Peninsula September not only marks the beginning of spring but also where we switch our attention from Murray Cod to their best mates, the Golden Perch.
Luckily for us anglers, spring is by far the best time to target Golden Perch and below are our top tips to help you out this spring.
LURE SIZE – LESS IS MORE
Using small lures will increase your catch rate. Yes, they’ll smash a big cod lure happily, but during this time of year, they’re emerging from hibernation and will eat what they naturally find around them. Think small insects, fish, yabby’s and shrimp. For lures, think;
- 1/2oz or 3/8oz Spinnerbaits – smaller blades and small soft plastic tails
- 50-70mm Hard Body lures – slimmer profiles work well on perch and also produce a more positive hook-up
- 60-80mm Weedless Soft Plastics – the best plastics are yabby or shrimp imitations
RETRIEVE SPEED
This is arguably the most important factor for targeting Golden Perch. Most the time, you’ll want to be running with a slow roll with lots of pauses. This early on in the season, the fish will be sluggish, so you need to give them time to look at your lure.
If you find the slow roll isn’t yielding any results, add some speed to the retrieve with a quick flick of the rod tip or a quick burn of the lure to get the attention of the fish nearby.
LAST HOUR OF LIGHT
Golden hour doesn’t just get its name from the sunset! It is certainly the best bite period of the day. As the days become more sunny, the water temperature will always be at its warmest at last light.
WATER TEMPERATURE
Water temperature is one of the best indicators as to whether the fish are biting or not. Golden Perch are like the three bears. If its not ‘just right’ they’re less likely to come to play.
When the water hits 14 degrees the fish will be starting to feed and can be caught. What you really want is temperatures between 16-18 degrees. The fish will be super active at these temperatures.
Rhys Creed. He’s an absolute ripper bloke, a big part of the GoFish Nagambie team and arguably one of the best freshwater anglers in this great Country. The good news for everyone is, he’s back on the GoFish team for 2020. His mission – to help us all achieve success out on the water. He loves sharing his passion, knowledge and tips with everyday anglers. Take a look at what Rhys has to say about his PB, dropping fish and his ultimate top gear and top tip.
WHAT IS IT YOU LOVE ABOUT FISHING SO MUCH?
I’ve thought about this question on many occasions and there are so many factors that contribute to why its my passion. The places fishing takes you is incredible, hanging out with mates, the experiences but I think the thing I love the most is the unknown in fishing. The fact that every trip is different, we are always learning, and we just don’t know what the next cast will bring…
TELL US ABOUT SOCIAL FISHING. WHO’S INVOLVED, WHAT’S ON OFFER?
Social Fishing is an educational website and brand that we’ve created to help anglers achieve success out on the water. We want to share what we’ve learnt over the many years and build a place where people can come to get the answers they need. It all about sharing content and we want to share as much as we can!
The SF Team is made up of a group of mates who love to fish, write and share their knowledge. We produce a range of articles, blog posts, videos, tutorials, emails and we have just launched a podcast called The Social Fishing Podcast.
WHERE DID THE IDEA FOR SOCIAL FISHING COME FROM?
The idea for Social Fishing started way back when I watched TV shows as a kid. I remember watching one episode and the host was catching all these fish but wasn’t showing me how they did it, I wanted to learn what they were doing so I could go out there and do the same. This was the birth of Social Fishing!
From then on, as I grew, I learnt how to catch fish and when I reached a stage where I was confident enough to share my results, I started to build the Social Fishing platform.
IS THERE ANYTHING EXCITING ON THE CARDS FOR SOCIAL FISHING?
Oh yes… there are always exciting new ideas and projects we are working on! We want to continually grow and create exciting new educational content for all our loyal followers.
One thing we have been working on since the start of the year is a brand-new educational series called the ‘FREE Freshwater Mini Series’. This series is packed with incredible content and gives you the perfect introduction into freshwater fishing. We wanted to put something together for everyone and it’s a great starting option, and it gives anglers a taste of what available in the ‘Complete Guide Lure Fishing Series’ which is our 26 hour in depth tutorial package.
DO YOU RECKON YOU’VE CAUGHT OR DROPPED MORE FISH?
