Sub-adult rainbow trout released in Chifley Dam, Bathurst

Chifley Dam, near Bathurst in Central West NSW, has 1500 more residents after the recent delivery by Ebor's Dutton Trout Hatchery.

Manager Peter Selby was at the dam for the release of 1500 sub-adult rainbow trout ranging in length from about 220mm to 280mm.

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That length, Mr Selby said, is to give them the best chance of avoiding being taken by the dam's redfin.

"There were 1000 fish that were non-tagged and then we put 500 tagged in there [of the 1500]," he said.

"The idea of the tag is that we take their measurements when we tag them.

"Just say one fish is 230mm long. If someone catches that fish with a tag in it, and they register on the DPI website, and they say I caught this fish and it was 280mm long, we know that in four months or whatever it was since we put in there, to when they caught it, it's grown that much.

"The DPI will actually send them [the person who has provided the measurement of the fish they caught] a fishing lure as part of them helping us out with a bit of research for what we do."

Mr Selby said Bathurst got adult broodstock last year, but nearby Oberon is getting the broodstock this year.

"We swap it around," he said.

He said reports from anglers indicate the rainbow trout releases are proving successful.

"In the last, probably, four years, we're getting a bit of feedback saying that we're catching good rainbows out of there, whereas before we used to put fingerlings in there, and we never used to hear too much back.

"Since we've been putting these bigger fish in there, we've been getting a bit of feedback to say, yeah, we're actually catching some. So it seems to be working."

Mr Selby said Dutton Trout Hatchery provides about two million fry (young fish) each year, about 120,000 fingerlings, 25,000 to 30,000 sub-adults and about 2000 broodstock.

They go to areas ranging from the New England to Bathurst, Oberon and Orange on the Central Tablelands to the Crookwell and Goulburn area.

"This year we're actually taking fish to Jindabyne because they're getting a new hatchery built down there," Mr Selby said.

He said there are a lot of kilometres covered from the hatchery at Ebor, "but we have to do that travelling to get to those colder areas".

The idea of the rainbow trout being released into Chifley Dam is to provide recreational fishing opportunities.

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