Callide Dam fishing?

[Jack1991]

Hello everyone,

I live locally around Biloela, but never had much interest in fishing freshwater as the coast is only an hour away and for the last 10 years or so the dam has been under 15% capacity until the recent floods (bringing it to a whopping 90% capacity).

The ramp is now in the water and easy to acess, but IMO there is so many places you could fish from the bank.. I do own a boat but she's going to be high and dry for a little while until I can get the funds to fix her up.

What are some of the main factors that help produce barra? I know dawn/dusk is a good time, and the water temp must be on the warmer side, fish around snags/stumps/drop-offs, but thats about all I know. Does weather (wind/rain/overcast) have any significant affect? In the shady spots? Depth?

Also is there any barra specific lures that you find to be very productive? I cannot afford to buy a couple or even one lure a week so if there is a DEFINITIVE barra lure out there, please let me know!!


Any thoughts would be much appreciated!!


P.s. I have been to Kroombit dam but it all seems to be fenced off and a no-go-zone??

[childers]

Heres a old report from smithy 2003 ,be keen to see some recent reports

Cheers


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Callide Dam

Went to Callide Dam for the weekend with two mates, Russ and Drifter, in Russ's boat towed by Drifter's Pajero.

Callide is about 15 kays out of Biloela and was 411 kays from home.

For the weekend between the 3 of us we caught 16 Barra, 10 Saturday afternoon and 6 this morning with as many again definate bumps, swirls and follows. 4 were legal size and we kept two with the largest 65cm. Most were 45-55.

Best lures were Bombers and B52s with Richo Extractors the top lure when needing something that bit deeper.

Here is a picture of Drifter with the Power Station in the background.

[childers]

Sep 2011

.
Callide
Closest Town: Biloela
As the water warms this month, the barra will start to fire up. Callide’s bigger barra will now be in the mid to high 80cm range. These were the first fish to be restocked since the fish kill some years back and there are plenty of smaller specimens from the continued stocking effort plus the possibility of some old surviving monsters. There were reasonable numbers of fish caught for little fishing effort before winter and it will be interesting to see how they perform as things warm up even more towards the end of the year.
Callide is a totally different lake with kilometres of banks to explore. With so much water in it, you can forget about all the old areas and rely on your fish finding skills to narrow down the spots and find new areas. With the warming water, most barra are likely to be holding up in the shallow water. Look for gentle sloping banks and work the backs of shallow bays or points extending into the dam. Examine the taper of the bank above water line as this is a pretty good indication as to what things will look like below the surface. Shallows on the wind blown side of the dam will be slightly warmer and full of oxygen. Here, the dirtier water can also aid hungry barra looking to feed on unsuspecting bait fish.
Shallow water is best fished with shallow running hard body lures or lighter soft plastics. The Halco Hamma fitted with the shallow bib, B52s and Bomber Long A are good choices in the hard body department. Work these lures with plenty of rips and pauses to attract the attention of fish. Plastics can be slow rolled out of the shallows with a slow steady retrieve provided they aren’t too heavy. The Squidgy Slick Rig Pro range are worth a shot in the 110mm size. Another plastic which can be rigged to suit the depth is the Powerbait Hollow Belly. Try rigging

[Charlie]

We passed through last week for one fish and didn't do any good, pretty weird fishing with the wind and bushfire smoke blocking out the sun, it was very warm, it seemed everybody had retreated to the air conditioned shopping centre, must be bad in summer there. I've read its a fairly structureless place but the the increase in water level there are plenty of trees in the water to throw a lure at and not a lot of weed so bank fishing should good. The people I spoke to all indicated the wind being being important in barra fishing, guess its a barometric pressure thing, needless to say it I picked the wrong week to be there.

