ON
GOLDEN
PONDS catching yellowbelly in dams
Starlo explains exactly how, when and where to successfully target trophy golden perch or yellowbelly in ou r dams and lakes u sing baits, lu res and flies. If you fish ou r inland impou ndments, or would like to, this one is absolutely essential reading!
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ON GOLDEN PONDS — catching yellowbelly in dams
ON
GOLDEN
PONDS By Steve ‘Starlo’ Starling
T
he Australian freshwater fish known to science as Macquaria ambigua has quite a few common names. That fact alone points to its importance and popularity, as well as its extensive geographic distribution.
Some folks know this fish best as the golden perch or simply “golden”. To others, it’s a yellowbelly or “yella”. In South Australia, it’s far more likely to be referred to as a callop (based on a regional Indigenous word), while old-timers everywhere still occasionally call it a Murray perch or white perch.
Starlo with the calibre of trophy golden perch or yellowbelly many anglers still only dream of catching. Truth is, fish like this are readily available in many of our dams.
ON GOLDEN PONDS — catching yellowbelly in dams
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Jo with an averagesize yellowbelly from one of our stocked, inland impoundments. These fish are widespread and prolific. ABOVE
Golden perch (to give them their officially-accepted common name) have a vast natural range that extends all the way from the lower Murray in South Australia to the remote and arid inland reaches of central Queensland. There are also distinct and separate populations living in the eastern flowing Fitzroy-Dawson catchment of central northern Queensland, as well as the ephemeral outback rivers, creeks and waterholes of the Bulloo, Lake Eyre, Coopers Creek, Diamantina and Georgina drainages in central Australia, potentially extending all the way into the south east corner of the Northern Territory in wetter times. Some of these isolated populations may well be sub-species, or even distinct species. Surprisingly, a reasonable amount of work remains to be done on the taxonomy or scientific classification of the scattered yellowbelly clan. 4
Golden perch have a vast natural range that extends all the way from the lower Murray in South Australia to the remote and arid inland reaches of central Queensland.
ON GOLDEN PONDS — catching yellowbelly in dams
Golden perch from cleaner waters often exhibit darker, more vibrant colours and various patterns of spots and blotches. BELOW When encountered in muddier, more turbid waters, these fish tend to be much lighter in overall colour. RIGHT
There’s also debate over the precise mechanisms responsible for the spread of these hardy, adaptable perch into such a diverse and widespread range of waterways beyond the Murray/Darling Basin. While shifting geology and climate have no doubt played their parts over the millennia, there’s an increasing acceptance that the First Australians also actively translocated important food sources from one area to another. Of course, similar translocations have also occurred in more recent times, since the arrival of European settlers.
ON GOLDEN PONDS — catching yellowbelly in dams
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OUR ADAPTABLE PERCH Today, the geographic spread of golden perch across Australia is significantly more extensive than it was when James Cook mapped our eastern seaboard in 1770, even if actual numbers of these important fish have declined in some of their original strongholds, such as the lower Murray River. In particular, goldens or yellowbelly have become one of the most popular candidates for stocking into man-made reservoirs, weirs, dams and other impoundments across the country, including many water storages located on our eastern flowing watersheds. Using modern aquaculture methods, golden perch are nowadays relatively easy to breed in hatcheries, both private and government-run. In most instances they thrive when stocked into man-made impoundments — ranging in size from tiny ponds and farm dams to giant lakes — even if they’re unable to regularly reproduce effectively in many of these non-flowing bodies of water.
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ON GOLDEN PONDS — catching yellowbelly in dams
The golden perch or yellowbelly can tolerate an incredible range of water temperatures and levels of clarity. BELOW Classic impoundment yellowbelly country. That rocky ridge line extends beneath the surface, providing prime fish habitat. LEFT
With reasonably fast growth rates, a diverse diet and the ability to tolerate an amazing range of waters, it’s hardly surprising that golden perch are such a popular candidate for stocking in dams.
ON GOLDEN PONDS — catching yellowbelly in dams
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With reasonably fast growth rates, a diverse diet and the ability to tolerate an amazing range of water temperatures — from single digit lows to mid- or even upper-30s highs — as well as clarity levels from gin clear to molten chocolate, it’s hardly surprising that golden perch are such a popular candidate for stocking in dams.
