Barra in the Logan River

[daggsy]

i have just read the nov issue of Qld Fishing Monthly and it had photo of a barra being caught in the Logan River. the photo was taken at Gem Bait and Tackle.
Is this true???

daggsy

[scottym]

I saw that photo and wondered the same thing. I have heard that they are slowly moving further south and I know that they catch the occasional barra at Noosa.

Scotty

[imnotoriginal]

I'd heard they'd been caught in the maroochy before, but I'd never heard of them coming that far south... :o
Joel

[Brett1907]

Anythings possible. The bulletin republished the photo of a saltwater crocodile caught in the nerag river in the early 1900s. It was a legitimate photo and a legitimate catch.

Brett

PS I'm full of useless dribble!!!!! ;D ;D

[snakecatcher]

I'd heard they'd been caught in the maroochy before, but I'd never heard of them coming that far south... :o
Joel

I suspect that the odd one caught in the Maroochy River is an escapee from the barra park at Bli Bli - could be global warming though ;)

[fish2eat]

the ones caught at Noosa have bred from escapees (according to the guys from Davo's Bait & Tackle at Noosaville), but they do survive . I suspect the Maroochy ones to also be escapees, but I haven't heard how they would get into the logan, although there is a fishing park just a short distace from the upper reaches of the Albert river.

[S.S.]

You mean fish actually live in that polluted piece of waterway???!!! ::)

There was also a croc caught in the Logan River (can't remember the year). # Haven't heard of the Nerang River croc before. # Interesting stuff.

[Nugget]

There definately are barra in the Logan - has been for at least 10 years that I can remember so don't think it's global warming.

On average the pros targeting prawns catch half a dozen every year.
Last one I saw was about six kilos - they nearly always come from the same 100m stretch of River.
I leave them alone hoping they will build up and establish themselves... maybe one day!

Dave ><>

[Sandman]

Yeh a mate of mine was telling me , i think last year he caught one while prawning near the pin or jacobs well there abouts, said it was around a kilo. Anything is possible , i remember a hippy in Lismore many years ago frantically telling my mother who worked in a hippy shop that he had just found piranah in the richmond river ( to many mushrooms i think), i think they were freshwater mullet.
Back to the Barra claims is it possible they are sand bass ? or do they live in more around the reefs or open water?

[Louis]

Many years ago during the time of first settlement Barra were prevalent in both the Brisbane and Logan Rivers

The old weir at Mount Crosby signed the death knell for the Brisbane Barra and I believe the Logan River Barra died off due to a number of factors, including chemical spills and over fishing.

It would be good if they were to return to both rivers again one day.



Louis

[StevenM]

Have never seen one caught in the logan but dave is right, netters get them every year

As far as the Brissy river goes, have seen one caught late last summer (this year) from the Brissy

[NeilD]

The ones in the Noosa River have been around since the late 70's so were not farmed escapees.
They are relatively common in Tin Can Bay and the GSS/Mary River area and are were targeted by pro netters at certain times of the year.

Neil

[Biff]

heard someone got one in boggy creek, few years back.

Now all sounds true.
Biff

[Bris_Vegas]

Considering we get Threadfin Salmon nearly everytime we go fishing in the Brisbane River now, most commonly over 1m long i am not surprised to hear that barra are moving south.

After all in most fishing guides dont these fish appear to have similar (but incorrect) home ranges?

angus

[davo]

I was talking to Peter Newell the luremaker and he has caught them in the Noosa and has seem one caught at Nambucca heads.

[land-lubber]

I'd heard they'd been caught in the maroochy before, but I'd never heard of them coming that far south... :o
Joel

A couple of years ago there wasw some fish 'caught' in the maroochy. There was a barra farm on eudlo creek (not the barra fishing park at ski and skurf). My mate used to work there and when they arived for work in the morning, theyd go and pick a stack of lures off a cable that used to run over each pond. Guys were jumping the fence at night and trying to fish the ponds, they got a few, but the buisness got a nice lure collection ;D All the photos that i saw were of fish that were the marketable size, no big fish, just 1-2kg fish, like the ones in a pond at a commercial barra farm ;D

[Brett1907]

If the barra have been seen since the 70's (possibly earlier but not reported) why aren't they more prevalent. Could it be due to the pro netters decimating the stocks???

Brett

[Nugget]

I had a fair bit to do with the Fishing park just outside Beenleigh before it started - originally called Glassy's now I think Closey's?
Anyway we did a lot of work on keeping barra alive.
Eventually we found the secret was depth - they lived through winter in the deepest hole but died if we put them in a shallower pool.
This was a unique environment that doesn't replicate the real world but the moral is they will live in this latitude - but struggle.
I think it would be very hard to establish a population unless you could put a large number in and let them grow before being caught - they would need time to establish a breeding population but I can't see why they couldn't.

Dave ><>

[Louis]

I am looking forward to the day when the relevant government department decides to undertake a Barramundi stocking campaign of one of Brisbane's nearby lakes.

Mangrove Jacks would also be good.


Louis

[Brett1907]

Would love to start catching barra down this way, I was taught to fish in the NT. Almost got pulled out of the boat when I was 5 by a big barra. Not a nice thought going for a swim in the east alligator!!

Brett

[_Dan_]

An what depth was that Dave? ;)

It would be nice, and i have had some strange hook ups in the logan of late.. killer first runs that are closing me down real quick, can always hope..

Cheers

Dan

[Rainbowrunner]

I believe they would be both natural stocks and escapees, maybe a few fish tank releases, there is quite a few lakes in brisbane that are full of released barra, even nth pine has had a heap of fingerlings put in, so ive been told. I used to work at the gladstone area water board fish hatchery (lake awoongas) years ago and we used to send fingerlings and fry by the thousands everywhere.
They catch jack in Sydney harbour and ive even heard Jervis bay so ..... who knows?

Cant wait for those jack in awoonga to reach 10kg or more :o

[Heath]

Heard of one, being caught in Currumbin creek a few years back as well.

[CHRIS_aka_GWH]

and i've been following reports in recent years of a run of sailfish that occurs in deeper holes near the mouth in autumn ::)

[black_sheep]

Back in the early 1900's, they use to dynamite the Brissy River targetting Barra and Mary River Cod for "pigfeed" - so hope you all enjoying your bacon ;D

Still catching them every season at Rainbow Beach and throughout Tin Can Bay but they are very seasonal and generally tend to head south in the breeding season - now. Good for us catch and release fisheremen as any being caught "should" be released to spawn and hopefully increase the wild stocks.

Rainbow Villas just east of Gympie have successfully kept barra in their ponds throughout winter and apparentely have barra that are well over 30kgs.