rayke1938

Mediocre day today 22 bass and numerous forkies plus left camera at home so no photos so it did not happen, First spot looked good on the sounder and after a triple forkie hook up we moved on. Ended up on the floats and at least we were getting the occasional bass on a 3 to one ratio ( 3 forkies 1 Bass) Percy gorged himself downing at least 12 forkies So we went exploring and no more forkies but also no bass. In the meantime Andrew and his mateds tied up to the floats and 35 bass and no forkies . When they moved off we took over the spot and landed more bass and no forkies. Cheers Ray

Copy of email from PRFMA. The Stocking of fingerlings into Lake Samsonvale and Lake Kurwongbah for 2018 / 2019 has now be completed. Detailed below are the details of fingerlings stocked this season Lake Samsonvale 58,000 Australian Bass 22,000 Golden Perch (Yellow Belly) 1,000 Mary River Cod 27 Adult (Average 55cm) Saratoga Lake Kurwongbah 31,300 Australian Bass Our thanks and appreciation go to all those who participated in the very successful releases Regards Barry Tucker Treasurer

My man cnsideration was that they guarantee an australian call centre. When I have an issue I need to be able to understand what people are saying to me.

Went along by myself this morning to assist in the release of 20k bass and 20k yella fingerlings . Jim and Des who had came along to have a look ended up on board to assist me and when I asked them if they wanted to have a look around the dam and maybe catch a fish or too they said yes. First spot we tried there was nothing there so we ended up on the floats where we caught 30 bass and one yella in the 90 minutes we were there. Jim was chuffed when he caught a tagged bass. We checked the redclaw pots on the way back and Jim and Des scored a bucket of redclaw to take home.

30 bass one yella in 90 minutes no wind this morning and i do not have to wash the boat or flush motors. Plus released aprox 8k fingerlings for the future. cheers ray

north pine dam http://prfma.com.au/

After 4 distressing days off the water whilst I replaced the floor in my tinny I finally got it to the stage where i can go fishing again Steve and I went to NPD yesterday morning to have our own private forky cull. Dismal failure as the only forky captured was in one of the redclaw traps so it had a small incision and converted to bait for the redclaw, There was a lot of surface action for the first hour or so could have been gar,boneys, bass or toga that were taking the insects which seemed to be mostly bees so a swarm may have passed over at dawn. We searched in vain for forkies but all we could come up with were bloody pesky bass and one solitary yella which I promptly tagged . First fish that I have tagged in NPD for months as eery one tat I catch there one of the deckies promptly swoop on them I also recaptured 2 tagged bass one of which had shrunk 10mm and the other was the same sixe from when it was captured in november last year. Steve was happy that he was able to nail some bass on his plastic prawns but the boat now smells like an Italian restaurant as he was spraying garlic scent everywhere. The shags and pelicans have heard that we are releasing 40000 fingerlings tomorrow and are avidly waiting. They will be waiting in vain as we use a scatted dispersal method instead of just dumping them in the one spot. Cheers Ray

you need to give up that salty stuff and get a NPD permit

spare seat on wedesday usual conditions plus i will let you keep all the forkies Cheers Ray

whynot just stand in the stowed position upright against the wall with the weight on the skeg and tie it against the wall? I leave mine on the boat all the time with an abloy padlock to secure it. They would need an angle grinder to get it off the quick release cheers ray

