Fishing paradise emerging in the Kimberley

Written on the 13 December 2016

A plan to turn Lake Kununurra into one of Australia's greatest fishing locations is starting to take shape thanks to a barramundi stocking program.

In 2012, the West Australian government allocated $700,000 towards the program, which has seen about 550,000 barramundi fingerlings released into the lake.

Lake Kununurra stretches 55 kilometres from Lake Argyle to the Diversion Dam, cutting through the picturesque gorge country of the East Kimberley.

Local angler Dick Pasfield said after a lot of hard work, the results of the stocking program were starting to show, with some locals now catching metre-long barramundi.

Mr Pasfield said Lake Kununurra could become a fishing paradise for the Kimberley and had the potential to create all kinds of economic benefits to the region.

But he said the stocking program needed to continue to maintain the health of the fishery.

"The current project is finished; the 550,000 fish have been released into the lake, and what we've got to do is find a way to maintain, in some fashion, that stocking rate," Mr Pasfield said.

"What that rate is, we don't know yet, but we've got to be able to put barra into the lake regularly.

 

Source: ABC Rural