Australian Bass

Australian bass (Macquarie novemaculeata) is an iconic sport fish in south-eastern Australia. Bass is known for having an aggressive side and putting up a great fight, making it popular amongst anglers.

Australian bass is native to eastern Australia, however, there are more abundant populations in Queensland and New South Wales than Victoria. In Victoria, bass is found eastwards from Wilsons Promontory, with small populations in Gippsland. Bass spend most of their time in freshwater rivers and streams. However, each year between May and August, they migrate downstream to spawn in estuaries.

Bass can grow to 60 centimetres in length and weigh up to 3.8 kilograms, however, they are most commonly found around 35 centimetres and 1 kilogram. Bass can range from dark olive-green to greyish on their back and sides with darker scale margins and have a silvery or whitish belly. It has a protruding lower jaw, a straight to slight concave snout, moderately large eyes and their dorsal profile is evenly arched.

In recent years, Australian bass has been stocked into impoundments such as Lake Bullen Merri, Blue Rock Dam, Lake Narracan and Lake Glenmaggie. Anglers have had great success in catching above legal size bass in these waters.

In Victoria, Australian bass have a minimum size limit of 27 centimetres and a bag limit of 2 with the exception of in Lake Bullen Merri where Australian bass have a bag limit of 5.

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