I couldn’t help but laugh when I read this question… I’ve never even thought of it before and I would have to say it would be very close (as much as I hate to say it). I have well and truly dropped my fair share of fish, I can recall in winter 2016 fishing Blowering Dam between two of us we dropped 13 big cod over about 6 or so trips. We couldn’t stick a single one… luckily, I broke the drought right on close with a cod over the metre.
On the other end of the scale I’ve had sessions on the river where we managed to stick most of our hits. So, if I was to give an honest answer, I’d say I’ve probably caught more… but only just.
WHAT’S ONE PIECE OF GEAR YOU COULDN’T LIVE WITHOUT? WHY?
Well the obvious answer to this is a rod… on any trip you need to have a rod, reel, some line and at least one lure. But thinking outside the box a little more, I can think of two important pieces of equipment that I wouldn’t go without.
- An electric motor (when fishing from a boat) is absolutely critical! When I was 18, I wasn’t sure about making the investment to buy one (because back then it was a lot of money), but I’m so glad I did because our catch rate instantly doubled. We were catching 4 fish for the day and as soon as we added the electric motor, we were catching 8!
- A de-snagger pole (or lure retriever pole) is one of the most essential items for any freshwater lure fisher. I talk to so many anglers who say, “Lures are too expensive and I’m always losing them”, this doesn’t happen with this piece of equipment. It pays for itself in the first trip.
WHAT IS YOUR NUMBER ONE, ABSOLUTE TOP TIP?
Number one tip… that’s a tough question to ask. If I could share just one fishing tip, that is relevant to every style of freshwater fishing, it would have to be… match the hatch!
This can be applied to everything and its extremely critical to success. You will catch so many more fish if you match your lure or presentation to exactly what the fish are feeding on. If they are eating small sliver baitfish that are moving quickly then match your lure and retrieve speed to what that bait is doing. Do this and you’ll be leaps and bounds in front of everyone else.
WHAT’S YOUR PB? TELL US ABOUT THE RIG YOU USED TO LAND IT.
This memory still feels like it only happened yesterday. It was 28th August 2015, fishing at Blowering Dam during a long night session. We decided to throw surface lures in the shallows this night and I was fishing a flat bank that I’d lost some big fish off the previous weekend.
It was extremely shallow water, only 1-2m deep, I managed to make out some standing twiggy trees from the slight moonlight we had. I was casting a 175mm Gobsmacked Leviathan (these are a great timber lure) and second cast at the trees, the lure was paddling back, and the water exploded! The biggest surface hit I’ve ever heard and no wonder why… the fish measured a massive 130cm in length and who knows how heavy it was but man it was big! Still to this day one of the most incredible captures I’ve experienced. You can read the full story from the capture here.
YOU’RE A HUGE PART OF THE GOFISH NAGAMBIE TEAM. WHAT IS IT ABOUT THE EVENT YOU LOVED MOST?
I was honoured when initially asked to be a part of this massive new event. I was told that it is going to be like nothing ever seen on Australian shores, with massive cash prizes that anyone can win and I think that’s what made me realise that this was a special event.
One, that it was in the freshwater, chasing the fish that I’m passionate about, but also the fact that its inclusive to all. It’s not just for professionals, anyone can enter and have the chance of winning a prize.
What I also love about the event is the festival and expo. This is a great opportunity for people to meet and talk about fishing in a relaxed and exciting environment. There has never been an event that does both the festival and the competition.
At the event last year, the highlight that I took away was on the last day of competition I went out on the water with the camera crew, interviewing a few of the competitors. I was lucky enough to meet one young fella, Riley (8) and he was telling me what he loved about fishing. It was great to see that this event built excitement in even the youngsters out there and he was here to win prizes, he was just here to have a great weekend away fishing with his Dad, now that’s what fishing is about.
WHAT DOES GOFISH NAGAMBIE BRING TO THE INDUSTRY AS A WHOLE?
GoFish Nagambie creates this incredible opportunity to help introduce fishing and outdoors into peoples lives. This goes for young and old. It’s a festival and event for people to attend and escape the everyday routine and it’s providing this platform for people to explore which in turn opens them up this whole new world of fishing Some families may never get this opportunity to learn about this passion we all share and this is what’s exciting about the event.
