Burrendong Dam

[Mik]

Hey Raiders

Went with my son today at Burrendong Dam. I Haven't been able to get out for a few weeks & today was a terrible shock. The water level is so low that I felt like I was puddle fishin'.

Nothing to report on the fish front except two carp (1 about 1kg the other about 3kg)

Knocked 'em on the head & after about 2 hours playing with my son in the mud (Lotsa fun! ) I decided to head around to a few spots to take some pics of the water levels.

Recent rains have yet to make any real impact on the level & from my last visit it just keeps getting worse. Currently as I reported in another post the level is recorded at 3 1/2 & of capacity. (Yup, 3 & one half percent!) It might interest those who are not farmiliar with this body of water that when full it holds 4 1/2 times Sydney Habour.

Other inland water bodies are no better but Burrendong certainly appears to be the lowest at the moment. Some folks tell me they have seen it this low before but I can't find records going back very far. This time last year it was around 36% from what I can see on the charts.

Burrendong Storage Chart

Anyway, after my drive around I found a campsite we stayed at during Easter last year. The red line indicates where the water level was then. We were camped about where the old fire site is in the foreground. When we were there the waters edge was about 8 metres from our tent (Nice for beaching the boat!) The top red line shows where I estimate the far bank water line was at the same time. The pics aren't very good at showing depth of field but I'm sure you get the general feel of it.

2nd one shows the same area but slightly different angle, gives a bit better idea of bank angle & depth of gully where water used to be.

The one shows "Lion Island" which is now part of the main shoreline. The line shows roughly where water was at easter last year. Tree line was about 20 metres from shoreline then, now about 100 metres with about 45 degree bank.

Final one shows main boat ramp. Red line indicates roughly where water line was easter last year. The water is at least 120 -180 metres from the line. (Bad camera angle belies the true drop) As I said, some locals say they've seen it this low & the fact that the ramp concrete actualy almost reaches the water line indicates this. There are now signs up in certain areas stating "Skiing, Wakeboarding & Planning watercraft not recommended due to water levels"

Anyway, I guess all we can do is prey for more rain & shake our heads in wonder at the persistance & heartaches the farmers are feeling at the moment. I certainly won't go broke without fishing at least, I count myself lucky for that.

Hope you guys had better scenery at the weekend.

Edited February 18, 2007 by Boofhead

[DaveD]

its unbelieveable mate. need a good downpour for a few days t o fix it up i think. its the only chance

[mrmoshe]

That's amazing Mik. You really see the impact of the drought when you look at pictures like that.

Let's all hope it rains like never before soon and puts the lake back to decent leels again and the farmers can breathe a sigh of relief.

This drought is the worst I can ever remember just through the sheer scope of it.

Thanks for updating us on your area.

Cheers,

Pete.

Edited February 18, 2007 by MallacootaPete

[Mik]

CFD - nah mate, no dead ones except the Carp we pulled outta there. But you can now see carp finning at the waters edge (HEAPS & HEAPS of them) so I'd say they are getting hard up for food, as will the natives I'm afraid.

I managed to find a couple of pics of our easter trip in 06. You can sorta match up the area. The hill in the background of this pic is a bit further right of the one on the next pic. (Marked roughly the start of the hill in purple in relation to the easter pic.)

EASTER 06

NOW

Close match of exact area.

Pretty amazing huh!

Oh well, just means I am now forced to re-launch my repaired boat in the Hawkesbury, I'm sure the will understand

Good op to meet some Raiders, any excuse!

[Guest rzep]

What a big difference in just less then 12 months.

[tomahawk1999]

Graphic example of the droughts effect Boofhead,

living in the city we really don't have any appreciation of the effects it is having in the bush.

Thanx for showing us how bad it really is!

[wildfish]

not good, sure does look like a puddle now.

less water will heat up more evaporate faster, she may be dry this time next year.

sure the carp will bury into the mud n survive the dry unfortunatly but not so sure about the bass.

[domza]

very sad! It really needs to bucket down NON-STOP for about 4 weeks to fill up again

is boating still permited? how deep do you estimate the dam to be?

[Mik]

Wildfish, not sure if there were ever bass in Burrendong but yeah, natives will be suffering. I think (I reserve the right to be wrong here ) Burrendong has mainly the following;

Silver Perch (Confirmed - Caught some meself)

Golden Perch - Yellow Belly (Confirmed - Caught some meself)

Eel Tailed Catfish (Confirmed - Caught some meself)

Murray Cod - (Probably a local myth as I ain't caught none) Just kiddin' there have been some good'uns caught here.

Redfin (Never caught any meself here but have in close proximity to Burrendong, Local Kiosk owner is apparently the Redfin legend)

And of course carp, freshwater shrimp & yabbies.

With regard to the effects of the low levels I put up a post here awhile ago about parasitic worms I have found in Golden & Silver Perch. DPI commented that they were from low water levels / high water temps. I am in the throws of trying to catch another native example to donate as a specimine for them to confirm this to be serious or just normal activity. I'm sure they have their own people looking at this also but if I can catch one I'll be sending it to the DPI for study. From further study I feel it may not be too serious & probably quite the norm for such low water levels. But still, you gotta wonder exactly what impact all over Oz low water has on nativbe populations & their ability to recover sufficiently once levels come up a bit. I hope its soon.

Doomza, mate I wish I could tell ya. My last outing on a boat was MONTHS ago And then I had a crap sounder which was telling me the depth was 365 feet LOL

I think normal depth (at 50% capacity) is around 40 metres & its probably around 8 metres at the deepest holes now. but don't quote me on tha. I'll give ya an update soon though, boat nearly fixed & new sounder about to be unleashed. (Albeit right when the water is so low my sounder will prolly tell me "Go home now b4 you ground yourself" LOL)

There are still boaties out ther but anything over 5 mtrs would be risky I'd say. Some water skiing still going on today but they were mainly large tinnies, the big wake boats are all at home in sheds by now waiting for some real rain. There are signs up as I said earlier, "Skiing ETC NOT recommended) Don't forget some locals have intimate knowledge of the bottom too so I guess there will be the occasional hero.

PS - thank god for EDIT, I've had 4 goes at this entry LOL

Edited February 18, 2007 by Boofhead

[lancer]

The last time I was there the water was at 20% and in spots the water was nearly 100 ft deep. We only got one redfin that was 1.5 kilos and of all things we had a 3 kilo carp hit a lure.

They are going to have to stop letting out water soon or there will be nothing for the fish.

If my memory serves me correct the last good water in there was when Eugowra got flooded.

When the water is up if you turn left from the ramp and keep trolling, if the reddies are there you will get one within 300 metres.

[barrykrocker]

the sooner we all acknowledge global warming the better