Species guide · Invasive but heavily fished in southern AU — schools, weed, bibbed minnows, easy to target

Redfin Perch fishing guide.

Also known as Redfin, English perch, European perch. Bait, technique, tide windows, and where the bite is on right now.

Where the Redfin Perch bite is on right now

Hero spots in our coverage where Redfin Perch is in season for May. Click through for the live forecast.

Out of season across our covered spots in May.

Best bait

Best lures

Technique

Find the weed edge in 1–3 m water — that's where redfin school. Cast bibbed minnows parallel to the weed line on a fast jerky retrieve. For big "stripies" (>1 kg / 1.5 lb), drop-shot a 4" soft plastic vertically on schools showing on sounder in 5–10 m on lakes Eildon, Mulwala, Hume, Cairn Curran. Fish move shallower in autumn and spring as water warms past 12°C, deeper in midsummer when surface temps push 22°C+.

Tide windows that matter

Lake levels matter — falling lake levels concentrate fish into old creek beds and channels where bait gets stranded. After consistent rain or in early spring as water warms past 12°C, schools become very active. Stable barometric pressure for 24 hours pre-fishing is the trigger.

Moon & solunar

Less moon-influenced than trout — time of day matters more. Dawn and dusk patrol the weed lines; midday they go deep. Cloudy days produce longer feeding windows than clear-sky days.

Regulations

DECLARED NOXIOUS PEST in VIC, NSW, ACT, TAS, WA — by law you must NOT return them to the water alive. No bag or size limit in most states (because of pest status), but you must humanely dispatch each fish (firm blow to the back of the head with an iki spike or priest) and not release. Bowfishing legal for redfin in some VIC waters. Always verify state-specific rules at VFA / NSW DPI / DPIRD WA / IFS Tas — pest fish handling rules have legal teeth.

What ~29.1K real catches show

From our training corpus of ~1.1M angler-logged catches across 14 regions. Last refreshed 2026-05-14.

Top fishing methods

1 Casting 45%
2 Jig fishing 24%
3 Bottom fishing 9%
4 Pole fishing 6%
5 Ice fishing 5%

Peak month

JAN
FEB
MAR
APR
MAY
JUN
JUL
AUG
SEP
OCT
NOV
DEC

Peak hour of day

12a
3a
6a
9a
12p
3p
6p
9p

Top water bodies

Conditions when caught (median & middle-50%)

Water temp
17°C
middle 50%: 13.9–19°C
Wind
3.5 m/s
middle 50%: 2.3–4.7 m/s
Swell
0.2 m
middle 50%: 0.1–0.3 m
Pressure
1007.4 hPa
middle 50%: 996.8–1015.1 hPa
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