Redfin Perch are a fish I grew up catching and a fish that taught me the basics of lure fishing when I was kid. I feel they are a gateway fish into lure fishing for any young angler in southern Australia. They are commonly accessible to a large population and live in anything from small stagnant, creeks or channels, to a farm dam or large open lakes. Due to growing up catching redfin and learning how to fish lures by targeting these fish I’ve always had an interest in catching them. The only problem is most of the redfin in Australia are extremely small. While there are massive numbers of them, fish over 30m in length are not that common. But after a decade or more of fishing lures and refining techniques I’ve realised you can now head out and specially target big redfin. Almost every year there is a lake in Victoria that will provide the perfect conditions for redfin and a population of larger fish will explode and fish from 40 to 50cm can be caught. Fish of this size are a great target as they fight well look awesome and taste great. Not bad for a pest species that require no stocking. Over recent years I’ve focused a lot of fishing trips on chasing these big redfin and here are my tips and tricks to help you find a few yourself.
Time of year
Winter is the best time to target big redfin as the big fish move up out of the Deepwater and weed to spawn. They become more aggressive and feed up as they prepare to spawn. During these colder periods of the year the smaller redfin become less active and seem to disappear. This makes targeting the bigger fish easier and most of my big redfin are caught in May, June or July. However, if your after numbers the warmer months of the year are the go, the fish will be smaller but there should be plenty of them. So, redfin are a viable year round target and you can still certainly catch some big ones at any time of the year. Redfin bite well right throughout the day as well so there’s no need to on the water at any certain time and you can just fish when you have time.
Habitat
Redfin love weedy shallow lakes with clearwater, slow following deep rivers are also a favourite for big fish. But overall redfin are extremely tough and will adapt to live in almost any freshwater river or pond in southern Australia. It Doesn’t matter is the water is dirty or clear, deep or shallow there isn’t too many bodies of freshwater in southern Australia that don’t have redfin. Redfin are a schooling fish and when they are smaller, they will swim around the open water in massive schools. As they get bigger the school size gets smaller and the 40cm to 50cm are often in small groups of 3 to 10 fish. They still don’t seem to care much for structure, and I often catch them in deep open water or swimming down a weed edge in the shallows. Redfin are always on the move and its more about finding a school and trying to stay on top of them as they move then finding a particular spot.
Lures and Gear
I like to fish for redfin with sinking soft plastics this allows me to work a range of depths easily and redfin really do love a soft plastic. Redfin are an extremely aggressive fish and will smash a massive range of lures. So, another good tactic to use is to cast or troll and diving minnow to help cover water as you look for a school of fish. Small deep divers such as the Samaki Redic DS40 long cast are a great option for this, while a small 3 inch paddle tail rigged on a decoy standard 1/6th jig head is a great option for a soft plastic. For Deepwater fish you may find casting a steep rock wall or with the sounder in the boat, dropping vibes down is the best option. I like to use the Samaki Vibelicious 70mm for bigger fish and the Samaki Bladelicious 40mm for smaller fish. As far as tackle goes you don’t need anything to fancy and a light spin combo that you would use for trout or bream is perfect. I use a 2000 Samaki Sora Spin Reel Spooled with 14lb Braid pentagram and 10lb Olltolos fluorocarbon leader. This is matched on a Samaki Zing gen 4 SZG-722SXL (2-6lb) rod that is perfect for casting little lures.
Some of my favourite lakes to fish for redfin are Khancoban pondage and lake Hume in NSW. While Lake Fyans and Lake Lonsdale are great Victorian options. But there is a massive number of lakes that can produce great redfin fishing and I can dare say if you live down south there will be one close locally to you. Remember move fast and cover the water as you look for a school of redfin. Cover a variety of depths until you find where the fish are. Once you get into a few focus your efforts here and enjoy the fun. Redfin are a great target for anglers at all skill levels and a fish I will be targeting for many years to come.
Words & Images: Colby Lesko
