Lenthalls Dam. What are your prefered fish??

[gidget]

Lenthall's forage fish . Even though lenthall's has lots of pre teen barra the bony bream still grow this big ! Their fishery is very very much alive !

[McCod]

Bass or Barra hey? Good question the answer should be easy you would think…. But opinions are like egos everybody has one! From a selfish point of view of a Barra junky the answer is Barra. It’s a great mixed bag there at the moment and some would say that the Barra have been a great success…. And they sort of have been in a way apart from the earlier stockings. Will be interesting to see what the Barra fishery will be like after another big flush out to sea. One thing we know for sure is the Bass fishery has been a great success. Almost every Bass angler I’ve spoken to that has fished most Bass impoundments in QLD & NSW say the same thing…. “Lenthalls is the best Bass dam around”
If the Barra decide to stay in there it would be madness to commingle the stocking of Bass & Barra in a small dam like this. Now these are approximate growth rates only.
Bass @ 55 cm and time taken to grow that size = 15 to 20 years.
Barra @55 cm and time taken to grow that size = 1 year.
Golden perch grow around 5 times as quickly as Bass also.
Commingling of slow and fast growing fish is something that is being tossed around by stocking groups and DPI. Just hope we get it right!

#Cheers Les

[tuna44]

Great point regarding the 'translocation policy' Fitzy. Why is it an issue to have Saratoga stocked when goldens and silvers have been stocked for years? Slow reproductive rate and costs per fingerling are probably the only issue with toga. Personally i'd rather a 1m toga running rampant than a 1m barra or a 50cm bass any day. Borumba is a perfect example of a well established toga fishery. It would be great to have another along with Cania.
The 'bass & barra' thing will be grey area for years to come. The area in question is the 'changover' between the north & south species as bass and barra have been present in the noosa but also some tin can bay creeks. Is it a waste spending money stocking barra only to have a great number take the plunge on a dam that frequently spills over? Interesting poll this one.

[whykickacatalong]

From a selfish point of veiw i would like to see Barra released more so as it is closer for me to get to (7hrs from northern NSW) I first fished the dam a few years ago for bass and did well then. Little Dasher hooked up to what we think was a barra then, on a tassie devil mind you (you cant take the trout fisherman out of a victorian ) but that was the only sighting we had of them. I would love to see bass and barra co-exist but I have concerns if this is possable. I know Monderan has both but it is a bloody lot bigger as well. My other concern is what will happen if the dam really kicks off as a big barra fishery? history shows with other dams that it will get flogged to hell, even more so due to it been so close to Brissy and the restrictions that are been placed now with motor size and speed can only mean that the local authority will see this as a bad thing and impose more restrictions, possibly a electric only dam.

BUT if barra keep getting stocked further south and the genetic strain keeps evolving to the climate you never know, i might just see barra getting stocked in NSW dams such as Clarrie hall and Toonumbah, how good would that be

This was one caught on the 31st Jan this year. We tagged him so if you see him again say g'day for me

[Scott_Mitchell]

I'm no expert and haven't fished Lenthalls yet - but from what I have seen on the AFC and with talking to some of the locals I recon leave it as a bass & barra fishery #

From what I understand the barra fishery is already "thriving" and that's with relatively low stocking figures - bump them up and see how they go #

Looking forward to being a little closer to it - Scotto

[sav]

Caught my first and only barra at Lentalls last April, but the bass caught were a great alternate. Stock both with the emphasis as a barra dam.
Fantastic dam - fish or no fish.
Regards
Sav

[Fitzy]

G'Day Folks,
I appreciate the replies from Far & Wide,, all well written & respectful of others.
Keep it up please. Its a great discussion.

I for one am yet to see ANY issues from a mixed Bass & Barra fishery. I've fished Lenthalls, Monduran & Wuruma & caught bass & barra in both. Funnily enough, at Monduran & Wuruma the bass & barra I've caught have not been in the same sorts of locations. Lenthalls is a different story tho, but I'll back meself to get more bass if I'm there after bass & likewise with a barra.

