# QLD: 02/06 NQ Burdekin River Haul



## richannay (Mar 30, 2008)

This is my first post so i'll try and make it a good one!

Finally made the run to the mighty Burdekin River a few weeks back, to tackle the stretch of water between the Charters Towers Weir and Macrossan/Burdekin Bridge. The water was prisitne; our big tropical summer wet has topped the river up nicely and the water is deep and clear and full of life.

I was in my OK prowler which handled the rapids & fast water with ease, it was as i'd hoped a very cruisy comfortable ride in the fresh. I was joined by two mates and a young bloke in a classic Roscoe Canadian which has mastered the river many times. It didn't take long before we were into the action- Sooty Grunter's by the bucketload.























Every spot that looked like it might produce didn't let us down; we stopped counting at about 30 fish. The 15km run was a breeze, clear water and we pretty much had the river to ourselves.








The young fellah caught the fish of the day by trolling a lure- a serious horse for the young bloke on his first trip out.. 








The day got interesting about 4 km from home when we came upon an illegal net spanning half the river; some mongrels had obviously be cleaning up on the introduced /stocked bara and the net was filled with struggling fish- all Barra around the 60cm mark. We took a few GPS marks and this photo and called it in; hopefully the authorities have caught up with the blokes lazy and greedy enough to net the river. :twisted: 









Overall a brilliant day on the water and one of the best hauls fo sooty grunters i've ever had in 25 years fishing the river. I'd encourage all AKFF memebrs to make a trip sometime north and see this remarkable waterway in its prime.

cheers
ric.


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## Barrabundy (Sep 29, 2008)

AHAH, I can assure you they boys in blue acted on that information (or similar). Not sure they actually got anyone but they were at a construction site along the river taking photos of all the vehicle there and asking for everyone's name. They said they'd have reports of netting and were following up.

Sadly there's been similar stuff going on in the lower reaches also, I measured one frame at 130cms hanging off a post.

....and sounds like you had a great day out too!


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## mrwalker (Feb 23, 2009)

Sounds like a top day out, the smile on the young fella says it all, cheers, Dave.


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## danfish (Feb 20, 2009)

Top report, some really nice fish there.
Top effort on reporting the nets. It really makes me angry to see. I'd have dragged the net in, released all the fish then left it balled up on the river bank! Unless it was a pros net, but it'd have been marked or somethin if it was wouldnt it?

Dan


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## richannay (Mar 30, 2008)

danfish said:


> Top report, some really nice fish there.
> Top effort on reporting the nets. It really makes me angry to see. I'd have dragged the net in, released all the fish then left it balled up on the river bank! Unless it was a pros net, but it'd have been marked or somethin if it was wouldnt it?
> 
> Dan


mate we thought about cutting the thing loose but figured the coppers/fisheries blokes would relish the chance to unleash some fury on the offenders! There's no pro-netting in this freshwater and no way they can get away with netting a stocked waterway- the barra don't naturally live that high and cant come higher than the dam which is miles downstream. People in the community have spent their own money and time releasing fingerlings in there to develop the river as a sports and rec zone. it has opened my mind up to idea of targeting bigger fish- we'd heard stories of barra near the weir but had never seen evidence- next trip i'll pack some heavier gear and some diving barra lures and see how I go.
cheers.


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## PhilK (Jan 4, 2010)

That sort of rubbish makes me so furious... why would they need that much fish? Lazy bastards, that just isn't fishing. arrgh!

My mate has seen people cast netting the fish ladders at the weir near us despite a 400m no fishing zone below the weir and it makes my blood boil hearing about them pulling out ten times the bag limit of woefully undersized bass..

It's so sad to see all those fish stuck in the net, and some lazy crumb comes and cleans up on it. Germs and dregs..


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## Barrabundy (Sep 29, 2008)

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