Cressbrook Closure

[jordo]

This was taken from The toowoomba Chronicle on the 20th August.

The camp ground and boat ramp at cressbrook are closed until further notice. Toowoomba city Council closed the camping ground due to a pump breakdown that supplies water to the showers and toilets.The boat ramp is closed to all trailered craft until further notice. Low water levels make it difficult to launch and retreive trailered boats safely. The ramp reamains open to craft which can be launched by hand, such as small tinnies and canoes.

[klyons]

I was told the camp ground reopened this afternoon.
The boat ramp was a :-X :-X :-X disgrace. I pay rates and pay to get in and they don't want to spend a brass razoo on the boat ramps.
If you were foolish enough to reverse down the concrete part, you faced a drop of 6 to 8 inches onto the gravel before getting bogged in the rutts left by heroes >:( in 4x4s spinning wheels pulling their 12 foot tinnies out. I watched a bloke pull a 14 ft tinny out with an old corolla one day, no trouble. Next came landcruiser, similar boat, clouds of dust and roaring engine and very nearly dug himself a hole big enough to lose the boat in. A bloody hero!

Rant over

Kev

[jordo]

Yer Kev it is a disgrace the boat ramps. The supposedly done the one up at cooby and im hoping they do the same at cressy. While the dam is so low they should get in and fix up all the ramps.
It is also funny to watch some blokes tow their boats out. You can tell the ones that have a bit of experience and take it steady instead of rippin in to it.
see yas

[Chris_J]

Jordo long time no see, From what i've heard they have extended the Cooby ramp but its still short of the current water line.

The Cressy ramp was bad for a bit, when the water was on the crusher dust the council put down to "fix" the ramp but once it got below that there wasn't any drama's.

The fishing hasn't been great but still enough to keep interest up and a bit of size to them to which is nice...

Seeya's one the water...

Chris

[jordo]

Hey chris it has been a while mate. Havn't been fishin cressy at all. Goin to bring me boat back from Gladstone Friday so i might get on the water a bit more. Between fishin down the coast with me mate and fishin up at Gladstone and work i havnt had bloody time. Have to catch up with u one day and go for a fish. Stuff creessy though as until i get a 4wd i probably wont get the quinny in! May be chase some bream. See ya around.

[Squizy]

Cresbrook
The boat ramp at cresbrook isn't the problem it is the water level and the drop-off about 1.5 m in from the ramp. I will admit though now is a good time to do something about it without the worry of getting your feet wet.
as for Coobey I went there just after cresbrook closed and the dam is in a worse state than cresbrook you have to push / paddle out, pushing your tinney for about 5m in the mud. Then you have to fight through the Weed. I supose it isn't too bad if all you are after is salad.

[sav]

Hi guys, havn't fished Cressy or Cooby for about 6 months - since I moved over to the coast. Miss those winter night camping on Cressbrook around a campfire with a quality red. I suspect the dam levels are lower than ever with the lack of rain this year.
I think the boat ramps are the least of our worries the way the dam levels are dropping. I guess we need a couple of major falls in the 8 inch vacinity (& in those limited catchments) to bring those dams back to near 100% and what chance that.
I'll get back up there soon and give Cressy a go if TCC keep it opened.
Catch you sometime.
Regards
Sav

[klyons]

I see in last saturdays paper in the council news section it said the ramps closed till further notice >:(. Normally when work is under way on something they give an approx date for the end of works but not in this case.Does this mean they are doing nothing >:( and just waiting for rain ??? After installing boom gates and charging to get in to the place there is no excuse for not repairing the ramp. This is the very thing the charge was supposed to cover. Other dams stay open when water levels fall well under 10% and cressy is still at 40% I will have to give them a call when I get some time.

Kev

[sav]

Hi ya Kltons.
Please ring them and let us know what is going on. TCC seem to close their dams to fishing far more frequently than any other authority.
Cressy has the best facilities around and the council should be proud of it and spend a bit more on the infrastructure for fishos.
Hear from you.
Regards
Sav

[klyons]

Sav

It'll will have to be monday,havn't had the chance this week. I sent them an email on Wednesday night but as yet have not received a reply.

Kev

[murrayscod]

well as i said on the other post as far as i know they are doing nothing about it. well not yet anyways. would be good to find out what the long term plan is.
Luke

[klyons]

Today I tried to find out what was happening at Cressbrook. It would appear that only 1 person is able to tell me this top secret info and he was in hospital today. He will be back tomorrow however I have been assured.
What little I did manage to find out from someone who didn't know much was they believed the ramp was closed due to the low water level. Now, this would imply that unless something happens with the level it will remain closed. I keep hearing about this LOW water level but the dam is still at 41% which is not low by most standards in southern QLD. Other dams have kept ramps open and usable at levels down to 3%.

I will make further enquiries tomorrow.

Kev

[ANYFISH]

gday kev
i might give em a ring tomorrow just to let them know there is a few of us pissed off about their closure of the ramp, not long after the introduction of the 2 dollar fee.

cheers anyfish

[murrayscod]

yeah i agree that closing the ramp was the right thing to do as most cars would get stuck the way it is now ie shallow with deep mud at end of ramp. but surely they could do something about it maybe a dozer and push some gravel around, i dont know but yeah im also concerned that itll be closed until we get the rain again. but yeah its sad that when they built the dam they obviously didnt think about the possibility of letting boats on there so the ramps and stuff were poorly designed.or not really at all ie short ramp.
cheers Luke

[klyons]

Today I spoke with the man at Toowoomba City council about the boat ramp.
The problem is a steep, nearly vertical drop off about 3 meters out from the end of the ramp. This dropoff if I remember correctly from my last visit is about 20 ft deep. Councils concerns are 1. the soft mud near the edge of it could give way or 2. someone could simply back in too far and end up with car and trailer in the dam.
Workplace health and safety and public liability concerns mean the ramp wil be closed until either 1. water levels drop such that council can see the extent of the problem and rectify or 2. levels rise. I suppose the bulk of the problem is the boat ramps were built after the dam was filled as fishing was not allowed at the beginning. Now, with falling levels, the shortcomings with the original placement are coming to light.
On the matter of Cooby, he tells me there is now 120m of concrete boat ramp that still doesn't reach the water due to the wetness/sloppieness for want of a better word , of the bank. A problem caused by the lack of slope I suppose.

So, how are the fish biting at Leslie and Coolmunda or even Glenlyon

Kev

[jordo]

Doesn't it suck. I live 15kms away and when i feel like goin down now i cant. Some people i know have been goin down there off the bank and have been gettin some good fish and all are gettin their 2 easily. One fellow got a 50cm on a popper off the bank and let it go which is good. Anyway ill drive past the Cressbrook gate on Sunday and keep on goin to Somerset. May as well get a yearly permit for there as it will now be my closest by bass dam.

[murrayscod]

yeah i was wondering what sort of a hammering somerset would get now with the dam being closed. on the fishing front a mate went to cressy sunday arvo out of his scanoe and got about 10 bass, all legal and the best was 50cm so as sad as it is the fish have really turned on when most cant get to them. im still gonna take my rig down there and carry it off its worth it if ive got the place to myself :)