# Freshwater grand slam



## Junglefisher (Jun 2, 2008)

I'm sure most people are familiar with the theory of a grand slam.
An example would be catching Rainbow, Brown and Brook trout and Atlantic salmon in one season of the tassie trout calendar. Or shooting all the legally shootable ducks in a duck season.
I started thinking, what's the Grand Slam of Aussie freshwater fishing?
What would it take to have caught all the freshwater angling species in Australia?
Jungle Perch
Sooty Grunter
Barra
Tarpon
Freshwater Longtom
Archer fish
Eel tailed cats
Fork tailed cats
Silver perch
Yellowbelly / Golden perch
Murray cod
Australian greyling
Mary river cod????
Trout cod????

The last two I'm not sure about as as far as I know they cannot be legally targetted.
Any others? Native only


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## Dodge (Oct 12, 2005)

Junglefisher said:


> Mary river cod????


Craig it is OK to catch MRC from stocked impoundments, and can even take one home if inclined that way but would be a shame to do that.


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## Junglefisher (Jun 2, 2008)

Aussie Bass of course, thought of it as soon as I saw Dodge's name there


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## koich (Jul 25, 2007)

You forgot Macquarie Perch, two spined Blackfish, long fin eel and tupongs.

There's also a few Tandan subspecies like Randalls and Hyrtl's.


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## Junglefisher (Jun 2, 2008)

koich said:


> You forgot Macquarie Perch, two spined Blackfish, long fin eel and tupongs.
> 
> There's also a few Tandan subspecies like Randalls and Hyrtl's.


Tupong? Are they really an angling species? I mean, I haven't included snake headed gudgeons either.
Eels? Yeah maybe. Are they fish?
Lots of catfish species both eel tailed an forktailed, was keeping it simple. 
I guess there's Barcoo grunter, khaki grunter (khaki bream), Welch's grunter and I forgot Saratoga from my initial post too.


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## Barrabundy (Sep 29, 2008)

Would be a well travelled, highly skilled angler. I wouldn't know what half of those looked like.


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## koich (Jul 25, 2007)

Junglefisher said:


> koich said:
> 
> 
> > You forgot Macquarie Perch, two spined Blackfish, long fin eel and tupongs.
> ...


Yeah, Tupong are a regular bycatch in the Victorian trout streams.

Apparently good tucker


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## Barrabundy (Sep 29, 2008)

What about sleepy cod?


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## tamworthyakker (Apr 18, 2012)

if i had of jagged the 70 million the other night id give it a red hot crack haha!!!


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## dru (Dec 13, 2008)

Toga?


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## anselmo (Aug 26, 2008)

Rainbow fish
Spangled perch
Freshwater garfish


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## Junglefisher (Jun 2, 2008)

anselmo said:


> Rainbow fish
> Spangled perch
> Freshwater garfish


I'll pay spanglies and gar but rainbowfish?????


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## anselmo (Aug 26, 2008)

Junglefisher said:


> anselmo said:
> 
> 
> > Rainbow fish
> ...


oh yeah
#20 dry flies and nymphs
awesome


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## southcoastmatty (Jan 21, 2009)

Macquarie Perch are protected in NSW but I have caught one accidentally in the Bidgee.


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## ringo (Oct 3, 2008)

anselmo said:


> Rainbow fish
> Spangled perch
> Freshwater garfish


None of those species should be included in a Grand Slam. Also no vermin. I'd even question sleepy cod - I agree that they are unique but their fighting ability can only be compared to catching old boot. The Barcoo Grunter would be well ahead of the poor ol' sleepy cod. What about Milkfish? I'm sure I saw Rob Paxevanos catching them up in Cairns in the freshwater.

Junglefisher... How many of those fish that you listed have you not caught?

I still have the mighty Murray Cod(and Mary River Cod) on my bucket list and I'd love to try trout fishing in Tasmania. I've never even seen a Macquarie Perch or an Australian Greyling.


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## Junglefisher (Jun 2, 2008)

Of the serious angling fish, I've not caught Toga, MRC, Trout cod, Barcoo grunter, Welch's grunter and blackfish.
I've also not caught Tupong or Maquarie perch.
I have caught:
Jungle perch
Sooty grunter
Barra
Tarpon
Aussie Bass
Freshwater gar
Spangled perch
Freshwater longtom
Archerfish
Rainbowfish (on lure too)
Murray cod
Yellowbelly
Silver perch (not on yak)
Sleepy cod (not on yak)
Forktailed catfish
Eeeltailed catfish
Eels (not on yak)
Khaki bream
Australian greyling.

