Opened the local paper today to see a visitor with a 29.9kg barra caught at Lake Awoonga. Just recieved a phone call of one that was 30.3kg caught today, during the Barra Fishing Festival this weekend at Awoonga. Both fish were apparently caught mid-lake trolling lures!! Incredible fishery,,,and the best is still yet to come!
The stories coming from first time barra anglers is exciting to say the least.
Johnny M
Lake Awoonga Guided Barra Fishing Charters
I was out there today and was dissapointed to see two Barra over a meter in length floating dead along the shoreline.
Stop killing our fish just for the hell of it. If you practice catch and release, read some of the posts on previous threads and help to keep our fish and fishing alive.
Ps..... Will post pics soon as they are on a friends camera
Dissapointed
DNO
I'm with you DNO......
If you aren't going to eat a fish try your best to release it healthy
to be caught and enjoyed by another fisho....
CHEERS
Bingo
Yeah.... will be a lot of 60 lb plus barra caught this year @ Awoonga.
A lot will be killed for trophies and for the table.....
For those interested in releasing fish . There is some good info on this site....
www.info-fish.net/releasefish
The best way to release any impoundment Barra is to leave it in the water while removing hooks.... then give it a swim.
Cheers Les
"Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever."
Don't even take em for a feedtook a little one from Monduran for a bar-b-que and couldn't get anyone to go back for seconds so as a table fish I would put them right up there with a pair of old leather boots for taste.
Take care of em and PUT THEM BACK >\
Darryl L
did you see all the barra at awoonga today. all the big dead fish caught over the weekend where frozen then brought out today. there would have been atleats a dozen and all probably going to the bin. attrortious all those barra going to waste, the should turn it into a catch and release comp with all the barra being let go alive and not thrown into the bin.
Every other competition seems to be able to accomodate a catch and release policy.
The Pro Am at Awoonga, although catch and release. there were still some that had to bring the kill in for the glory of getting a picture and holding it in front of everyone.
I see no reason why the LLAFF cannot adopt a similar approach. Maybe we can issue a coloured plastic sign / symbol to be photographed with the fish to competition members. This symbol can change shape or colour each year. Photo's would also have to include date and time.
Just my thoughts.
DNO
Why is everyone so concerned about releasing barra? Isn't it a 'put and take' fishery? I believe fishers are actually encouraged to take the large barra out of the lake to give the smaller fish a chance to grow (don't ask me how that works exactly, but that is what I have heard). In fact, I believe 3-4 years ago, the rangers frowned on people who were releasing big barra back into the dam.
Don't come out swingin'. I am all in favour of catch and release and properly caring fro your catch, alive or dead. Just interested in what has changed so radically at Awoonga in the last 2 years.
PS. fantastic new about the big barra being caught recently. 6 days to go for me!!!
Jeremy
"The underlying spirit of angling is that the skill of the angler is pitted against the instinct and strength of the fish and the latter is entitled to an even chance for it's life."
(Quotation from the rules of the Tuna Club Avalon, Santa Catalina, U.S.A.)
Apathy is the enemy
Jeremy I am with you. If the big barra are left the result is then a decrease in catchable fish and a decline in the fishing. The supersize barra are difficult to catch due to their size and they decrease the population of fingerlings released into the dam. The result is a static population of super size fish with a decrease in numbers of fish caught.
There are also mullet released in this dam and their purpose is to clean up algie growing in the dam. A full size mullet would be taken on by these super size fish.
Catch and release should be practiced where the fish can continue on with the natural cycle e.g breeding.
Tinnaroo Barra Bash is another fish kill comp i personally would like to see the tail end of..Parading carcasses of large barra,mouth almighty,sooties and mangrove jack before the weight master is a bit of a redneck agender....Catfish eat more barra fingerlings than barra do....
I'm all for keeping some fish for a feed, but when they announce at the end of the comnpetition that there are 22kg's of barra fillets for anybody to collect to take home... well it didn't make me feel that great.
Some huge barra were caught over the weekend, none by myself. Apparently the winning barra was caught in 70ft of water trolling at a depth of 10-12ft. No jack were brought in during the comp and neither was the tagged barra. Next year i'll be back but i'll try taking the kayak out next time, should be interesting.
Sergio
Barramundi do not breed in the freshwaters of Lake AwoongaOriginally Posted by Bros
DNO
Isn't that part of the point I way making CQ? It is a put and take fishery, so why the emphasis on C&R?
Jeremy
"The underlying spirit of angling is that the skill of the angler is pitted against the instinct and strength of the fish and the latter is entitled to an even chance for it's life."
(Quotation from the rules of the Tuna Club Avalon, Santa Catalina, U.S.A.)
Apathy is the enemy
It's one of those damned if you do or damned if you don't scenarios.
Lot's of articles have been written on the pro's & cons of taking the big fish from impoundments. (including a few on here if I remember correctly).
Tinaroo boomed as a barra fishery for many years, then suffered for quite a few yrs recently with very "ordinary" fishing. Faust & Awonga have filled the gap.
From what I've read the concensus is you have to cull them or you get a situation (like tinaroo) where you end up with a small number of very big fish, but very few coming through in the smaller sizes. (They've also increased their stocking size to about 250 to 300mm fish in the last few yrs to remedy this as well. A recent article I read indicated a lot of 50 to 60 cm fish are staring to get caught this year).
Personally, I don't go donging something on the head that I have no use for & I can't think of much use for a big dead blubbery old barra, but don't go hard on those that do, as we must remember they're artificially stocked & stocking programs are on a continual replacement basis.
Yes its a put and take Fishery.....Same as Lake Tinaroo...Try and catch a large barra there..best of luck....They had the policy to remove all of the large fish from that fishery So what do you catch...? little barra If you want to take some home for a feed ...go for it...Legal size up to about 80cm they taste ok...Not the same as a salty ...but eatable...The big girls are only good for one thing .....release....There is no scientific proof that they are damaging the fishery...Dont we all want to catch...a fish of a lifetime..
Kids need models, more than they need critics."
"In youth we learn; in age we understand."
"I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand
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