-time jobs.
Australian bass are found in coastal rivers and lakes along the East Coast, while estuary perch are commonly found south of the Hawkesbury River but can also be caught further up north around the Richmond River in NSW and much further south into Victoria.
With a varied diet of prawns, worms and smaller fish, Australian bass and estuary perch are opportunistic hunters and the ideal target for recreational fishers using either bait or lures.
Fishers are reminded that in NSW a strict bag limit of two and possession limit of four applies to Australian bass and estuary perch, either for a single species or a combination of both species. Only one fish is permitted to be over 35cm in length when fishing in rivers. Check your state’s local rules and regs.
Information about freshwater fishing rules in NSW at: https://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/fishing/recreational/fishing-rules-and-regs/freshwater-bag-and-size-limits
