Will Gladstone become the east coast barra mecca ?

[nagg]

Hi All

Lets not kid ourselves - Lake Awoonga has lost a hell of a lot of barra during the recent flooding ... 10's if not a 100 thousand plus have gone over - the multitude of captures in the river since Feb 1 & sounder screen shots taken in the river & further afield pretty well confirm this .
Now while it is a big blow for the impoundment .....clearly a high percentage have thankfully survived & once they adjust .... get into shape - Will we end up with possibly the best wild fishery on the east coast ..... right on Gladstones door step ? - the injection of 10s of thousands of mature fish for my way of thinking would certainly go a long way in creating this future mecca. They certainly have the surrounding habitat

Am I correct in my thinking - or are there other influences

Chris

[Pete62]

Dunno but will the Pro take have a noticable impact? How many Pro's r there and what is there quota.

Pete

[ActiveAngler]

I believe there are now Barramundi specific endorsements Pete..but they will cop some,no doubt. The Burrum fish get belted a couple times a year from visiting professionals,and the fish get really sketchy after that for a bit. It seems to me once a school has been interfered with,they take a little while to settle down. Trouble is with saltwater Barra they are pretty predictable as to where and when they will turn up,and take up temporary residence.

[UndersizeBreamKing]

They will have to deal with predators for the first time in their life too, so they would have to adapt for that!
But I see your point and it sounds to me like it may be a sweet injection for gladdy?

[Chamelion]

Probably be great, unless (likely imo) the pros get in there.

[Snodger]

Yep. all the above. At the moment its great. I had 2 great hook ups in 2 hours off the bank and I saw 3 others caught from boats and 1 from the opposite bank. There still seems to be plenty of bait around all be it very nervous right on the edge. My plastic was scaring the crap outta them nearly every cast.
The pros will have a big bearing on the future, although I think they may be a bit gunshy after what happened earlier on.
So for now good times. If they end up breeding all the better.
Steve

[ActiveAngler]

I must say that a fair few of the pics iv seen have had the barra looking pretty knocked around. Not sure what effect that will have on them while trying to breed also.

[Didley]

Are these fish good quality eating, how long does it take till they are full on salties eating wise?

[dambuster]

Doubt the ones that came over the wall would have bred by this season. If they make it to next season they will though. They are going to cop a flogging when they turn into proper salties though. Look at how many people have been coming to Gladstone (as well as locals) to fish the Boyne. I reackon that once people start seeing photos with yellow tails they will flock here and there wont be as much catch and release as what there was when they were in Awoonga, not to mention the flogging they will get by the pros. At least there is a lot of area around Gladstone for them to disperse, as well as the ones that will travel further abroad up and down the coast.

It will definately have a positive impact on the salty fishery in the short term but will have to wait and see how long it lasts. I think we are likely to see a lot of people with the mind set of "they came from a dam so its ok to take them"...... An entirely new debate all together

[dambuster]

I wouldn't think so Dids, they will still have the fresh water taste in them. Not sure how long it will take before they are flushed out properly. I think I remember reading somewhere that farmed barra around the 50-60cm mark take a couple of weeks in a saltwater holding tank to taste salty so it would take a lot longer for a big barra in a river that still has fresh in it to get there.