Great topic Trevor good to see it's got passionate people thinking - nice work.
So many good points made by many. What we have taken out of this chat is the plight of small communities doing it hard in the drought like the towns surrounding Wuruma Dam - Eidsvold & Monto etc.
With tourism a great way to keep the future generation in jobs when the farmers in the area are doing it tough we think that whoever owns the dams water should take a little more responsibility for the whole community by keeping a safe level of water in the dams to sustain not only fish life but the rest of the environment it supports. With Barra bringing in $50 per fish in returns the money soon adds up. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to work out that 20-30 boats a weekend on the dam with 10-20 or so travelling grey nomads etc can quickly pump more than $250 000 in to a struggling community which keeps things ticking over. If you want to know how much fuel travelling boaties put in to a servo just check out Caltex at Benaraby = many boats put in 100+ litres when they rock up and 70ltrs in the car when they leave + food etc. $170+.
For those that don't know many areas in the country can't field football teams for the first time in decades - that many of the younger generation (and older) have left many struggling country regions.
We saw this at Wuruma where you would only meet friendly locals when the dam was known for Yellowbelly and Bass. As soon as Barra hit one Abc radio report it had us there every few weeks. It was the best Impoundment Barra fishing we have enjoyed!!!!
Then we started meeting people from hundreds of km's away fishing what was a great dam. Then we started to see yellow number plates (NSW) in the camp site which was great for the local community putting thousands in to the local towns on every wknd. Then grey nomads started to camp there with word spreading around the dog show scene that wuruma was dog friendly and free with firewood even provided from the local mill!!!
Our point is that should water owners be allowed to drain a dam to a non - fish sustaining point (barra)? Most fish we caught in 2005/2005 were from 60-82cm and many would be over the magic metre mark now. Most are dead now. Yes it's a tough drought and cold winter. But should dams be drained this low?
Surely a small dam like this could be left above 1%. Maybe 5% + etc to allow deeper holes etc and give fish a greater chance to live in summer and winter. It's good to see some high profile anglers getting on to this point in national mags - well done. Think of all the money spend on stocking them now wasted.
Many people we have spoken to in SEQ don't know much about barra or much about the state of our dams, our point might be explained by the pics we have attached. Just thought this was the perfect chat topic to put some suggestions forward as we don't want monduran to be a small creek in the future etc. Well done to everyone who has contributed, you all have passion for fishing and arn't scared to have a say.
See you on a Barra Dam one day. Cheers Lyndon & Kel
Originally Posted by Awoonga
