Private dam fishing

[Strike]

A few years ago my pop stocked his small dam with yellowbellys and silver perch... Since then we have had eels which we thought had eaten most the fish and also a few fish have died from a lack of oxygen i think?

Now heres the thing.. he put plenty of fish in but they are buggers to catch! I've tried all sorts of bait.. e.g. put a grasshopper under a float and BANG as soon as it hit the water ended up with a 1kg silver pearch. Rig another one up and nothing for the next couple of hours or any other time i've tried. Since that fish i've tried lures etc with no success and i'm wondering if there really is any fish left?

Whats the best techniques you folks use? What would be the best lures or bait to use? The water is muddy brown looking..

[Fitzy]

The first thing I'd be doing is fishing them eels out. They'll wipe out the lot. Seen them take fish alot bigger than a kilo.
Then I'd be starting over. I cant see there being alot of fish left if there's slimeys in there.
If you want to be sure, a live shrimp suspended just off the bottom is the best bet.

For the eels a hunk of meat on the bottom will do the trick.

fitz..

[Strike]

Thanks mate.. yeah ive caught 3 eels in there so far but i bet theres probly more... How do i go about getting live shrimp?

[jordo]

hey. We also had the same trouble as you in our stocked dams. We previously had yellas and silvers in the dams. The silvers were a waist of time and never to be found again. The yellas do grow but were very hard to catch. We found the old worms the oly way. We did get some up around the 6 pound mark. They were in there for a fair while. The dams ended up dryin up. We had them cleaned out then once there were full and settled down we stocked them with bass. They by far are the best to stock. They will hit anything. By far the best is poppers. You can watch them come from out of the weeds and hit the lure a couple of feet away. Though they aint real big only around the 35 mark but good fun. The only problem is when the dams over flow. If they survive the long trip though they will end up in big w. see yas

[Fitzy]

How do i go about getting live shrimp?
I'd hit the local creek/river/lake & take a small bait trap baited with fish flesh or any old meat. There's various traps available at most tackle stores. Get one with small mesh, not the opera house style used for crayfish cause you'll get bugger all shrimp with the large mesh.
Best places are around rocks & weeds. Best time is at night.

fitzy..

[Randall]

Is this the Bassers nephew? Is that you Jordan?

Randall.

[jordo]

nah mate different bloke.

[Randall]

No worries Jordo...thought I`d ask mate.

Randall.