Project Kurwongbah

[shayned]

Folks stage one of Project Kurwongbah has been completed. The report calls for letters of support etc regarding what has been done. Rather than do this I thought I would ask for forum feedback, warts and all, in a couple of places and offer this up as the general opinion of the rec fishing community.

So feel free to throw bouquets or brickbats. Over to you.

Shayned

[wallyfly]

Shayne

What has been done????

[Angus]

Shayne many new members every week.

Prob need to elaborate on whats been achieved so we can get accurate feed back.

Cheers.

Angus

[shayned]

Created the first new recreational fishery in SEQ in well over 10 years. At this stage the fishery will be branded as a family fishery, meaning the focus will be on numbers of fish rather than size.

There have been multiple learn to fish days organised as part of the project, 10 days have occurred at this point.

Tilapia busts number 5, and we are grateful to AFO organising 2 of them.

Individual fish releases number 15, kilometers travelled is over 2000klm, fish released number almost 170 000. Voluinteer hours for the project has been well in excess of 3000.

A new catch and release fishery for Scouts Australia has been started etc. etc. etc.

[shayned]

Hey Angus,

Thanks for the support to date, fund raising, volunteer hours and a shoulder to cry on when necessary, all very good.

[Angus]

Hahahaha no worries mate.

If any of the critics knew what you were close achieving as far as SE QLD stocking went they would not even dare to critisise!!!

Keep up the good work Shayne and in the interest of getting some very interesting species stocked in some very interesting places, as well as establishing more stocking of more locations, AFO will keep supporting.

Cheers.

Angus

[Feral]

Can I legitimately comment, having been part of it?

My part was provision of a small amount of labour in releasing fish, I didn't join the PRFMA until all the hard work had been done. Cudos to the PRFMA for having the foresight to see this little lake was easily accessible and the perfect fishery for kids. Shayne in particular deserves a mention, he had the drive, and the silver tongue to see it all happen.

The best part of the whole thing for me, is no greenie will ever be able to have a shot at my kids for fishing, all three of them have put more fish in to this fishery than they will ever catch in their entire life.

So have I.

[shayned]

Andrew, you and I both know you have done just a bit more than this:huh:

The last Tilapia bust would not have happened without you and Ray, the work on the ground works for the fish breeding project which started with Kurwongbah was invaluable.

Again the Tilapia genetic sample collections needed you and Ray to succeed.

Our combined work on Pine River Clean produced a great result.

And just quietly Ray's efforts at the family fishing days blew me away, who would have thought kids would love Ray? :huh: :laugh: :laugh:

[Rocket75]

Bloody good stuff, hope to see lots of budding fishos there in the future...and it looks the goods too...might be a good surface action dam when the toga and bass get up and going (oh please let it be so:woohoo: )

thanks again Shayne

Rocket

[wallyfly]

Shayne,

So say all of us...WELL DONE.

Ian:cheer: :laugh: :woohoo:

[Little Grey Men]

As far as a family fishery is concerened I'd say that Kurwongbah will be an absolute cracker. I've been keeping a little bit of an eye on the fish out there and they are plentiful.

My little girl has been asking to go fishing with Caleb and myself.

This is where she will catch her first bass in about a year....guaranteed.

And I'm sure my little bloke will get a huge kick out of catching some of the bass that he helped release in the lake over a year ago.

Sit out there very early in the morning in certain spots and you can see little bass slapping bugs on the surface around the lillies. Warms my heart

All thanks to the hard work of the dedicated people from the PRFMA of which I'm now a member, we'll have a surface fishery on one side of the road and a trophy bass fishery on the other side. We'll be spoiled for choice.

Thanks Shayne.

[STU]

Looks like the bass are growing well saw a 20cm specimen in one of the mags today caught on a blade and a few togas being caught good stuff fellas

[paulymassy]

sounds awessomeme

[tacklebox]

shayned wrote:

Created the first new recreational fishery in SEQ in well over 10 years. At this stage the fishery will be branded as a family fishery, meaning the focus will be on numbers of fish rather than size.

There have been multiple learn to fish days organised as part of the project, 10 days have occurred at this point.

Tilapia busts number 5, and we are grateful to AFO organising 2 of them.

Individual fish releases number 15, kilometers travelled is over 2000klm, fish released number almost 170 000. Voluinteer hours for the project has been well in excess of 3000.

A new catch and release fishery for Scouts Australia has been started etc. etc. etc.

They are all incredible achievements and everyone involved should be proud of what you've accomplished in such a short amount of time. :fishing:

[shayned]

Thanks for the kind comments, but I need to point out this is a PRFMA project and I'm just a small mouthey part of the whole team. I think I can say every member has contributed in some way.

The support from outside organisations has been considerable, whether it was AFO, the Petrie Lions, the local council or our local bakery it was all necessary and made this facility possible.

The federal department of agriculture, fisheries and forestry provided most of the money and I'm suprised DPI&F are still talking to me after the amount of time I've taken from their busy schedule. Stay with us though as we try to improve the lake further, we can't do it by ourselves.

[silver_rex]

well done shayned!! look forward to taking the young one there!!

Quick question, whats the normal procedure for ridding of caught tilapia?

Cheers

Eddie

[shayned]

Mate,

Check out www.prfma.com.au in the fish species area or use this link http://www.prfma.com.au/prfma/Tilapia.html when dispatched most people just place them in the bin at the park.

[heathro69]

Hi All!!

Lake Kurwongbah use to be a last ditch fishing spot for me!! Always went to north pine dam first and if i could not catch anything there, headed up to lake Kurwongbah, you were guaranteed to catch a pesty Tilapia!!! That way i felt good that i caught something :laugh: . Its good to see something good happening to the lake, i went past it once and it looked almost empty!!! Looking forward to taking the family there for a picnic and fish!!!

Cheers

Heath.

[Angus]

shayned wrote:

The support from outside organisations has been considerable, whether it was AFO, the Petrie Lions, the local council or our local bakery it was all necessary and made this facility possible.

Dont forget yourself Shayne. I know you have invested loads of time into this for no other reason than to make it happen. Well done mate.

Angus

[rayke1938]

The prime driving force behind the PRFMA in achieving the successful stocking of Kurwongbah is Shane.

It would never have happened without him.

He doesnt just talk about it he gets up and does it and inspires others to do the same.

This is what has made the PRFMA such a driving force in the local community

During my lifetime I have been involved in the development and managing several cooperatives and Friendly Societies and have never had a sense of fulfillment that I get from my involvement with the PRFMA.

It is really a humbling experience to see the expressions on the young kids faces being at Kurwongbah whether its releasing fingerlings , having your first cast and actually landing the bait in the water, catching a fish, or just running around on the bank.

Cheers

Ray