Macquarie perch is listed as an endangered species.  Once abundant in New South Wales and Victoria it has suffered from a range of threats including loss of habitat, man-made structures and predation from introduced species.  Key to protecting the few remaining populations is knowledge, and in the last 15 years our knowledge and understanding of this beautiful fish has increased dramatically thanks to a whole range of research projects.  It’s only in the last couple of years that the NSW DPI Narrandera Fisheries Centre has managed to breed large quantities of fingerlings for restocking, and now a tagging program on the Murrumbidgee River aims to learn more about their annual movements, and the habitats and flows they need to breed and recruit successfully.

This tagging program doesn’t involve your run of the mill tag. This one uses an acoustic tag surgically implanted into the fish that can be heard by acoustic receiver listening stations as the fish move up and down the river, with the data downloaded every few months.

This is Prue McGuffie’s project. Prue works for  NSW DPI Fisheries and I caught up with her when she asked to install a listening station in the Murrumbidgee on Dixieland near Adaminaby, upstream of the trout farm.  The site Prue chose is quite remote and is unlikely to be disturbed by anything other than the odd platypus, and fills a gap between the other listening stations installed between Bolaro and Michelago.

On the odd chance you ever catch a Macquarie perch whilst chasing your trout make sure you let it go, and if you spot one of Prue’s buoys please give it a wide berth. If you spot Prue, stop for a chat. She knows the importance of advocating for her favourite fish – so prepare to be converted.

On the trout front there isn’t a great deal to report. The rain has seen all the lake levels tipping upwards one or two percent but we need a lot more to even start thinking about saying they’re filling.  The hardy NSW competition fly fishers were on Tantangara on Saturday and Eucumbene on Sunday. A nice 5 lb brown came in on Saturday with a smattering of other fish on both days (70 or 80 in total and mostly browns) – anyone interested in the organised fly fishing competitions check out the Fly Fish Australia website. It won’t be long before a few fish start to appear in the rivers and the local businesses are looking forward to a few fishing visitors ahead of the ski season so come on down (or up depending on your geographic orientation) and make the most of the end of season action.

Tight tippets all.

Steve  (www.canberraflyfishing.com.au – fly fishing charters in the snowy mountain lakes)