Kirkleigh at Somerset Dam

[greyfox]

A group of us are off to this site for a few days camping and fishing soon. I haven't been there for a year or so and was wondering if anyone had fished the area lately. I'm happy to sit on a bait and try a bit of luring later in the morning. The guys are keen on redclaw but last time I was there you had to keep a sharp eye on your pots. Any news on the area would be appreciated.

[Gon Fishun]

Plenty of redclaw, yellow belly ( deep dive lures), and bass. Thick with Tilapia, catch on worms. There's a bit of something for everybody happening there.
Good idea to check the DPI site for rules on tilapia.
Cheers.

[kercus]

Plenty of redclaw, yellow belly ( deep dive lures), and bass. Thick with Tilapia, catch on worms. There's a bit of something for everybody happening there.
Good idea to check the DPI site for rules on tilapia.
Cheers.
Gon Fishun,

That's good news. I had heard that the redclaw were rather scarce in Somerset.

Greyfox,

Please post a report on your results when you get back.

Cheers,
kercus

[Mike Delisser]

I hope you go ok but I heard Somerset was a little mudy and fishing hard since the flood a couple of weeks ago. Cressbrook may be a better option.

[hally]

Fish with live shrimp been bagging out on all speices over the last month. Live shrimp can be caught at somerset and been getting red claw in shrimp pots . So if that's any help have fun. Cheers hally

[darylive]

Check Cressbrook is open if heading that way has been closed due to over flow. Nippa got claw in the hundreds last weekend. Didn't bother fishing.

Haven't been for a while but they were hanging in the basin south of Kirkleigh and most caught trolling divers.

[BillR1]

Spent the day with the family at the spit last Saturday. Caught 58 redclaw in 19 pots straight across from the spit. Good size but not a lot of them. Not many pots around. Hope there are more at Kirklea for you.

Never been to Kirklea before so we drove up to have a look at 6.00am. Easy to get in through the gates but they won't let you out until 7.30am. Yes that's right, they won't let you out until the shop opens at 7.30, so we had to sit for an hour before we were given the code to open the gate. If you want to have a look at Kirklea definately go after 7.30am.

As a matter of interest the camp ground at Kirklea was very crowded with all the good sites well and truely gone, no hope of a waterfront site, and the ramp on the southern side was busier than any on the Gold Coast. This is in an offseason, must be fun there at Easter and Christmas. Nice clean toilets though.

Bill

[greyfox]

Thanks for the replies fellas. There were plenty of large redclaw in the pots. Mostly caught opposite the Kirkleigh campgroung in a few metres of water as you reach the sticks going up river. Not a lot of fish but not enough time was put in during the warmer parts of the days. We got side tracked so to speak. Then we couldn't take the boats out. A few reasonable silvers caught from the bank on worms. No tilapia. One guy new to freshwater fishing caught some banded grunter and wanted help to fillet them for lunch. He's still coping a bit of flack over that.