Tag: Lake Kununurra Barramundi

Fishing in ‘barradise’ – the 2022 Apex Kununurra Barra Bash

East Kimberley fishing gems shone bright silver recently, with a record-breaking number of Apex Kununurra Barra Bash competitors experiencing ‘barradise’ first-hand.

Now in its 24th year, the 2022 Apex Kununurra Barra Bash, running from September 23-25, is the ultimate celebration of barra fishing in the Kimberley, all within the backdrop of postcard-esque scenery and safe, accessible fantastic fishing spots.

With just $50 entries for adults and juniors fishing for free, the potential returns of catching monster barra and taking home sensational prizes across the three-day competition saw more than 720 anglers across all ages try their luck in beautiful East Kimberley waterways, with 168 barra, 181 catfish and 70 sooty grunter landed in total.

“Seeing the attendance record get smashed clearly highlights that family-friendly fishing events such as the Apex Kununurra Barra Bash are part of the social fabric of regional communities like this,” said Recfishwest CEO Dr Andrew Rowland. “Well done to all involved in running the Kimberley’s premier freshwater fishing event once again.”

“Lake Kununurra is an increasingly important part of the competition. There’s a growing number of annual fishers heading to Kununurra to fish the lake without the worry of big tidal movements or saltwater crocodiles hindering their fishing experiences. The stocking program run in partnership with the Lake Kununurra Barramundi Stocking Group (LKBSG), North Regional TAFE and DPIRD has seen more than 1.3 million barra stocked into the lake since 2013. With metre-plus barra catches now a regular occurrence – Lake Kununurra has established itself as a world-class sport fishery.”

Find out more about the fantastic barra fishing Lake Kununurra has to offer here! 

This stunning image taken by Darren Francis won the best picture competition by showcasing the beauty of fishing on Lake Kununurra.

More than $50,000 worth of cash and prizes was on offer for the Bash, including $3,000 for the biggest barra caught and any competitor who landed a barra over 55cm going into the draw for a $12,000 three-night stay at the Kimberley Coastal Camp!

For all competitors who managed to land the highly respectable ‘metrey’ barra, they went home with a new Shimano Speed Master 12 fishing reel, along with two $500 gift voucher prizes sponsored by Recfishwest for the best snap taken on Lake Kununurra and a random draw prize for any one taking a photo on the lake and posting it on the LKBSG Facebook page.

Tyran Flick is a man holding $3,000 in cash! This 1.07m barra was the biggest caught throughout the entire competition!

Attendees didn’t even have to wet a line to be in the running for the biggest ‘lucky door’ prize, with an $18,000 tinnie up for grabs, made possible by a host of sponsors including Recfishwest.

This great prizing is made possible through our East Kimberley Barra Promotion project, supported by the State Government’s Recreational Fishing Initiatives Fund (RFIF).

Bailey Dawe was the lucky winner of the $18,000 dinghy and decided to give his new boat a test run on Lake Kununurra!

With the huge range of extravagant prizes on offer, fishers eagerly patrolled their favourite barra spots during the competition in search for the revered northern sportfish, which frequently cross the one-metre mark all along the 55km length of Lake Kununurra, located around 40km west of the Western Australian and Northern Territory border.

Lake Kununurra has since become a world-class hotspot for anglers chasing one-metre giants. According to a 2020 report conducted on the restocking program, the economic value of barramundi fishing to the region is already $7.6 million per year, showcasing its importance to the local community.

Next year’s competition will be the 25th edition, which is likely to be celebrated by putting an even bigger boat up for grabs for all attendees. Make sure you pay this beautiful region a visit!

Check out the Apex Kununurra Barra Bash Facebook page to see all images and winners from 2022!

Dozens of amazing prizes were given away this year, all in front of a record-breaking crowd!

Nine years and 2,000km later – 12 breeding barra finally return to Kununurra

It’s a fish journey that gives Finding Nemo a run for its money.

One of the original captors from 2013, Ben Little, who previously worked at the hatchery.

Rewind to 2013 in the East Kimberley Ord River in Kununurra, where 12 barramundi were caught, placed in a specially adapted trailer and transported over 1,000km north-east to North Regional TAFE’s Aquaculture Centre in Broome.

Over the past nine years, they grew from around 50cm in length to about one metre, changed from male to female and spawned almost a quarter of a million baby barra between them.

Last Friday, those original 12 barramundi made the 1,000 km ‘return-journey’ and were released into Lake Kununurra, where they will see out the rest of their years.

“It was so good seeing these animals go full circle and return to where they’re from,” said Milton Williams, North Regional TAFE Senior Aquaculture Technician, who has worked at the centre for the last 15 years and oversaw the release operation of these magical fish.