Interesting the supporters that saratoga have.... Saratoga are my favourite sweetwater fish.
Tuna44. If you want other saratoga locations, try Lake MacDonald & Hinze. Getting some good numbers in them now. BTW- I noticed someone caught one of my big 'toga in Somerset. Was over 1m long according to the caption in the latest QFM. Pretty good growth. I'm assuming that was the biggest I released up there. It was 92cm 4 years ago. Got a pic of it here somewhere.......


Cheers,


Fitzy..

[mylestom]

Barra and Bass seems to be the way to go. Last trip north in March, April and May we fished 6 impoundments and had a great time over 50 barra with 10 over the metre. Only kept the last one at 85cm for a couple of fillets for the grandchildren. Yeah love the sport and have lived in the NT for a few years back in the early 80's. Now I'm hooked again and heading north in October. Where do you ask will I go.
Monduran the opportunity to catch Both Barra and Bass and the great Camping Facilities are the drawcard. Also less distance to travel. Yeah I know all about Awoonga. Fished there for over three weeks. Bigger Fish and more of them.
But Monduran for facilities and the sheer joy of the timbers and the outlook takes some beating.
Would rate the whole experience at Monduran as a 9 out of 10.
Speaking to other travellers since returning home. The majority who have tried a few of the Impoundments including Monduran. Rate Monduran the best Experience.
Also when we fished in the Last Week of March the Bass and Barra where coming out of Bass Alley. Barra to 95cm and bass to 50cm. All caught within 50m of each other. Go Figure.
Anyway time to go catch a couple of Flatties for lunch.
Trev

[gnf]

im originally from the tweed area where ive done a lot of bass fishing
since moving to hervey bay ive fished salt and fresh water.
on my first ever trip to lenthals i fished with a very good freind big dan, i was eager to try one of my home made poppers out on the barra that i have heard so much about and ended up landing a 71cm handfull yes my
first freshwater barra.
so to me there is really no debate on what to stock in the dam because i have caught both barra and bass in good quantities and size.


gnf.

[mistress_T]

Hi Guys,
The barra will slowly eliminate the bass, without a doubt. So if you want barra long term, it is barra only after about 5-7 years, and few if any bass. The dam doesn't seem to have bony bream, which is a potential problem as barra need a huge food source.
As an aside- what's happening with camping at the dam- is there a designated area yet?

Cheers,

David

[Tropicaltrout]

I love love the idea of this dam being both barra and bass its one of the best fisho friendly dams this far south and the best thing of all about Lenthalls theres no skiers so it does not get any better then that!

I also love the road in, year it's rough,ruggered and dirt but thats what sets Lenthals off and give it that far away feeling Lenthals is a real up and coming five star fishery.

Cheers TT

[bigdan123]

Mistress T Interesting comments, could you tell us where you get your information as to the barra eating all the bass within 5-7 years and what scientific evidence it's based on, Without a Doubt!!!!! THAT IS A BIG CALL!!!!!!!!!!.DPI hasnt proved it.

Dan

[mistress_T]

