Anglers warned to fish by rules at Lake Charlegrark

13 May 2016

Fisheries Victoria officers are warning people to carefully measure their Murray cod after a West Wimmera man faces hundreds of dollars in on-the-spot fines after allegedly being caught with three undersized fish.

The fish were allegedly taken from Lake Charlegrark, a popular West Wimmera Murray Cod fishery which was re-stocked with juvenile cod after refilling in 2010.

Although these fish have been growing steadily since release, it takes at least four to six years for them to reach the legal size of 55-75 cm.

Acting Regional Supervising Fisheries Officer Murray Burns said many cod at Lake Charlegrark were just below legal size and anglers needed to carefully measure their catch and ensure they did not exceed the two-fish Murray Cod limit for inland lakes.

"Lake Charlegrark's Murray Cod fishery is very special and has a long history both to the local community and the Victorian Fishing public," Mr Burns from Fisheries Victoria, said.

"West Wimmera Anglers and Fisheries Victoria have put a significant effort into re-establishing the lake's Murray Cod population by stocking both on-grow fish and fingerlings over a number of years.

"We want people to be able to access this resource but it is vital that they fish to the rules.

"The three Murray Cod detected recently at Charlegrark were all undersize at 45cm, 48cm and 51cm and had also had the fillets removed which is also not allowed."

When fishing for Murray cod anglers must ensure that when in, on or next to Victorian inland waters these fish are retained in whole or carcass form. (Guts, gills and scales may be removed.)

"This rule ensures that size limits and/or catch limits are adhered to," Mr Burns said.

He said the person detected at the weekend faced costly on-the-spot fines for their alleged actions.

The infringement notice penalty, or on-the-spot fine, for taking fish less than the legal minimum size is $443 and the on-the-spot fine for failing to retain in whole or carcass form is $443.

Any persons seeing fisheries offences can report them to the 13FISH (134374) hotline 7/24.