“Having seen them grow and do their bit spawning, it was so rewarding watching them swim off into their wild habitat.”

It is a testament to the stocking program run by the North Regional TAFE in Broome and the local Lake Kununurra Barramundi Stocking Group, which has seen more than one million barramundi released into its waterways since 2013.

Find out more about the stocking program and fishery on Lake Kununurra here.

Breeding barra for a Kimberley “Barradise”

Lake Kununurra has since become a world-class hotspot for anglers chasing one-metre giants in ‘barra-dise’. According to a 2020 report conducted on the restocking program, the economic value of barramundi fishing to the region is already $7.6 million per year.

Milton Williams, Senior Aquaculture Technician at North Regional TAFE preparing a barra for the journey. His daughter, Ella, also helped out in a work experience capacity.

To ensure the fish are healthy in the centre and contribute to the growing species abundance, their diet includes fresh “human-grade” seafood including mullet, whiting, prawns, squid and pilchards.

As barramundi are protandrous hermaphrodites, they also change sex from male to female once reaching five to six-years-of-age at around the 90cm mark.

Milton said the female fish have produced eggs consistently well over the last few years, whereas the males might have been suffering from a little ‘performance anxiety.’

“The females have spawned consistently well, it’s the males we have trouble with,” said Milton. “They don’t always fire and we rarely have them all in spawning condition at once – usually it’s about half of them. Between these fish they have successfully contributed 214,000 barra fingerlings that have been transported and released in the lake.”

For their 12–14-hour journey back to Lake Kununurra, the fish were purged so none of their waste impacted on the pH of the water, which can be lethal to the fish. The ratio of fish to water in the oxygenated transportation tanks was 80kg of fish to 800L of water.

Once at the lakeside, water was slowly pumped through the tank to allow the fish to acclimatise and “osmoregulate” from the saline water in which they were kept in at the hatchery and in the transportation tanks to the freshwater environment of the lake, as well as adapting to temperature changes.

A special fishery being delivered by a strong partnership

Recfishwest CEO Dr Andrew Rowland commented, “It’s great to see these fish being treated with the respect they deserve being released back into their natural habitat after contributing to this great program.

“Thanks to fish like this and the fantastic efforts of North Regional TAFE, the local Lake Kununurra Barramundi Stocking Group and the support of the State Government, the lake has flourished into a special fishery in a beautiful part of the world. Where else do you get the chance to catch metre-long barra in such a safe and accessible setting?”

The team from North Regional TAFE and Lake Kununurra Barramundi Stocking Group members (left), and Brad Pasfield releasing a fish back into its native habitat.

 

WA Wilderness Fishing Location Producing Monsters

Here’s what we sent our members last week in our Members First Email.

Every now and then, things go exactly according to plan!

Stocking Barramundi into Lake Kununurra has been one of those times and we wanted to give you an update.

Many fishers in the Kimberley community had long held visions of catching world class Barramundi on the doorstep of town. Since the construction of the first stage of the Ord River Irrigation Scheme in 1963, Barramundi had been prevented from migrating further upstream than the Ord River Diversion Dam. An opportunity was born from this challenge – one that would bring monster fish back to local waters.

In 2013, a fish stocking project saw over 300,000 Barramundi fingerlings (7cm-10cm long) released into Lake Kununurra. Since then a further 200,000 Barramundi have been stocked, with thousands more still to come.

The result can only be described as spectacular! Fish funded from your licence money have showed growth rates never seen before in the East Kimberley, with most fish now being caught over the fabled ‘metre mark.’

We reported back in April 2015 of stocked fish being caught at 45cm-60cm.

We are pleased to report that the quality of fishing has continued with local fisher Brad Pasfield’s recent monster Barra (as pictured below). Brad’s father Dick Pasfield has worked tirelessly for many years to ensure the vision of trophy Barramundi in Lake Kununurra was realised, and we are pleased to see this vision paying dividends for both the local community and visiting fishers.

As planned, Lake Kununurra is now regarded as a world class trophy Barramundi fishery (plus there’s no saltwater crocs or huge Kimberley

tides to deal with). If these monsters continue to grow as expected it won’t be long before the Lake could hold Australia’s biggest Barra. If you want to keep up to date with the latest catches, check out Lake Kununurra Barramundi Stocking Group on Facebook.

I had the opportunity to fish up on Lake Kununurra last year with my old mate Dick Pasfield who wanted me to come up and see what he has to live with every day. Here’s the result:

If a trophy Barra is on your bucket list, make sure you visit Lake Kununurra!

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