[NAGG]

I think you will find stable water temps are more important than warm ........ sudden drops will see the barra go off the bite but once the patten settles down again the fish will bite .
I've never fished callide but if you have good bank access - pick a day where the breeze is blowing into a bay or onto a point and fish that location . If it has blown into there over a few days even better . It's a pain casting into the wind but you may not necessarily have to cast all that far. Dawn & particularly dusk are a favored time but an overcast day with a reasonably strong wind blowing could see you onto the fish
For this situation my preference for simplicity , coverage and effectiveness would be to use soft plastics like Squidgy slick rigs (130mm) or 6" Berkley hollowbellies - vary the retrieve but swim them as slow as possible but still be able to feel the tail beat .
There are plenty of other brands that can be used (storm swimshads , Z Man swimmerz etc) but the two mentioned earlier have been standouts for me .
Other than that ....... get out there and give it a go & best of luck with it .

Chris

[Jack1991]

Wow thanks evryone for the input!! I will have to try some of these smaller soft plastics... I have some bigger squidgies in the tacklebox, about 5-7 inches long, green and brown in colour.. Will have to convince the mrs to let me take her 4wd so I can get to more of the acessible bank spots!!

[MangroveZac]

"We passed through last week for one fish and didn't do any good, pretty weird fishing with the wind and bushfire smoke blocking out the sun, it was very warm, it seemed everybody had retreated to the air conditioned shopping centre, must be bad in summer there. "


Did this happen to be on the 22/10/12 Charlie??

[MangroveZac]

Jack (I presume?), inspired by 'Childers' in another of your threads I've gone through my barra lures and have a few I can give ya. PM me if your interested as I'm in Bilo too. Might even be able to pass on a few tips. Zac.

[aus2045]

Old callide is an interesting spot.

I was out there camping one easter a few years back, I had got up real early one morning, walked miles of back casting into gullys snags etc, surface walkers, divers, etc. for nothing.

As I got back to camp at 8am the next door camp was standing around admiring a 90cm barra they just caught on a 80lb handline, snapper sinker, wire trace, gang hooks and a pillie for bait. WTF ?

[Charlie]

"We passed through last week for one fish and didn't do any good, pretty weird fishing with the wind and bushfire smoke blocking out the sun, it was very warm, it seemed everybody had retreated to the air conditioned shopping centre, must be bad in summer there. "


Did this happen to be on the 22/10/12 Charlie??

Nah a little bit latter than, seems like a nice spot its a shame you can''t camp there, we were going to swag it out in the boat however got fed up with the wind. The only thing we caught were those banded grunter smaller than the lure! but it certainly felt like a good spot to fish.

[MangroveZac]

Nah a little bit latter than, seems like a nice spot its a shame you can''t camp there, we were going to swag it out in the boat however got fed up with the wind. The only thing we caught were those banded grunter smaller than the lure! but it certainly felt like a good spot to fish.

Not that I'm condoning unlawful behavior but camping at callide is very rarely policed outside the picnic area. And if you have a rod in the water and only leave your footprints behind it's just night fishing.

[childers]

So Jack you get a chance to nail any of these Barra yet ?

[Jack1991]

So Jack you get a chance to nail any of these Barra yet ?

No, still no luck!! Usually end up bait fishing after luring for hours and getting nothing. Lots of Eel-tailed Catfish and small Stripey fish, don't know what they're called. I'm giving up on luring until I can get someone to show me how to do it properly cause I just seem to be casting for hours and hours on end with no results.

[rabbi]

Dad and I were at Callide about 6 years back and we just cast 130mm Squidgie drop bears on 1oz heads(works on Mulloway) for the morning as Awoonga was producing bugger all.
We worked them down quite deep around the points at the dam entry end and just a walking pace wind.
Got 14 Barra up to 98cm in a few hours and where we got them was easily fishable from the shore.
Was a little while back but the method worked.
cheers, steve.

[Jack1991]

rabbi, all is well and good if you live near a tackle store I need to go to Gladstone (120ks) to find the nearest tackle store and I dont even have the money for fuel let alone the money for some drop bears... But i'll keep it in mind when I finally start getting paid at my new job!!