FOR the second consecutive year the Victorian Government has stocked more than two million native fish into the state’s lakes and rivers.
More than one million of the stocked fish were golden perch and 885,000 were Murray cod; other native species stocked include Australian bass, silver perch, estuary perch and Macquarie perch. Most were released as fingerlings and are expected to take three to five years to reach legal minimum size, depending on the species.
However, anglers won’t need to wait that long due to already productive freshwater fisheries. The extensive stocking of Nagambie Lakes is beginning to yield results with legal size golden perch caught last summer by local club anglers. More than 900,000 native fish have been stocked into the Nagambie Lakes since 2009.
Stockings of Australian bass in Gippsland are also showing encouraging signs with catches of fish in Blue Rock Lake, the Macalister River and Lake Glenmaggie last summer.
The fishing licence funded Murray Cod Million project at Lake Eildon is progressing well with two thirds of those cod having been stocked and bait fishers already reporting catches of small fish.
Several large cod measuring more than one metre have been landed at Lake Eildon in recent months and the lake has a growing reputation that should only improve when these recently stocked fish reach size.
For the full list of stocked native fish waters visit http://www.dpi.vic.gov.au/fisheries/about-fisheries/fish-stocking-reporting
Anglers are reminded that the three month closed season for Murray cod began at the start of September and runs through to the end of November.