Water crisis: Copeton and Keepit Dams have saved river systems from going dry, state water experts say Sophie Harris Dry times: Keepit Dam is dry and barren after record low inflows in past years. Photo: Peter Hardin 101218PHC162 “We’re in uncharted territory at the moment … it’s like nothing we’ve had before.” That’s the message from the state’s water experts as the Gwydir Valley follows the Namoi into the unknown as one of the worst droughts on record tightens its grip. The Namoi catchment is dry and barren as kangaroos rather than fish flock to the dam bed that resembles more of a desert. And, unless there’s significant rainfall events in the next 12 months, water supplies in the Gwydir Valley will be all but depleted. The Gwydir Valley is among the worst-affected regions in this severe time of drought, with storage currently at critically low levels. Copeton Dam is at 13 per cent storage and, without significant inflows, is likely to be holding close to 180 gigalitres at the end of this water year. The long-term average inflow of the Gwydir river system is 1141GL. In 2017-18, the actual inflow was just 208GL. However, things are much more dire in the Namoi Valley, with Keepit Dam currently at 0.5 per cent and last year’s inflows only 80GL – significantly lower than the 870GL long-term average. “Inflows in the last six years are lower than the millennium drought; this is a record,” WaterNSW executive manager for system operations Adrian Langdon said. Inflows in the last six years are lower than the millennium drought; this is a record. WaterNSW executive manager for system operations, Adrian Langdon “People aren’t fully aware of that. Barren: Keepit has become a tourist attraction because of the historic low level of water. Photo: Peter Hardin 150119PHA128 “A lot of people look at what’s happening downstream and say this and that and make up stories, but the real fact is: the upstream catchment has had six years of critically low rainfall water. “Over the last two years it’s been a record low, the lowest levels we’ve seen in the northern catchment since 1918.” Mr Langdon said if it wasn’t for dams such as Copeton and Keepit, the river systems would have been dry 18 months ago. Over the past 12 months there have been block releases from Copeton Dam to help extend water supplies in the Gwydir Valley. The Moree community was presented with the dire outlook for their valley during a public water consultation session this week. Copeton Dam, here in its former glory, is now at 13 per cent with record low rainfall and inflows in the past two years. Representatives from the NSW Department of Industry – Water, WaterNSW, NSW Office of Environment and Heritage and rural financial counsellors, as well as the NSW Drought Co-ordinator Jock Laurie, were on hand to discuss the situation currently facing the Gwydir Valley river system. The consultation involved updating members of the community, including irrigators, council staff, and other key stakeholders and interested bodies, on the water availability outlook and proposed measures to help manage the river systems if the dry conditions persist. The department’s water policy co-ordinator for drought, Michael Wrathall, said it was a challenge to work out the timing of these releases, and trying to balance the needs of environmental river users with stock and domestic users and high-security users. “We have to work out how to get the timing right,” he said. “Dam storages will only last about six months without water. “So we’re trying to do releases six months apart. We’re likely to be able to do two bulk releases over the next 12 months. Once those are made, there’ll be nothing left in Copeton. We’ll have to look at alternate water supplies. WaterNSW executive manager for system operations, Adrian Langdon in Moree this week. Photo: Sophie Harris “We have to be really careful with our water supplies over the next 12 months. In 12 months, the Gwydir is likely to be in the same position as the Namoi is now. Hopefully we don’t get to that stage. We’re already at record lows now.” Mr Wrathall said that, if we went another 12 months without rain, the situation would be “much more severe than anything we’ve experienced in the last 100 years”. “We’re in uncharted territory at the moment, which is another reason it’s difficult to manage,” he said. “It’s like nothing we’ve had before.” As well as informing the public of the current water availability outlook and proposed measures to manage the river systems, the consultation was about engaging with the community to find out how the drought was affecting them and what government agencies could do to help. “We’re really focused on managing the river system better and getting some local advice,” Mr Wrathall said. “Following the week of collecting feedback [from the drought-affected river systems], we’re making recommendations about how we manage each of the river systems if the dry continues.” Barren: Keepit has become a tourist attraction because of the historic low level of water. Photo: Peter Hardin Communication and transparency were the two key issues raised by members of the Moree community. “On the whole, they’re reasonably happy with how the system has been managed,” Mr Wrathall said. “They want more from us, in explaining why we’re doing things.” Irrigators and farmers said they wanted factual information in a timely manner so they knew what was going on, and called for greater transparency from the water agencies about how they made their decisions. “Irrigators need information to go forward in terms of their business plans,” Mr Langdon said. “They understand there’s a drought, but water is a critical part of their business. They need to know what should they be planning for for the next 12 months.” At the Moree consultation, the importance of getting factual information out to the broader community was also stressed. Keepit Dam is sitting at 0.5 per cent as of Friday afternoon. Photo: Peter Hardin 150119PHA144 “What they’re feeling is increasing pressure put on the community up here for taking water that doesn’t exist,” Mr Langdon said. “Sixty to 70 per cent of water being delivered in the Gwydir system is environmental water. The majority is not for irrigators, it’s for commonwealth and NSW water holders who are delivering positive environmental water outcomes with that water. “Irrigation water was very small, but [irrigators] seem to be getting the blame. We have to get information to the broader community.” In the past 10 years, 22 per cent of total inflows of the Gwydir have been allocated to extractive users. There have been no allocations provided to general-security users in the Gwydir Valley since

only came up by .1% to 6am o looks like not much went into catchment. Ramp is a lot cleaner now but wont take long to pong up again. Cheers Ray

Bit wet today. It was just starting to drizzle when we launched at 5.3 and by the time i parked the car and returned to the boat hughie sent it down. Reckon we would have had close to 2 inches by 9am. At one stage visibility was down to a couple of hundred yards.I noticed the boat was starting to plow a bit and when i turned on the bow bilge pump it took around 20 minutes before it started to suck air. Shrimp were scarce with more small redclaw than shrimp in the traps. Final tally 2 forkies.1 tilapia that was foul hooked,1 yella and 20 bass. Cheers Ray ps see the dam has risen by .3 % since midnight hopefully they had plenty in the catchment and more will inflow overnight.