queensland mt crosby weir. devesating find

[Plastic Fantastic]

as we all no the mt crosby wier is the barrier between the uppermost salt and the lower most fresh of the brissy river. actually there is a smaller disused old wier about 200m downstream form the main one and was a really good fishing spot.

i remember only 6 months ago i would go down there and collect millions of large shrimps for bait by merely running a sive through the small patches of weed there and everytime i went down there i would find either a small shark or flahead resting in the frsshwater over flow. i used to soft plastic fish for bullrout and mouth almightys and shrimp fish for bass and flathead. it was a really nice little pool of water.

but as the drought kicked in the flow of water over the main wier stopped and the little wier also began to lessen its flow. as a result the pool cut off from the main river (it was joined by a 1m wide 50cm deep channel) and proceeded to grow vast amounts of algae and water plants on the top of the water. this in turn killed off all the shrimp and trapped any fish coming downstream as well as any that resided there in the first place.

i remember one time i went dwon there and schools of 40cm mullet were easy to scoop up with a landing net and 50 or so were dead and floating in the water feasted on by the resisant small shark and catfish. on a recent trip iv seen a huge school of trapped malnorished bass as well as a school of at least 60 enormous catfish. these fish have eaten all available food and the catifsh i caught there had no wieght to them watsoever...i also found three flathead to 60cm dead and floating around. very sad indeed. to make things worse the local population of tilipia have multiplied into extremes! hopefully the rain we've had has washed the place out and given these fish another chance...because in this small pool of water there are literally hundreds of massive fish and it would be devastating to see them all perish.

[rayke1938]

May be worthwhile contacting dave downey. He should have an email address on his website. He may be able to prod the dpi into taking some action to save the fish. A couple of years ago they saved the remaining fish when the lagoon at sandgate dried up. If you are a member of that other site ( starts with au ) Wack the post on there and maybe fitzy will pick it up.

[Plastic Fantastic]

so whats this other site? i went down about an hour ago and although we had rain, the situation is the same. the entire surface is covered in these big water lettuces and only a small 2m by 2m gap is open to air...i only saw a few mullet i presume the rest of the fish are hiding under the surface weed

[Hanger1800]

I hate to see fish in situations like that. That damn weed is taking the oxygen out of the water too. I'll help out to with the forums on this other site.

[rayke1938]

Look under fishing in links dave downey is nuggetfishing and he has links to ausfish and sweetwater fishing. Sweetwater fishing is fitzys website.

i would bung it on both the more publicity it gets the more people will take notice. One of the tv channels did a story in the hyacynth choking the river a couple of months back maybe brisbane extra may be interested in doing a story.

Ray

[STU]

Something will have to be done that area is a great spot used to fish it a while ago cant imagine it like that but this what no rain is effecting

[Plastic Fantastic]

well my mate and i tried sight fishing for the big ol' catfish and amnaged to throw some bak upstream but they were severly mancipated. i caught a bass as well, it was so skinny it looked like it had been run ova. i had a look and the pool is still flowing with the next pool however the next pool is just as covered in weed as the first. you have to travel a fair distance before any clear water can be seen. whats worse is that the growing number of tilapia. if the pool does flow positively then these noxious pests will flow down stream with all the natives. I remember seeing in only visible piece of water a dead catfish and feasting on it (literally tearing it to shreds)were at least thirty other catfish as well as numerous eels and watnot..wats more is that all the shrimp have died off and the toads hav multiplied by there thousands down there! millions of small cane toads plagued the ground only a few months ago which aint to good for the surrounding wildlife. it's such a good stretch of water and i have much respect for the fish within it however i fear they will all die if nothing is done.

here is one of the lucky ones we rescued...its so skinny!

[img size=249]http://www.australianfishing.com.au/media/kunena/attachments/legacy/images/untitled2-34636b9874fde4b66d7543a153b8a0c7.JPG

Post edited by: Plastic Fantastic, at: 2007/06/10 18:11

Post edited by: Plastic Fantastic, at: 2007/06/10 18:14

[werewolf]

damn that is the skinniest cat i've ever seen. I feel sorry for it even though its a cat.

[Gordo]

Gees thats a shame. Sad to see.

Hey Plastic how did you get to the old weir? Was it by kayak or foot?

I have an old mate from uni who is an environmental officer for the Brisbane City Council i'll have to tell him about it.

[Angus]

You can walk in no worries.

Its downstream from the main weir.

I used to go there a lot and catch gar for salt water bait.

Angus

[roobs]

if there's a chance that there is a lungfish in their then i think that the dpi would probably be very interested.

[Plastic Fantastic]

haha actually mate funny you should mention lungfish...

me mate and I went down there last night to catch some of the catfish to relocate them into the main stream of the river. we were using dead prawns and throwing them weightless into the small pool of open water and my mate actually caught a 60-65cm lungfish by accident. we also caught two eels and eight catfish...all extremely skinny.

heres a piccy of the lungy we caught.

iv also got a pic of the actual pool itself...over grown in floating plants...the water you see at the base of the pool is the only open water.

Post edited by: Plastic Fantastic, at: 2007/06/14 19:22

[Plastic Fantastic]

[img size=354]http://www.australianfishing.com.au/media/kunena/attachments/legacy/images/Assumed_Eel.jpg

here;s the piccy of the lungfish, below is the pic of the pool itself.

[Plastic Fantastic]

[img size=185]http://www.australianfishing.com.au/media/kunena/attachments/legacy/images/Operation_Rescue_007.jpg

heres the pool below the old wier. its hard to see but basically all that plant is floating on what used to be a very large open pool.

[Angus]

Mate thats exatly the same place i used to walk in and catch gar and mullet. Its sad to see it like that.

Well done on th lungfish. Im sure he will be happier in deeper water! Karma to you.

Angus

[Gordo]

I spoke to my freind about the situation and he said he can't do much because its not in the Brisbane City Shire area and passed it on to EPA at Indooroopilly. He also said a similar thing happened recently at Logan River.

Also i'm not if anyone is aware of this but he told me its illegal to fish 50m downstream from the old weir, i trust that you guys already know this and haven't been doing any illegal activity

[Gordo]

Good work Plastic saving those fish

[Plastic Fantastic]

wow really? i thought it was legal anywhere downstream of the sign thats posted further up the track...makes sense though i suppose, having the ban on the 50m. i dont keep any fish i catch anyway from the brissy river, no matter what species, just happy to catch em for sport.

i'll be going down there again this weekend to scope out the area once more, see if theres anymore fish i can rescue...man you should of seen the massive kill of two months ago...literally twenty 40cm plus mullet and roughly ten 20cm plus bony bream - all dead...i even caught a mullet on tuesday on a prawn meant for a catfish, they're that desperate!

thanks though for helping out with the council and watnot...greatly appreciated.

Post edited by: Plastic Fantastic, at: 2007/06/15 17:08