just wondering if any of you fresh water fishos have caught ariver blackfish, a friend caught one while fishing for eel tailed catfish on a worm. ive heard that theres not that many about and have only ever seen a live specimen at trout hatchery at ebor. any info on this would be great, just want to know if any one else has caught a few and are they as in trouble as they say, ( yeh the fish was released that he got). cheers bdowdy
I thought blackfish were native to tassie, lot of people go fishing for them in the trout season in tassie. It was very popular a few years ago, sitting on the banks of most of the rivers of the norwest coast of tassie with a worm for bait, a fire to keep ya warm and a stubby to help time pass.
cheers
blaze
ps
been 10 years since I went fishing for them
G-day
i used to catch them when i was a kid down in Vic
in Vic there are two types, nth great divide (small fish) and sth great divide (larger fish)
i lived near a small creek and would catch them too about 2 pound
great eating lovely light white flesh mmmmm.....
i believe they grow even bigger in tassie
Dan
Used to fish for blackies back home out in the gippsland area, they're not protected, there are two types, ones the river blackfish( this one looks like a murray cod) this one grows the biggest my biggest is around the five pound mark. Mountain Blackfish is the other, its nickname is a slimy, doesn't grow real big, tastes like poo and feels like a slimy sponge when you try to grab it.
When looking for a river blacky, look for dark, deep stretches of the creek, f find creeks are their favourite, the current not normally as fast, but don't overlook deep dark snaggy holes and undercut banks in slower moving rivers and stretches of faster rivers.
When you find the right sort of habitat, don't just plonk yourself on the bank. Begin by looking for dark water( deep and slow), it doesn't matter if this bit of water is only a foot wide, drop your bait down into the water, my favourite and well proven bait is a yabby with the claws amputated so it can't protect itself and its scent runs out of the wound, up to 2.5 inches in length though the smaller ones work better,get in close to any snags or undercut banks, feed some slack line out, when the fish picks up the yabby it only mouths it and swims downstrem with it, i normally feed the fish another metre of line when it heads off, as they're probably turning the yabby around the right way to eat it. Give yr spots around fifteen minute each work the water yr fishing well by moving the bait around in what looks like fishy looking spots. Don't wind yr bait in to fast, i've lost count of how many times a blacky has followed a bait to the surface only for me to have it snatch it out of their mouth, a little bit of movement seems to excite a blacky, i've actually caught a couple on slowly retrieve diving lure while fishing for trout. When yr about to move off remember not to go to far as you can bet if its a 'dark' stretch of water they'll be a blacky there soon.
In the case of #catching one in a certain are, you've just hit pay dirt! I've found where one Blacky lives they'll be a tribe of them, i've actually caught and released(most of them) around forty fish to 4 pound out of one 100m stretch of water in my favourite haunt. Work every nook and cranny of dark water with a lively bait, dawn and dusk are of course the most consistent, but if you get out to yr creek just after a good rain when the waters been low, you'll have a bawl!!! Remember though when you do find this water, keep only whay you want for a feed cause you can easil decimate the little buggers.
As we know, they can give up an explosive fight for #a few minutes, but after this they're a sluggish fish, this reason as well as as habit of congregrating in the same areas as well as their #awesome table fair, shows their vulnerability to overkill #
#
Anyone got any pics of these fish? I'm interested to see what they look like.
Pete.
if you google the tassie gov fishing web site I think there may be some pics there.
cheers
blaze
Bumping a very old thread, but blackfish hold a special place in my heart. My dad grew up in Walhalla, Victoria and fished the Thompson River all his life. Ever since I could walk he'd take me up there and spend all weekend on the river.
We'd always bag lots of blackfish, Brown trout and occasionally the odd Rainbow. Blackfish were the target species though. Elusive, cunning and very, very good on the chew if cleaned and cooked soon after catching.
It's been a mighty long time since I've been fishing on the Thompson, and tragically, the dam has pretty much raped it of its fish. I'd be very interested in hearing if any other Ausfishers either have fished or still do fish the once mighty Thompson and, if they've hooked any of the lovely blackfish.
hi i have had no luck myself but amate has still caught a few,i am in northern nsw but andstarted this thread, have you got any pics pumpychowdown.cheers bdowdy..brett
Brett
I used to catch these when I was in my young teens in quite large numbers. We used to fish Glenbrook Creek in the Blue Mtns before the bureaucrats declared it a National Park. Worms were the bait and it was a rarity to catch a fish over 200.
My recollections of cooking them in the coals makes my mouth water, very firm white flesh.
Have never heard of them being caught elsewhere.
Louie
thanks louie ive only ever seen the 1 at a trout hatchery in a tank DUTTONS near ebor,dorrigo. cheers bdowdy..brett...didnt any one take photos of these fish or were they like acatfish good eating but nothing to show off.
As luck would have it, I'm currently going through thousands of old photos, and scanning the good ones to my PC. If I come across any pics of any blackies, I'll be sure to post them.Originally Posted by bdowdy
thanks mate that would be great.cheers bdowdy...brett
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