Where and when to catch Redfin Perch in South Australia: the SA season, the spots in our guide that hold them, and where to find SA's current size and bag limits.
Redfin are a declared noxious fish in South Australia. PIRSA's rule is simple: a redfin you catch must not go back in the water. They're established through the River Murray and many of the state's fresh waters, where they prey on small native fish and invertebrates. They're also one of the best-eating freshwater fish you can catch, so the pest control tends to end at the dinner table.
Western Australian limits don't apply in South Australia.
Where to Catch Redfin Perch in SA
Redfin school around timber, weed and drop-offs in still and slow water. The spots below list them: Myponga Reservoir on the Fleurieu, and River Murray banks at Blanchetown (Lock 1), Mannum and Murray Bridge.
Worms (scrubworms, earthworms), small yabbies, shrimp, and small strips of fresh fish
Lures
Small soft plastics (2–3 inch curl-tails and paddle-tails) on 1/8–1/4 oz jig heads, blades and soft vibes, small spinners, small hardbody minnows, and ice jigs or blades worked vertically over fish on the sounder
Rigs
Light spin gear: 6–10 lb braid or 4–6 lb mono with an 8–12 lb fluorocarbon leader. A running sinker rig with a size 1–2 hook for bait, or a single jig head for plastics. A paternoster with two small hooks works well when you've found a school.
Technique
Cover water until you find a school, then work it hard. Cast plastics or blades along weed edges, timber and drop-offs, let them sink to the bottom and hop them back slowly; most bites come on the drop. In deeper water, sit over fish and jig blades vertically. From the bank, a worm on the bottom beside structure is hard to beat. When one bites, stay put: redfin hold in tight schools and the next cast often goes too. If the school goes quiet, move to the next point.
Best Time
Bite year-round, with spring and autumn the most consistent as the water sits in the mid-teens to around 20°C. In summer they sit deeper in the day, so early and late sessions are best; in winter they slow down but still bite for anglers prepared to fish slowly and deep.
Redfin are declared noxious in South Australia: never return one to the water, and never move live redfin to another water. PIRSA also prohibits holding or trading noxious fish without authorisation.
Identification
Also known asRedfin, reddies, English perch, European perch
Deep-bodied and slab-sided, olive to bronze-green over the back with five to eight dark vertical bars down the flanks and bright orange-red pelvic, anal and tail fins. Two dorsal fins, the front one spiny with a dark blotch at its rear, and rough scales. Older fish develop a humped back. Nothing native looks quite like it: golden perch are plain gold-olive without bars or red fins, Murray cod are mottled green with a big mouth and rounded tail, and trout are streamlined and spotted. Mind the spines and the sharp gill covers.
Size & Growth
Commonly 20–30 cm and 250–500 g. A kilo fish is a good one and 2 kg-plus is a genuine trophy. The complication is stunting: redfin breed prolifically, and in crowded water a whole population can sit at 15–20 cm for years, so numbers and size run in opposite directions. Deep, open water with plenty of forage grows the better fish. They live up to about ten years and mature early, and a single female lays a huge ribbon of eggs, which is how they took over.
Diet & Habitat
Voracious and indiscriminate: small native fish, shrimp, yabbies, insect larvae and their own young when nothing else is going. They school tightly along weed edges, drowned timber, rocky points, steep banks and submerged creek channels in reservoirs, lakes, weir pools and slow river reaches, dropping deeper through the heat of summer. Small fish hang in big schools close to cover; the bigger ones sit a little deeper and on their own.
Eating Quality
Very good eating, which is an awkward fact for a pest: firm, white, mild fillets with none of the muddy taste that spoils some freshwater fish, provided they come from clean, open water. They're fiddly to clean, with rough scales and sharp spines, so a fillet knife and a firm grip behind the head beat scaling. Anything over about 25 cm gives a usable fillet. Pan-fry skin-off in butter, or crumb and shallow-fry. Iced down they keep well for several days, and they freeze better than most freshwater fish.