Smaller goldens from dams display a similar body shape and colouration to river fish. They’re also not bad eating at this size.
BELOW
For the purposes of this publication, I plan to concentrate entirely on those golden perch stocks living in our many man-made impoundments. These fish tend to behave a little differently to their river-dwelling brethren and also grow larger on a more regular basis, making them a keenly-sought angling target. We’ll look (briefly) at both bait and fly-fishing strategies for catching goldens, but the bulk of the content in this e-zine will be dedicated to examining successful lure fishing methods.
With a reflective tapetum membrane in their eyes of the same sort found in barra and mulloway, a well-developed lateral line and sensory pits under their jaws, goldens are well adapted to finding food in muddy water or low light. RIGHT
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ON GOLDEN PONDS — catching yellowbelly in dams
Many anglers are choosing to use lighter and lighter tackle when targeting golden perch in dams these days — with good reason.
ON GOLDEN PONDS — catching yellowbelly in dams
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HOW BIG DO THEY GROW?
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The author with a genuine football. Heavy-shouldered fish like this 60 cm-plus specimen can easily top 6 kg in weight… This one was likely closer to 7 kg.
BELOW
ON GOLDEN PONDS — catching yellowbelly in dams
Golden perch are often cited as being our second largest inland native fish, behind the mighty Murray cod. However, given half a chance, Murray’s cousin the trout cod can also reach an impressive size, perhaps pushing goldens into third place. But regardless of their exact place on the podium, yellowbelly are without question big fish by freshwater standards, especially for our dry old continent. Exactly how big golden perch or yellowbelly might potentially grow is a matter of considerable conjecture. Any on-line or library search of the relevant literature almost always tosses up vague or passing references to a massive specimen of 23 or 24 kg (over 50 pounds) pulled from Kow Swamp in Victoria during the early 1900s. However, there’s increasing agreement among the boffins that this “mega-belly” was most likely a wrongly-identified Murray cod, as its size exceeds any other recorded golden by an unlikely margin.
Heavyweight yellowbelly from our dams often exhibit an exaggerated shoulder hump and an almost disc-like body shape. ABOVE
Yellowbelly to almost 9 kg have been caught in rivers, while their damdwelling counterparts very occasionally give the 15 kg mark a nudge.
What we do know for certain is that yellowbelly to almost 9 kg (20 pounds) have been caught in rivers, while their dam-dwelling counterparts very occasionally give the 15 kg (33 pound) mark a nudge… That makes them a seriously large freshwater target!
ON GOLDEN PONDS — catching yellowbelly in dams
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That said, any golden perch much over 60 cm in length and 6 kg in weight is very special fish, and many anglers spend a lifetime searching for one in that league. Fortunately, there are now a number of “trophy” yellowbelly waters where the chance of encountering such impressive specimens is reasonably high, especially if you’re willing to put in the time and effort. Those dams include the likes of Copeton, Burrendong, Blowering, Hume and Eildon, to name some of the better-known venues. However, there’s one place that stands out from the rest of the pack as Australia’s premier fishery for football-fat golden perch, and that’s Lake Windamere, located on the Cudgegong River in central western NSW, between the towns of Mudgee and Rylstone.
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I would hazard a guess that Windamere has produced more 60 cm-plus yellas over the past three decades than any other single waterway in the country, and I’ve been fortunate enough to catch quite a few in that league myself from its green-tinged waters, as well as more fish over 55 cm than I could possibly hope to count. I make no apologies for the fact that thousands of hours spent pursuing Windamere’s golden bullion across 30-plus years has shaped my thinking about these fish and honed my techniques for targeting them. That said, I’ve frequently taken those philosophies and methods to other impoundments right across southern Queensland, NSW and Victoria and applied them successfully to the pursuit of these fish.
ON GOLDEN PONDS — catching yellowbelly in dams
Certainly, there are minor regional variations that may make a difference on the day, but overall, the lessons I’ve learnt in Windamere waters have served me well wherever golden perch live. Now I’d like to share those lessons with you.
Big yellowbelly are truly impressive beasts. The distinctive extended filaments on their pelvic fins are most likely loaded with sensory receptors for finding and “tasting” potential food.
ABOVE & RIGHT
ON GOLDEN PONDS — catching yellowbelly in dams
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