Koombooloomba Dam 30.12.05

[Poseidon]

Spent the day on this dam last Friday with my son Kyle and friend in Cairns, Gary, who was good enough to donate boat and local knowledge to the cause.
We were targeting these sootie grunter amongst the timber all day and ended up boating and releasing around 20 fish between the 3 of us, all around the same size. Fish fell to a number of different lures, from hard bodies, bibless and soft plastics.
For their size these fish put on a great fight and are certainly worthy opponents on light gear. The barra would not come to the party though Gary had landed a few on his last trip a few weeks prior.
Sorry for the late post but only got back to Bris Vegas yesterday.
Here are a few pics.
Regards Cameron.

[Poseidon]

One of Kyles fish.........

[Poseidon]

and one of Gary's fish.......

[flickflack]

Some nice pics mate the little guy looks like he is still enjoying his fishing.

[sonocam]

Thanks Rod, I sure do enjoy my fishing!
The little buggers pull like freight trains, a ton of fun!

regards Kyle.

[Bad_Bubby]

Nice work guys, too bad you couldnt get a hold of a barra since you travelled so far. Did you notice any pattern to what lures the sooties were taking? or did they take a variety of lures?

[Poseidon]

BB, they were taking a variety of lures, in the morning anything with a green/yellow colour, midday gold seemed to be the go then in the afternoon just about anything. One of the larger fish fell for one of those el cheapo Berkely Frenzy Bibless lures that had a good rattle to it.
The water clarity is excellent so you could watch the lure in motion and at times see the fish nail the lure.
Regards Cameron.

[Bad_Bubby]

Thanks mate, I find brown or brown/white does allright in the rivers I've fished. The reason I asked is because theres a possibility I'll be at Koomboolooma next week.

[Toppy]

GOOD ON YA CAMERON!
I FISHED KOOMBOOLOOMBA A FEW YEARS AGO & WAS BLOWN AWAY BY HOW UNCROWDED IT WAS. UNFORTUNATLY WE ONLY HAD A 2 WHEEL DRIVE & COULDNT LAUNCH THE BOAT ONCE WE GOT IN THERE. WE DIDNT MIND TOO MUCH CAUSE ITS JUST SO BEAUTIFUL & WORTH THE DRIVE IN JUST TO CHECK IT OUT.
THE LITTLE THAT I KNOW ABOUT IT, IS IT HAS A SELF SUSTAINING POPULATION OF SOOTIES & ITS NOT HEAVILLY STOCKED WITH BARRA.
WHAT WAS THE ROAD LIKE IN CAMERON & CAN YOU STILL CAMP THERE?
CHEERS
TOPPY

[sonocam]

Toppy, from the end of the road to the water was very rough but fortunately Gary owns a 4X4 which made it a bit easier. Yes you can camp there, we saw a pack of people camping with their tinnies and their ski boats and their dirt bikes. Sorry for taking so long to get back to you.

Regards Kyle

[TinarooTriumph]

Toppy, from the end of the road to the water was very rough but fortunately Gary owns a 4X4 which made it a bit easier. Yes you can camp there, we saw a pack of people camping with their tinnies and their ski boats and their dirt bikes. Sorry for taking so long to get back to you.

Regards Kyle

That 'pack' of people was quite possibly me and a few mates. Can you remember the date you were there?.

Glad hardly any1 knows about Koombooloomba know the place back to front. best Sooty Grunter dam in Australia by far. I dont think many people would be aware of this, but the biggest fish ever caught on the Atherton Tablelands was NOT at Tinaroo, it was at Koombooloomba. And it was a good deal bigger then the monster that came out of Tinaroo.

If any of you want info on Koombooloomba give us a yell. The dam is currently closed due to Larry, it made a mess of the road and the Tully Falls region. Plans of building a concrete ramp have been brought foward to the council, so lets hope that goes ahead.

TinarooTriumph

[sonocam]

Sorry TinarooTriumph, I can't remember the exact date But what I can tell you is that is was roughly around late December, early January.

Regards Kyle

[TinarooTriumph]

Beautifull place though isnt it Kyle? We spend at least every 2nd weekend there and we have it all to our own pretty much. We wont be heading out there for awile. Me and a mate went for a ride up there a few w/ends ago after the cyclone and the road was just ripped up, and the rainforest is pretty much demolished. We got to the dam in the end, took us 2 hrs on our bikes to get there through all the mess Lary left behind, but it was worth it. The dam is full and looking fantastic.

Did you hook any barra on the trip?

This is probably a dumb question, cos you probably dont know the layout of the dam, but did you go towards the back half of the dam, or did you just fish around the half closest to the wall?

TinarooTriumph

[sonocam]

We fished around where the tully flows into the dam only to get some spangled's and a small sooty, but we drifted into the sticks and and bays, away from the inlet and that is where we caught most of the larger fish.

P.S. hope you can tell which section of the dam we fished from the info.

Regards Kyle

[TinarooTriumph]

Sure can mate - locals call it the 'Black Timber' where you guys were fishing. Damned Spangled's, cant stand them. The dam is packed pull of them.

Congrats on the fish mate . The sooty's that occur in Koombooloomba are the best looking ones I have ever come across when it comes to Impoundment bream. And the sheer numbers of them in that Dam is something to be impressed by, just a awesome fishery on the whole. Cant wait to go back there when the roads clear up, see if i can beat my Koombooloomba Barra PB of 114 .

Cheers

TinarooTriumph