Once I've caught toga I'm pretty happy with my list. One day I will have to target MRC and trout cod and with those ticked, I'll consider it a grand slam.


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## Junglefisher (Jun 2, 2008)

Oh, and I've also caught rainbow and brown trout (can't remember if I got a brook or not?) and atlantic salmon.


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## Brez (Mar 2, 2012)

I would really like to catch quite a few of those species , high on my list are jp's and sooties as you know JF . I would add Eastern cod and Macquarie perch as the ultimate bycatch , ofcourse I wouldn't deliberately target either !


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## koich (Jul 25, 2007)

Junglefisher said:


> Of the serious angling fish, I've not caught Toga, MRC, Trout cod, Barcoo grunter, Welch's grunter and blackfish.
> I've also not caught Tupong or Maquarie perch.


Macquarie perch well and truly belong in the first line Craig.

They are most definitely a serious angling fish. Pound for pound they are twice the high altitude stream fish than trout.


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## anselmo (Aug 26, 2008)

ringo said:


> anselmo said:
> 
> 
> > Rainbow fish
> ...


Why not?

Rainbow fish I could understand, they are a fluke on lure (sorry JF) and a rarity on fly

But Spangleds and gar are a legitimate target
There is no mention in JFs original post that they have to be of any specific sporting prowess to be included in the grandslam
It was simply all the FW angling species, which SP and Garfish most definitely are

And whats your definition of vermin?


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## ringo (Oct 3, 2008)

anselmo said:


> ringo said:
> 
> 
> > anselmo said:
> ...


Maybe our ideas of a Grand Slam differ. When I think of Grand Slam, I'm thinking the pinnacle of fishing. I'm thinking of the Alpha-fish of a particular area. The dominant freshwater species. Not simply every freshwater fish available. The Grand Slam in tennis is only the 4 major events, not every pro tournament. 
The vermin that I was thinking of were carp and tilapia. I know that no-one had mentioned them but it was a pre-emptive strike in case anyone was thinking of suggesting such species.


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## anselmo (Aug 26, 2008)

ringo said:


> anselmo said:
> 
> 
> > ringo said:
> ...


a trout grand slam (example used elewhere above) is simply the 3 species of trout in a river (rainbow, bronw, brook)
so they aren't the pinnacle, they are the only species

a SWF Grand slam is Bonefish, permit and tarpon
not the only fish you can catch on fly but the only one that would tend to be specifically targetted

JFs point was all of the native fish you could catch in FW
not the elite bracket
an elite GS would a different kettle of fish (geddit?)

and "vermin" as defined by you were already excluded by virtue of not being native - one of the criteria


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## anselmo (Aug 26, 2008)

Junglefisher said:


> I'm sure most people are familiar with the theory of a grand slam.
> An example would be catching Rainbow, Brown and Brook trout and Atlantic salmon in one season of the tassie trout calendar. Or shooting all the legally shootable ducks in a duck season.
> I started thinking, what's the Grand Slam of Aussie freshwater fishing?
> What would it take to have caught all the freshwater angling species in Australia?
> ...


and lungfish ... ;-) (not sure of the legalities on this - they were a semi regular incidental catch for me several years ago)


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## ringo (Oct 3, 2008)

My mistake re: vermin. I missed the part where JF said only natives.


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## anselmo (Aug 26, 2008)

ringo said:


> My mistake re: vermin. I missed the part where JF said only natives.


vermin can be fun
thye're usually big, strong and abundant
and no-one gets upset if you want to catch them


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## Junglefisher (Jun 2, 2008)

I thought about lungfish, but decided not to worry about them. Proabably if I target MRC I'll get a lungfish.


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## kayakone (Dec 7, 2010)

Freshwater Mullet?

Lungfish?

Trevor


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## anselmo (Aug 26, 2008)

kayakone said:


> Freshwater Mullet?
> 
> Lungfish?
> 
> Trevor


Freshwater sharks

And for you Trevor, freshwater rays ...


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