Recreational Fishers In For A Treat With Lake Conjola Artificial Reef

[mrmoshe]

Recreational fishiers in for a treat with Lake Conjola Artificial Reef

Recreational fishers will get their 4th artificial reef this month, the latest reef being installed in Lake Conjola. The reef will be made up of 400 concrete modules known as ‘Reef Balls’, which can be moved, or removed, if necessary. This is the first NSW DPI artificial reef that will use three different sized Reef Balls which is expected to create a complex reef. NSW DPI deploys artificial reefs in areas that are lacking in reef habitat. The reefs provide a place for fish to live and shelter, and potentially redirect fishing effort from more traditional fishing areas. Previous DPI studies have shown that artificial reefs attract a large variety of popular recreational fish species such as flathead, bream, tarwhine, snapper, leatherjacket and whiting. Artificial reefs have already been installed in St Georges Basin, Botany Bay and Lake Macquarie, with other potential locations currently under investigation including Merimbula Lake.

[brendong]

Pete,

I received an email today form the NSW Department of Primary Industries re the placement of the reef balls and they said the following:

'Lake Conjola has now been in the water for approximately 2 weeks. It was a large job, as this reef is the largest undertaken by DPI. It consists of approximately 400 "Reef Balls" a patented reef-building module. Basically, the Reef Balls are a hollowed out hemisphere of ph-adjusted concrete with a rough surface to attract algae growth and holes to enable fish to shelter. '

'The reef is easily found using a sounder by trolling the area inside the 4 knot zone on that northern bank, about 70-90 metres off the bank. The reef runs for approximately 80 metres in a south easterly direction towards "The Steps", and is easily visible on the most basic sounder. '

I posed the question of how long it takes for fish move into the area and received the following:

'It doesnt take much time for fish to start hanging around the reef. We dived there last week and there were already some large bream there. However, from our experience on our previous reefs it seems that any time from 18 months on is when the reefs are at their best. By this time, there is a good growth of algae on the reefs, and alot of the "pest" species that take over the reef in the first few months (eg striped trumpeter) start to decline in numbers, and you get the more popular angling species such as bream, tarwhine, leatherjackets and snapper move into the area. '

'Having said that though, Christmas may be good fishing, as even if you dont have a large number of permanent resident fish, with the warmer water and increase in fish movement there may be more transient species showing up on the reefs.'

Fingers cross for some quality sessions in the coming years....

[pistolpeat]

great news, fishing lake conjola has been pretty hard the last couple of years.

[jewieslayer]

great news, fishing lake conjola has been pretty hard the last couple of years.

hi pete r u going done soon 2 target crocs

[Mick]

I have never been a fan of the atificial reefs installed by fisheries. The money could be best spent else where, instead of creating new dive spots for commercial dive schools.

But then again if you are happy your license fee contributing to the on going success of the same dive operators who are pushing for more marine parks, then I guess they are a good idea.