Lake Murray PNG

[PNG1M]

Now that my self-imposed six week period of sulking is over I can report on the July/August eight day trip to Lake Murray PNG, targeting black bass/barra & saratoga.

The main reason we went to Lake Murray was that the airstrip into SUKI had been closed for maintenance. It was either cancel the trip altogether or find an alternative location. Lake Murray came up and we were the first ever group to go there on a fishing trip. No tour operators involved - strictly D.I.Y.

The place has mega-fantastic potential. There are several fairly large river systems that empty into Lake Murray. It's a pristine habitat and a unique environment. Being a large lake, there's also plenty of water in between the fish.

Unfortunately for us the conditions for our trip were not favourable.
There had been unusually high rainfall up in the catchment over a wide area.
All the catchment areas were affected and the rivers flowing into Lake Murray were all fast flowing with murky brown water.

The level of the lake had risen and the small baitfish had dispersed into the reed beds with the bigger fish following them. Those conditions for that time of year were unseasonal and the locals were hard pressed to explain it. Normally over August the water is low and the fish are abundant - but not for our trip.

The Fly River bypasses Lake Murray but the Strickland River flows past the southern fringe of the lake before going into the Fly. The Fly River was swollen and running high. This prevented the Strickland from flowing freely into it and the Strickland backed up. The Strickland had also had a lot of catchment rain so it too, was flowing wide and fast. The Herbert River which flows from Lake Murray into the Strickland was also affected.

We explored 3 or 4 other independent river systems flowing into Lake Murray from other catchments but they were also flooded. We spent many hours each day motoring around the lake in search of a clean river - but no luck. Too bad how sad!

FISH? Yes, we did catch a few. Six of us went on the trip and I guess we averaged around 16 fish each over a period of 8 days. The biggest was a 97cm barra caught on the first day. That was the only barra caught for the whole trip. We did see a 140cm+ barra that a local had caught in his net.

We all caught a few black bass each up to 8kg and we all caught catfish. We got some saratoga too including some caught on poppers late in the afternoon, in the reedy lagoon areas. The saratoga were even going for trolled poppers.

Fishwise for us it was disappointing. BUT the conditions were not good. I am positive that if the conditions were better and the water was lower and the catchments weren't all full - the fishing would/could be incredible.

Lake Murray is a pristine environment, clean and beautiful. It's also a birdwatchers paradise (absolute utopia). Since the fishing was not overly productive we got plenty of chances to appreciate our surroundings. I'm not a birdwatcher (except for summertime at the beach) but the birds & the sounds they were making were incredible. We also heard some of the renown 'singing dogs' up in the bush. We saw a native in a canoe shoot an arrow at a cassowary that was swimming across one of the rivers. And we saw some very isolated villages with kids there who never seen a whitey before.

So, not too many fish - bit still a memorable trip for other reasons.
At least we got plenty of casting pratice! The OTML (mining company) media division even sent a film crew to report on us as there was a great deal of interest in our trip. They followed us around for half a day and took some footage. I was interviewed on camera but they didn't get much fishing footage apart from the odd cattie.

Overall, worth the effort I guess, although retrospectively - planning a trip months in advance might not be the best way to go. I reckon, if anyone is thinking of a trip to Lake Murray it'd be better to wait for as long as you can before committing to get an idea of the weather conditions & catchment rain etc.

SUKI?? (my favourite..!) Yep, I can't wait to give that area another blast in the future - especially since I just added a jap version Daiwa Millionnaire 253CV-Z to my weaponry.

[BR65]

Sounds like an awesome place to fish mate, regardless of results. Dissapointing about the river levels, but what can you do except make the best of whats in front of you, and sounds like thats what you boys did.
Thanks for the up-date, was wondering how you went, any pics at all??

cheers
brian

[PNG1M]

Yep we did take some snaps. Mine are still on the camera through. Will spend some time soon to load them up and sort through them.

We watched a day of rugby league while were were there. The players had no jerseys and played barefoot. They had to paddle by canoe for up to 2 hours or more to get the the oval (and back). The linesman, wore only one boot & the referee adjusted the players legs in the scrum so the ball had a clear tunnel through. Just as well we had a few coldies with us on the sideline...

So apart from the less than prolific fishing, the trip was quite interesting.

I'll try to upload a few photos of Lake Murray once I re-figure out how to do it.

[Dick Pasfield]

Sounds like the lake may have a 'watch this space' sign hanging on it. Better conditions could have meant a lot different report

[PNG1M]

Yes, Dick...a definate 'watch this space' sign would be the go.

We couldn't ignore the many accounts from locals who gave us several testimonies of how their 'arms ached' by hauling in fish after fish in the past (with hand lines).

I've seen photos of a few locals I know who I gave some old reject JJ Stumpjumpers to a year or so back. Using very run-of-the mill gear (el-basic cheapo rods and egg beaters) they caught good size barra & bass with hose same Size 1 stumpies.

So when the fish are on - they're on! It's just a darn long way to go for a hit or miss situation. With flights on & out on weekends only its a lengthy wait if they aint bitin'. They do have a daytime generator which powers some refigeration so at least cold beer is available...

On the same token, the Lake Murray 'Patrol Post' does have occasional email access via satellite phone. The bloke in charge of it offered to give me up to date reports via email on the lake conditions if I intended on going there again.

Hence a short notice trip would have more chance of success than one booked months in advance.



"...A voice in my head told me I had to go fishing..!"

[modo]

been tossing up wheather to go to Fiji or PNG for xmas holidays.