North Australian FISH FINDER TM forums

I've got an old topo map (1974) of the shady camp area. Shows how much the area has changed on 40 years. For me the interesting parts are:

1.No tidal influence at Shady camp barrage, and looks like only access to the tidal reach of sampan during flooding
2.No connecting channel to Tommycut creek

The other interesting part is the red lines are the current property boundaries, in the top right corner you will notice a roughly triangular section abutting a side creek. That section is crown land, and the skinny corridor leading to it is road reserve, future downstream launch site maybe...

Yep, that map caused me a great deal of confusion back in the day.

Yep, pretty much everything from the old Tommycut shortcut is less then 40 years old. When people carry on about things being different from 10-15-20 years ago out there I don't think they get that how it was 20 years ago, is not how it was 20 years before that.

For an even bigger difference look at this report from 1998 - Pages 21-24. Report

In 1943 Tommycut and Sampan only extended about 5km inland.

Amazing stuff isn't it, you only have to look at the Dead Forest to get an idea of what has happened. In another 100 years much of it will be sea, and Corroboree will be tidal.

WhatFish wrote:For an even bigger difference look at this report from 1998 - Pages 21-24. Report

In 1943 Tommycut and Sampan only extended about 5km inland.

Cheers for that, i'd seen that a few years back and couldn't find it. I've cut the shady/tommycut map out for people to see. Amazing that in 80 Years there are two almost entirely new tidal river systems.

Matt Flynn wrote:Amazing stuff isn't it, you only have to look at the Dead Forest to get an idea of what has happened. In another 100 years much of it will be sea, and Corroboree will be tidal.

Without major $$ spent of more effective barrages to hold the saltwater back, for sure. It would be an environmental disaster loosing that much freshwater wetland. I get the sh*ts when people say rubbish like "remove the barrages, they are only there to create ponded pasture for rich cattle men". Have a look at what has happened out there in the last 80 years. The freshwater swamp has been pushed 40 kilometers inland. If Corroboree turns tidal, there goes the Saratoga fishery, the sleepy cod, the sooties, freshwater turtles etc that are in there now.

Thanks guys I've been puzzled by the Mary becoming Sampan etc. Would that triangle be Bamurru plains? Its such a different habitat to us mexicans it can be hard to picture whats going on. I need to get up onto the floodplains during the dry and have alook done!! Sept here i come

There was always tidal influence at barrage. It was natural salt water over barrage. To lhs of barrage was salt water and the big girls schooled there.. The s bends had whirlpools. If you pulled up and fished whirlpool would suck you down and you would be casing level with the water. A very unusual feeling . The water flowed into the forest from Sampan from a creek just above s bends as kids we would push a punt to the old tree line to fish it. We would leave the 15 evenrude and tank at the s bends and it would be still there when we got back. If you went down to fish creek you had to go around the gill nets, they a only netted 70% of the river but they would net 70% from one side and then a second net would fish 70 % from the other side.

Some interesting comments on this topic.

As I have stated previously I lived at Point Stuart in the 70's and can guarantee you from the Shady rockbar to the channel going thru to the top of Sampan it was a fresh water billabong choker block full of Barra. The current channel going thru from Shady to the top of Sampan used to be all dry and i can remember driving across the plains to fish shallow fresh water billabongs from the S bends back up to the now start of Sampan where the creek goes back over towards Alligator Heads. Alligator Lagoon is below the S Bends on the right and was always fresh water back then. Netting was allowed in the river but only as far up as the Little Creek which goes in towards the old homestead. The Little Creek and Netting Marker used to be about where that fishing safari landing is now on the right going towards the mouth. Yes we used to have anywhere between 10 to 15 nets set across the river (never more than halfway ) and we used to catch heaps of big Nils Master lures floating down the creek and some fish still had lures in them as they had been hooked up stream and got away before heading for the sea.

I remember the salt water starting to push up as far as the Shady/Sampan channel towards the end of the 70's and by then i'm pretty sure we never netted the river anymore.

The salt water intrusion all along the coast out there is destroying so much fresh water wetlands the whole dynamics have changed forever. You can't tell me in this day and age they can't come up with a solution.

It must be stooped.

Cheers grumpy

Interesting comments Grumpy - Would you say, overall, that the fishing out there has gone backwards? Or improved?

Or do you not fish the lower parts of the creeks out there these days?