Thousands of barra stocked in Ross Dam to make Townsville a fishing destination

IT IS a dream of keen angler Rhyce Bullimore that one day the Ross Dam will produce metre-plus barramundi and grace the decks of fisho’s boats.

Rhyce Bullimore, president of the Townsville Barramundi Restocking Society, at Ross Dam. Story is on opening the dam up to fishos.

IT  IS a dream of keen angler Rhyce Bullimore that one day the Ross Dam will produce metre-plus barramundi.

That day could come soon with Townsville City Council to receive recommendations on needed infrastructure to open up the dam to more water users in the next two months.

The Townsville Barramundi Restocking Group has released thousands of fingerlings over the past two years in anticipation of this open date.

Mr Bullimore, the group president, said thousands of baby barra around the 70 to 90mm mark were released in the dam last November and February.

A further 22,500 fingerlings were released this week. During this, Mr Bullimore said fish previously stocked were seen to be more than five times the size.

“The boys said they saw a couple from the November release about 50cm,” Mr Bullimore said.

“The dam is what’s called a green field site, meaning there’s no other apex predators, it’s basically like a 24-hour buffet for (the barramundi).”

Mr Bullimore said he expected the barra to take up to just two years to reach the legal size of 58cm.

Division 4 Councillor Mark Molachino, who helped release the fingerlings last weekend, said if the dam opens to recreational anglers it would be in a “controlled introduction”.

“We need to make sure we protect our water source (Ross Dam) because that’s our primary water source,” Cr Molachino said. “We need to make sure the yahoo-ers don’t ruin it.”

Cr Molachino said before the dam is opened to anglers, kayakers and sailers, infrastructure needed to built to ensure safe use and access to the dam.

He said toilets needed to be built and the boat ramp and roads leading to the dam needed to be inspected.

“Our planning (department) has got this all in motion,” he said.

“They will produce a report for us with some recommendations.”

Cr Molachino expected these recommendations to be handed down in September or October but could not give a date as to when the dam could be used for fishing or other water sports.

He said if the dam was opened “it will put us on the map for fishing” and could attract national fishing tournaments.

“It will make the dam a destination,” he said.

Originally published as Thousands of barra stocked in Ross Dam to make Townsville a fishing destination