queensland Week at Wyaralong that wasnt.

[rayke1938]

After getting the nod that the redclaw were on at Wyaralong but only on overnight soaks the decision was made to have an extended stay.
I checked the seq water website.
"Wyaralong Dam

Seqwater manages the following three camping areas at Wyaralong Dam. Visitors are encouraged to bring their own drinking water:
The Eastern Trailhead

The Eastern Trailhead is located near the dam wall. You can view the wall from the viewing platform, explore the shoreline or ride the mountain bike trails. A multi-use (pedestrian, mountain bike and horse) trail ventures west from the Eastern Trailhead.

There are no camping fees at the Eastern Trailhead designated sites. Camp site allocation is on a first-in first-served basis. The maximum permitted stay is seven nights."
Ok says max stay is 7 nights and as We had previously stayed there with Ricks caravan off we went, Rick with his extended family and me towing my boat bout an hour behind.
I was half way between Tamborine and Beaudesert when my phone ring with Rick saying that caravans and motorhomes no longer allowed so we had the choice of staying in Beaudesert and commuting to the dam every day or going to Moogerah.
If i had looked at the recreation guide for Wyaralong I would have found this.

Meebun Recreation Area (Eastern Trailhead) has eight small tent-only sites. There are toilets and BBQ facilities but no showers. Vehicles need to remain on the road adjoining the camping area.

The campground at Moogerah is very good and we were able to set up under a shady tree on the waters edge and thought that I would be able to leave the boat moored just outside my tent.
We only did that once with a shallow weed bank extending out about 100 yards from the waters edge, My leccy motors could not cope with the weed and I had to push the boat out to the edge of the weed.
We had 16 redclaw traps set in different locations for the entire stay and not one redclaw caught.
Lots of ski lice there with some being very good and others needing a slap on the wrist and being taught some manners.
Being under only leccy power we did a lot of trolling catching mainly small bass around the 30cm mark.
One trolling run where we caught bass one particular ski boat took great delight in seeing how close to us he could go and with the little one on board we let them have it.
We only ended up with 28 bass (largest 37cm) one yella and Joy and myself being the tandan kings/queen with 4 each and Rick a dismal last with only2.
We would have been better off I had my petrol boat so we could have escaped the ski boats but think we wont bother returning and look forward to the peace of the leccy only dams.
Cheers
Ray

[Dinodadog]

Its just good to get away.

Picked up my new petrol motor after burning out the fuses, now for a getaway.

 

Dino

[Albinus]

Moogerah has always been primarily a waterskiing hotspot, but it's nice to see it fishing well again after being almost empty 7 or so years ago. I went canoeing when it was at 2% and the paddle hit bottom everywhere except right near the wall.

Jealous about the tandan!

[rayke1938]

The tandans there are nice and clean and well coloured.

The waterpolice could have a field day there, people skiing in wrong direction,no observers,grossly overloaded how about 2 adults and 2 kids on a jet ski towing 2 donuts with a kid on each donut.? then the kids sitting on the bow . Makes you shudder.

Cheers

Ray

[curranboy99]

Seems like a nice time out, those tandans are always fun to catch and apparently they taste good as well but I wouldn't eat them out of my local waterway .

2 hours ago, rayke1938 said:

The waterpolice could have a field day there, people skiing in wrong direction,no observers,grossly overloaded how about 2 adults and 2 kids on a jet ski towing 2 donuts with a kid on each donut.? then the kids sitting on the bow . Makes you shudder.

Agreed on that even though I've never been to that dam only my local dams a couple times, is a to much a common site in any waterway, dam, estuary, etc. I reckon the waterpolice would make a years worth fines in one day if they made a field day concentrating on ski-boats/skis!!  

[Albinus]

I've never seen the water police on an impoundment. Almost every weekend they used to pull us aside on the bay (even more after they moved HQ from the Story Bridge to the PoB) for gear/licence checks and a breathalyser. Fisheries were quite rare but occasionally did.

 

19 hours ago, curranboy99 said:

Seems like a nice time out, those tandans are always fun to catch and apparently they taste good as well but I wouldn't eat them out of my local waterway

Unless the water is really stagnant I can't imagine them tasting too bad.

[rayke1938]

When they first opened up Wivenhoe to petrol motors they were accompanying SEQ rangers and pinging people for speeding.and pulling you over for safety gear check etc. Sometimes it would be water police in rangers boat and other times water police in own boat with ranger on board.

 Cheers

Ray

[Albinus]

48 minutes ago, rayke1938 said:

When they first opened up Wivenhoe to petrol motors they were accompanying SEQ rangers and pinging people for speeding.and pulling you over for safety gear check etc. Sometimes it would be water police in rangers boat and other times water police in own boat with ranger on board.

 Cheers

Ray

Wivenhoe still seems grossly undertuilised by power boats. Bit of a shame given how good the fishery is.

[Luvit]

Eventually with a change in plans you got out on the water. Nice heads up on all the information, thanks.

The amount of inconsiderate people that get joy in stuffing everyone's else day out is mind boggling. The brainless twits they are think its funny to put yours and the child's wealth fare at risk. I know I shouldn't, but if they were to hit a tree I would not be bothered in the least.

 The peace of the electric lake is so nice.