What is this fish???

DAGGA · #1 15-11-2003, 12:53 AM

I was out fishing today in 34 degree heat and i was casting out some SPs at this shallow area in Lake Wendouree (freshwater) and this fish about 30-40cm cruised past about 5 times.
I couldnt tell what it was and i could see it really well cos i was up high and the water was crystel clear with no ripples.
It was a really dark coloure almost black. I dont have a clue what it was i was thinking maybe a Tench??? cos i never seen a tench before i was guessing thats what it was.
It look like a trout only it was really dark. I also had a trout swim past and i could tell they were difrent and it wasnt just the my eyes!!

Maybe the sun got to me and imagining it but it didnt like my Muscadine slider thats for sure. I lined the lure up right infront of it face as it was swimming past but it just whent around it.
I was too slender to be Redfin.

any help on this fish would be good.

eddystone · #2 15-11-2003, 01:33 AM

Hi Dagga,

I'm from down tassie and have caught tench before. I wouldn't really say they look like trout. They are very different. They are more like a silver perch. If it was you would have to be fairly lucky to get it on a lure. I have caught them on worms so maybe if its a worm shaped plastic you might. They can get to big sizes and don't mind hanging out in shallow water.

This doesn't really help i spose. If it looked like a trout i would say it probably wasn't a tench.

Other than that who knows????

eddystone

DAGGA · #3 15-11-2003, 01:41 AM

Well it helps a bit cos now i know it wasnt a tench!
are Tench kind of thin and slender??
maybe it was it was a just a trout and it might have been a difrent angle from when i normally see them so it might have looked darker but it still spun me out when i first spotted it!

eddystone · #4 15-11-2003, 01:49 AM

Hi dagga,

Heres a link to a picture

http://www.go-fish.co.uk/previoustips_2809.htm

there info too.

eddystone

DAGGA · #5 15-11-2003, 01:57 AM

Ok it sound like what i saw was a Tench and i havnt seen a Trout in a while except the one i saw today which was only breaf so yeh.

Thanks for that Eddy!

Damn hot weather

Thats my excuse and im sticking to it

madsurfe · #6 15-11-2003, 04:02 AM

Hi Guys

if it was a Tench then how would they be in Lake Wendouree? Have Tench been stocked into australian waters at some stage?

the link on them was interesting, I wonder if Matchangler has done any fishing for them? Tim may just know if you can get them on lures as he's pretty well fishwise

bparker · #7 15-11-2003, 10:01 AM

Yeah..they're certainly here in Victoria...along with Roach, Goldfish and possibly even Crucian Carp.

Dagga perhaps it was a spawn-bound trout. When Trout get into spawning mode they lose condition and become a lot darker....in landlocked lakes they eventually die because they are unable to reproduce.

eddystone · #8 15-11-2003, 08:23 PM

Hi all,

I also with bparker as i have caught tench down here in Tasmania. They seem to show up at certain times of the year and then just vanish!!!

They can get pretty big!!

Heard you can catch them on vegetables. I have caught a few on worms.

eddystone

JellyBobr · #9 15-11-2003, 11:02 PM

Dagga
Have you considered the Native freshwater black fish?
I have caught them at Tubbut (sp?) Northern Vic, Bonang Highway. They are quite black and very prehistoric looking. From memory I would catch and release as the flesh was yellow and they tasted like .... .

Check this site http://www.nativefish.asn.au/blackfsh.html

Anything like it?
Bob

pw-bream · #10 16-11-2003, 05:23 PM

It is common enough to catch Tench in the Barwon River at Geelong that anglers target them specifically. I beleive the technique is to fish baits close in to bankside cover.