Originally Posted by
Peter4
There were approx. 15000 escapees from Awoonga in a couple of overflows starting in 2011 (source Gladstone Area Water Board who stock Awoonga).
This number does my head in. There is no possible way that the GAWB has any idea of the number of barra that exited Awoonga. At one stage during the 2011 floods the outflow from the dam was 4m above the spillway (more than 8m above the spillway in 2013!). In 2013 it was estimated that the total volume of Awoonga was replaced twice by the floodwaters...
Based on the amount of fish I have seen, heard of being caught or reported since 2011, I conservatively believe in excess of 75% of the barra population have left Awoonga since 2011. Many locals will back this up. That would equate to hundreds of thousands of barra, perhaps over one million, that left in 2011 and in subsequent flood events. The GAWB number is surely just to reassure the travelling angler that Awoonga is still a great fishery - it's pretty good now but nowhere near where it was pre 2011...
Recent restocking will eventually see some improvements (many rat barra are being caught now) but big barra a few and far between at Awoonga these days. It will be interesting to see the results of this weekend's barra tournament...