A 147cm barramundi

And jacks, salmon, jewfish - tell us how you went. NT, FNQ and Norwest.
bobj
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Re: A 147cm barramundi

Post by bobj »

Finally!
Guesstimated at 130 cm, Spillway Sept 2011

Image


Cheers, bobj.
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Re: A 147cm barramundi

Post by ponyplay »

bobj wrote:The main point was that these barra were from 2011 and they were supposedly only stocked above the divi dam (L Kununurra) in 2013. That being the case, someone must have put a few in the lake, well prior to 2013 and certainly prior to 2011..
I have a photo from 2011 of a 'tailing barra' guesstimated at 130 cm. But I cannot get the pic on this forum.
Yer escapes from fish farm in lake argyle , they have been living in lake argyle. The spillway overflows in argyle then they then get washed over spillway wall sum die and sum survive like the one in your picture. Hopefully a few got washed over this year and survived the ordeal to take up residence in the lake Kununurra
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Re: A 147cm barramundi

Post by bobj »

Good one, mate. That explains it. Always thought the fishfarm was strictly 'cobbler/powertails' for the Perth market.
There was talk of a farm when I left Kununurra in 1979.
Cheers, bobj.
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Dick
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Re: A 147cm barramundi

Post by Dick »

bobj wrote:Good one, mate. That explains it. Always thought the fishfarm was strictly 'cobbler/powertails' for the Perth market.
There was talk of a farm when I left Kununurra in 1979.
There is a commercial fishery on the lake that takes the silver cobbler, been there for a long time and still exists. The barra fishery on the lake was started by Steve Grandison and Neville Stewart (can't remember when early nineties or before?) Those fish were held in cages on the lake. The fish were harvested from those cages. The enterprise changed hands and ended up going bung about 2003 -5 (have to check). There ware always escapees from that enterprise, Talking to people that worked there over the years it was at least 50,000 but likely more. Some escaped as quite large fish so their mortality rate on release would have been low. The pros up there hated them as they smashed up their cobbler nets but couldn't be sold under their licence.

The barras eventually made their way to spillway (caught my first in about 2002) and down to lake Kununurra and are still there, be it in small numbers. That was the reason we had to mark the restocked fish with the dye and did the genetic testing on the fish we caught in the sampling program to tell the difference between the two separate strains of fish.

As ol' mate ponyplay says the biggest flood of 2010/11 put spillway nearly 9 metres over and plenty of fish swam down but got smashed to pieces along with the crocs in the 20 ks or so of rapids.

Incidentally that recreational fishery in spillway when it was running was world class. Big fish, big currents and huge waves. Was more like rock fishing that anything else I've done. Check the image and the gear used, this was spillway running at 6 metres, those pressure waves in the background are two metres high (you'll have to take my word for it no one was game enough to swim out and hold a brag mat up against them :D )
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Regards Dick
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Matt Flynn
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Re: A 147cm barramundi

Post by Matt Flynn »

Great info Dick. Shame that barra aren't stocked in Argyle, seems a huge waste of space. Perfect place for a few Nile perch :D

First photo with the dog is a cracker. Thought you'd be a green or yellow line man tho ...
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Re: A 147cm barramundi

Post by Dick »

Matt Flynn wrote:Thought you'd be a green or yellow line man tho ...
The colour matched my lipstick and eyes hadow
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Re: A 147cm barramundi

Post by Matt Flynn »

Nothing wrong with nail polish in the tackle box, great stuff for touching up lures in a hurry.
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Re: A 147cm barramundi

Post by bobj »

Thanks Dick, good to read about the rise and fall of the silver cobbler. Great photos, too.
I well remember the blokes in the late 1960s fishing under the divi dam gates at Easter time and getting cricket scores of 3-6 lb barra. A few of us often discussed the feasibility of chucking a few in the dam.
Cheers, bobj.
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Re: A 147cm barramundi

Post by ronje »

Thanks for the response to the pm, Dick.

Lake Kununurra will end up being a terrific drawcard for fishing tourism.

The initiative by WA Fisheries and the Kimberley Training Institute's Jeff Cooper is good example of "seed starting" an industry for that area.

I hope the community makes the most of the opportunity presented to it.

We'll agree to disagree about the growth rate of that 115cm fish though even if it is in a good paddock (mistakes happen).
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Re: A 147cm barramundi

Post by Dick »

ronje wrote:Thanks for the response to the pm, Dick.

Lake Kununurra will end up being a terrific drawcard for fishing tourism.

The initiative by WA Fisheries and the Kimberley Training Institute's Jeff Cooper is good example of "seed starting" an industry for that area.

I hope the community makes the most of the opportunity presented to it.

We'll agree to disagree about the growth rate of that 115cm fish though even if it is in a good paddock (mistakes happen).
The opportunity was hardly presented, I'm not sure where you get your information but its certainly not first hand. The community has been at the centre of this for the past two decades and did a lot to get the program to this point.

Not too fussed what you think of the growth rates the data from three fish says it all to me.
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Re: A 147cm barramundi

Post by ronje »

Lot of bicycle paths over that way is there? Curt will know them.
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Re: A 147cm barramundi

Post by theodosius »

That dog is pretty chuffed with your capture!!
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Dick
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Re: A 147cm barramundi

Post by Dick »

skilled photo bomber
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Re: A 147cm barramundi

Post by ponyplay »

ronje wrote:Lot of bicycle paths over that way is there? Curt will know them.
Don't try bring all this down due to your issues with me , stick to talking about 12 volt battery's . I was certain you wrote a dear john letter to the forum and left ?
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Re: A 147cm barramundi

Post by Aydan »

bobj wrote:The main point was that these barra were from 2011 and they were supposedly only stocked above the divi dam (L Kununurra) in 2013. That being the case, someone must have put a few in the lake, well prior to 2013 and certainly prior to 2011..
I have a photo from 2011 of a 'tailing barra' guesstimated at 130 cm. But I cannot get the pic on this forum.

There use to be a Barra farm in lake argyle years ago they come over the argyle spillway.
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