There has been more great news for WA barra fishers with an extra 100,000 juvenile barra released into Lake Kununurra last week and another 100,000 fish released this week, taking the total number of barramundi stocked in the lake since 2013 to more than 850,000.
The lake has been quickly establishing itself as a world-class barramundi fishing location and local members of the Lake Kununurra Barramundi Stocking group say fish are averaging more than a metre!
Read more about the Lake Kununurra Barra stocking program here.
Last week’s stocking of 100,000 barra was funded by a
Regional Economic Development (RED) grant and the Broome Aquaculture centre did such a good job in breeding barra they ended up with twice as many fish as they needed! This provided an opportunity for even more fish to be stocked into the lake, but they needed additional funds to transport the extra fish to Kununurra.
Acting quickly from a request by Recfishwest, the Minister for Fisheries approved the use of recreational fishing licence funds to transport and stock the remaining 100,000 fish.
Read the Minister for Fisheries’ media release here.
The stocking of Lake Kununurra clearly demonstrates how well-planned stocking programs to create amazing fishing experiences can bring enormous benefits to local communities.
Avid local recfisher Curt McCartney has caught and tagged more than 100 barramundi in the Lake and says the big, fat, bronze monsters are often not difficult to find, but can provide a challenge to entice as they’re all so well fed on the lake’s abundant supply of bait fish!
Check out these sounder images showing barramundi schools hanging just off the bottom. If that doesn’t get barra nuts’ casting arms twitching – we don’t know what will!
STOP THE PRESS!
Check out this 1.3m barra caught from the lake by barra enthusiast Curt McCartney after this article was originally published!
This is just more proof that the barra stocking program is really delivering the goods.
