Barra in SE Qld

[jimbolikes_barra]

to spook
the piont is the barra allready have been stocked in lenthalls for some years now and they are showing great growth rates about 450mm per year and as soon the barra start to make some of the bass 'disappear' the better for the fishing and the economy of the wide bay.

i do still like bass but they just arern't as beneficial for the fishing as the barra.

[Fitzy]

Hey Fellas<br>Great debate on each side. As Fitzy said here at Monduran barra and bass live side by side but don't forget we never had a good bass fishery to start with, some thing you guys have got and don't want to lose. Maybe you have enough fodder fish in the lake to support barra {as stated any fish at the top of the food chain still won't waste energy chasing active prey] .I think if your going to stock barra don't just throw in millions of them put in some and see now it goes. <br>Cheers Foxie<br>

Foxie,
I wouldnt say the bass fishery at Monduran is isnt/wasnt good. I've had 50 fish sessions there years ago before a barra was ever caught & pulled up not long ago again to pull 9 or 10 in an hour in the basin. Bass were & still are there.

Bass are there & are a far easier target than barra, they just dont get to 1meter+ in size....... Big fish get ppl excited.

Cheers,

fitz..

[Jim_Tait]

Here's the sort of big fish we should be aiming for in the freshwater reaches of the Mary River south - I'd reakon it would get ppl excited - Jim!

[TonyM]

I have to agree Jim, they are a beautifull fish.

Is anyone aware of the DPI's stance on stocking Cod? Are any stocked in impoundments?

I'm still a bit of a newbie at freshwater so please forgive all my questions

[Jim_Tait]

Yeah Tony,

they're stocked in a number of impoundments in the Mary, Brisbane and Gold Coast catchments (Mary River Cod) and in a couple of Richmond River Impoundments (Eastern Cod) as well as open streams and rivers in this range (although eastern cod stocking has stalled at teh moment due to NSWF genetic protocols bailing up the previous supplies of fingerlings). In the rivers they are not meant to be targeted but can be a common by-catch in areas where you chase bass.

Regards - Jim

[Fitzy]

Yeah Tony,

they're stocked in a number of impoundments in the Mary, Brisbane and Gold Coast catchments (Mary River Cod) and in a couple of Richmond River Impoundments (Eastern Cod) as well as open streams and rivers in this range (although eastern cod stocking has stalled at teh moment due to NSWF genetic protocols bailing up the previous supplies of fingerlings). In the rivers they are not meant to be targeted but can be a common by-catch in areas where you chase bass.

Regards - Jim

Knew it wouldnt be long before a grab got made for SIP money to bail out the MRC Recovery program in Qld. They're out canvassing stocking groups to donate $$ to help run the Gerry Cook Hatchery.
While its all for a great cause, I recon the funds for this should be a priority from DPI&F.

The Somerset/Wivenhoe/Atkinsons group agreed to donate $2 for every MRC they get. Kind of a back door way of buying the cod (which we've been wanting to do all along).

Fitzy..

[luckyone]

mmmmm barra at somerset and big w let me think a while ............................yey baby bring them on........

[Louis]

I second that opinion Luckyone

[Wazza77]

Yep some barra down this way would be nice. You have my vote for sure

[Jim_Tait]

If we are going to make a reular zoo of our southern impoundments we might as well chuck in a few peacock bass, a couple of tiger fish, some largemouth bass... what else do we fancy having closer to home?? Oh yeah I hear Golden Masheer and Snakeheads pull well (you only have to go to PNG to get those these days).

Really guys these thing are just as foreign to the upper reaches of the Brisbane River as Barra are. Have you read all of the arguments in the string above before you support barra stocking in SE Qld mpoundments?

Alternatively we could focus on managing better an already good (& native to the catchment) bass fishery and get Mary River Cod fingerling and sstocking sorted to the extent that we do have a large (& native) predator re-established in SE Qld impoundments!

Regards - Jim

[MikeC]

Changed my vote from "undecided" to "no"

[Fitzy]

If we are going to make a reular zoo of our southern impoundments we might as well chuck in a few peacock bass, a couple of tiger fish, some largemouth bass... what else do we fancy having closer to home?? Oh yeah I hear Golden Masheer and Snakeheads pull well (you only have to go to PNG to get those these days).

Really guys these thing are just as foreign to the upper reaches of the Brisbane River as Barra are. Have you read all of the arguments in the string above before you support barra stocking in SE Qld mpoundments?

Alternatively we could focus on managing better an already good (& native to the catchment) bass fishery and get Mary River Cod fingerling and sstocking sorted to the extent that we do have a large (& native) predator re-established in SE Qld impoundments!

Regards - Jim

Your going a bit to extremes Jim.

Barra are native to the region. Ern Grant describes catching them in Pummicestone Passage. Last time I looked at a map, the Brisbane system fed into Moreton Bay, & Pummicestone is part of Moreton Bay.

Peacock Bass are easy if you want them. The dopey bugers in fisheries just changed some names on the banned fish list & a couple of peacock slid through the cracks. I saw some in a tank just a few weeks ago in Brisbane. Scary thought.

[hr]

Stocking our lakes with native fish is not a great scenario for our ecosystems, but 16 billion tonnes on rock, dirt & concrete spread across a valley for 4km to dam a river is far far more damaging.
If any of the tree huggers or purists are so anti fish stocking, why are they not lobbying to get all these dams destroyed. Answer = That aint never gonna happen & we aint never gonna have natural eco systems where ever we've played god & blocked the rivers.

We shat the bed, now we gotta put up with the stink. I certainly aint got a problem with the hyro station at Wivenhoe mincing barra instead of forkies & bass. The pelicans below dont seem to care either.

Cheers,

fitzy..

[fad]

barra at somerset u beauty .what about some jack as well can they live in the same enviroment

[Louis]

I never knew that the Hydro station at Wivenhoe minced up the fish.

Have any of the powers to be in government circles ever considered Attaching a filtering device etc. to stop the fish geting killed?



Louis

[turley]

I'd firstly like to state that i personally support the concept of stocking Barra into lake wivanhoe. I live in ipswich and have fished the dams and the upper brisbane river my entire life and, plan to do so for the rest of the time I am living here. Having read all the previous posts I see the major argument being that the funds should be spent on establishing the mary river cod into dams rather than stocking barramundi.

I support the establishing of Cod but, the issue with the cod as I see is, it is primarily being stocked for conservation purposes which is great, but the SIP is inplace to provide sport fish for the thousands of fishos' that attend these dams each year. As the mary river cod is "practically" unavailable in enough numbers to accomplish the stock that is desired then I see the cod as a future investment of SIP funds. I also see the stocking of cod into somerset as the best option on the reports of earlier posts that there is no breeding grounds for the cod in wivanhoe.

Stocking barramudi into wivanhoe is not going to effect the trophy bass and hopefully a healthy breeding stock of cod in somerset, will hopefully have an effect on the infestation of tilipia and other pests in the dam and open up the dam with a summer target rather than the huge number of forkies that are caught almost exclusively in summer. Alot of business would be generated for the towns around wivanhoe and I am sure the SIP would gain a few extra funds. There is the concern about the barramundi escaping the dam and effecting the ecosystem in the brisbane river but surely this would not be near as detramental as what tilipia and other pests have already done! And if it is proven that he barramundi cannot breed because of the water temp or the weirs then, I don't realy see the escape of barramundi to be a problem.

Having more diversity in these lakes in my opinion can only be a positive and stocking of native fish is the only way to do this. Perhaps barramundi are not the answer but finding new fish for this dam can only be a big positive for everyone!