# Manly Dam



## joey (Jul 5, 2008)

My neighbours invited my wife and I to a picnic down at Manly Dam today.








Hearing that there was water there, naturally I took my kayak and fishing gear with me. When I got there, the lake looked much smaller than I expected and it just seemed like a big water skiing area.

To make a long story short, we caught a bunch of these guys:









and even more of these ones:









My wife caught even more than I did. They were all about the same size and all were released.


----------



## murd (Jan 27, 2008)

We should arrange for MD to be stocked with barra, saratoga and sooty grunter, (catch and release only). Any idea how we could organise this?

Nice catch of fish by the way. I only thought the dam was full of European carp?


----------



## Feral (Oct 18, 2008)

They wont let you stock with any of those, but eastern Cod could be a possibility! Doesn't take much to setup a stocking association get funding, just a few dedicated people!

But I'd hazard a guess those perch are stocked, assuming they are the same as Bass, they cant breed in fresh.


----------



## Flump (Apr 17, 2006)

Manly Dam does have quite a few carp....biggest I landed went around 3 kilos and have lost a couple of monsters. It has been stocked in the past with Bass and Silver Perch but never heard any reports of Redfin from there so nice catch. I'm pretty sure thats one of the small Bass that you caught. Check out the links below 

http://www.warringah.nsw.gov.au/communi ... y_dam.aspx

Latest stocking I can find is 10,000 fingerlings in 03/04


----------



## Rstanek (Nov 5, 2007)

Yeah, that's a bass. Manly Dam is fresh, there's no EP's in there. Heaps of redfin and Carp, but also surprising numbers of Bass in there. Where abouts did you fish? Did you get up the other end near the feeder creek?


----------



## bazzoo (Oct 17, 2006)

BASS!!!!!!WAS THAT BASS YOU SAID !!!!!! IN MANLY DAM ????? ohhh gotta give that a fling , i actually wonder how you go about getting organised to stock bass in a dam like that or Parramatta Lake , or for that matter how you would get permission to stock bass in Prospect Resevoir and get permission to shore base fish them ,i would be interested in assisting in a project like that , anyone have any ideas????


----------



## Rstanek (Nov 5, 2007)

Not sure how'd you'd get that organised Baz, but those 10000 fingerlings should've grown up a bit since 2003. If you're keen to have a crack at them, I'll be free to join you after I get back from Perth. Like I said, there are heaps in there, though not all that big...

Rowan.


----------



## bazzoo (Oct 17, 2006)

Rowan , give me a hoy when you get back from perth and well have a little go at them and a good look around , shoot me a PM when your ready Rowan , thanks mate


----------



## Rstanek (Nov 5, 2007)

Will do Bazz, it's a really nice area. Sorry to hijack Joey... ;-)


----------



## craig450 (May 11, 2007)

Cute little bass mate  there has to be some big ones in there somewhere 8) 
Ive been there once before fishing landbased but had no luck at all.
Apparently there is a small amount of Silver and Golden perch in there as well.



bazzoo said:


> BASS!!!!!!WAS THAT BASS YOU SAID !!!!!! IN MANLY DAM ????? ohhh gotta give that a fling , i actually wonder how you go about getting organised to stock bass in a dam like that or Parramatta Lake , or for that matter how you would get permission to stock bass in Prospect Resevoir and get permission to shore base fish them ,i would be interested in assisting in a project like that , anyone have any ideas????


Bazz, there is also bass in Parramatta lake, approx. 30,000 have been stocked there in the last 10 years.
Ive never heard of anyone fishing there though.


----------



## bazzoo (Oct 17, 2006)

Craig , a guy in a local tackle store fishes there occasionally and says he gets some small ones , but mainly land based because its a real bitch to get a kayak in there , i did a tour of the lake earlier this year in my TK1 as it only weighs 12 kgs and is easy to carry in and moves throught the water very quickly however its a small lake and there are quite a few mongrel carp in there , but i intend to give it a go after xmas when Jerrys leg is better and so is my knee [ we have both been in the wars ] , however i am still; keen to get involved with a bass stocking group to stock local waters as i figure if we pay for them and put them in the bongo headed greenies cant stop us fishing for them , did i mention i hate empty headed greens , love conservationists but hate the empty heads


----------



## joey (Jul 5, 2008)

Bass? Really? I thought bass are much darker, but hang on, after Googling it :shock: , you might be right!! Wow!  (high five with the wife) we caught our first bass! Now I know what all the fuss is about with Bass. Even though they were small they did give quite a lively fight. My wife reckons she caught about 10 of them and I probably caught about 6. Plus 3 redfin each. They were all over the lake. Most fish looked healthy but I just noticed on this photo that this one had a weird thing on it's eye.







I also noticed a couple redfin had black colours on it top fins. Could it be from pollution from the nearby golf course? :? 
My neighbour said he spotted a couple very large fish near the kids' playground. He says they were trout :shock: , but most likely they were carp.

I think the bass preferred the gold and red lure my wife used. I used a blue one.

We basically fished the entire lake except for the middle where the water ski ramp is. We had the entire lake to ourselves I should add. Over near the dam wall there are lots of waterlillies and thats where we caught most of the redfin. I also got a big snag that turned out to be someone's lost spinnerbait. Pretty good quality one too. I did get to the end feeder creek Rstanek, and it looked like it had potential, but for some reason we didn't get a single bite in that area.

Here's some more photos of the 'Bass':






























Next week: Yellowbelly or Cod from Canberra. Happy Christmas!


----------