Hi Dan-
There are ten times more bass than barra in Lenthalls as far as stocking goes. Most of the dominant barra from the eary stockings possibly didn't prosper. Clearly recent stockings have done well. The bass are in prime condition. The dam has plenty of cover and feed, however in nearly all barra stocked dams, the barra become the dominant predator in the dam once you have a year class of 70cm plus fish.
If you look at Tinaroo, early on it was a brilliant fishery for sooties, but these fish are rare now, and also there was, until the stocked size was greatly increased, very little recruitment of subsequent barra stockings- there was a period of years there where few fish under 90cm were recorded. The dams where bass and barra overlap are Lenthall's, Woruma, Monduran and it is a very 'new' type of fishery. The issue is not what happens with the fish in there now, but subsequent stockings.
Barra are incredibly destructive predators, and in niche environments dominate river systems, a good example is the Territories tidal rivers. In home aquariums and aquaculture pens, 'sizing' is very important. In my tank the barra killed the bass, and then a jack of similar size. They are phenomenally effective implosion feeders and it is a 'knock out punch' that other fish don't have.
So the issue will be the recruitment of the subsequent bass stockings in the presence of a large and growing population of bigger barras- and quite clearly barras will and do eat bass, and anything else that fits in to their gobs.
The overseas experience with another 'Lates' fish is the populations of Nile Perch in the African Lakes. Unlike barramundi these fish are not catadromous and can breed in fresh water. Nile perch have eaten out huge populations of African Cichlids and Tilapia which were a major food source for many local people, and while they might be great sport, most of the locals over there aren't super keen on them and are actively trying to remove them.
There is virtually no long term science about stocking catadromous fish in dams (bass and Barra) because it is all, in the scheme of things, relatively new. The natural range of bass and barra is another point- the northern limit of Australian bass is quoted as the Noosa everglades, and the southern limit of barra is the same area, at the bottom end of Hervey Bay. Clearly, there are many environments north of Noosa where bass can tolerate the water temperature, and there are plenty of rivers with freshwater sections north of Noosa where barra live but bass don't- so perhaps in the natural scheme of things the southern range of barra limited the northern range of bass.
In any closed environment, which the dams are, a normal response to increased predation on a fish population is to have increased recruitment, but the bass can't breed. Also, the dominant predator goes to a point where it may, if it totally dominates an area, actually eat out its food source (such as the African Lakes to an extent). It is a VERY unnatural fishery to have so many big dominant fish- like in Awoonga, and those big barras are capable of eating an enormous amount of food.
So I reckon that those barra will grow big and slowly eat away at all of those bass, and the chances of a small bass growing into a big bass will be greatly diminished by this predation. Now these are only my opinions only but they are based on a lot of reading, and stocking populations of sterile fish in dams is a relatively new business. But there is a solution-stock crocs!

Cheers,

Greenie

[Fitzy]

If Barra are such a HUGE predator that will wipe out all & sundry,,, can anyone explain how & why the sooties in Awoonga, loooong thought by DPI & other "experts" to be a stocking failure in Awoonga & henceforth dropped as a stocking species in that lake, can start to be caught more & more regularly.
The soots in Awoonga have obviously begun to breed there. If the Barra are the ravenous detroyers of all aquatic things smaller than they, how can the sooties even be there, let alone breeding.....

hhhmmmmmmm


As I've said before to many a pundit & expert alike on the topic, show me the proof of stomack content surveys where bass, sooties etc are being devoured by barra.

I'm yet to see proof of it,,, because there aint none. More to the point, I think as juveniles, bass & sooties (native cods are worse) are far more aggressive fish to similarly sized tankmates than barra are. I base this on having mixed communities of Oz native fish in tanks & ponds for over a decade. IMHO barra are wooses when controned by anything else in their size range that is agressive. I've seen sooties beat the beegeezers out of bass, golden perch, silvers, sleepies & barra, all thrown together in a pond.
I also doubt if a barra, which can be lazy by nature, would chase after bass & /or sooties when there are much more available, far more abundant and easier to catch / eat species like Snub Nosed Gar & Bony Bream available in some of these lakes.

I actually think that more barra fingerlings would get knocked off by bass & soots than the commonly cried alternative. But again, its only a theory until a stomack content analysis is done...

Cheers,

Fitzy..

[bigdan123]

David

When you fished Lenthalls you must have done it with your eyes closed because there is hundreds of thousands of boneys in there along with gar and spangled perch.
If you go back through this thread you will see one of the boneys that was found floating around the dam.

I believe that you cannot compare Lenthalls dam to any other fishery, Lenthalls dam is a unique dam which is shallow and with lots of cover for fish.

Barra and bass do co-exist especially with the variety of cover Lenthalls offers the fish e.g.; lay down and standing timber, Lilly pads and weed beds.
The dam also gets a lot of pressure from fisher persons who will take their 5 barra bag limit in barra season.


Dan