Boonah or Bust

Sitting in a pocket in the eastern shadow of Main Range - hemmed in by the New South Wales border, Cunningham Highway and the picturesque township of Boonah - lie two of Queensland's premier freshwater fishing impoundments.

The northernmost is Moogerah Dam, which was formed over mainly cleared farmland. Consequently, fish holding structure, other than the original meandering creekbed and an old fence line, is quite scarce. A large stand of dead timber at the western end of the catchment provides excellent cover for fish, but when water levels are at just 20% capacity, this timber is high and dry.

The shoreline zigzags back and forth into ravines and small gullies, forming large and small headlands. These shallow areas are a good place to look for bass, which are sometimes found in water only a metre deep.

Both Moogerah and Maroon Dam to the southeast are primarily catchments for irrigation purposes. As such, their levels change dramatically, throwing the mood of the fish stocked therein out of kilter as rapidly as overnight.

To fish these dams successfully, you have to be on the ball and must cater for changes in fish feeding habits.

The predominant species is Australian bass, though some nice cod surfaces now and then. Cod is no longer stocked, so anything caught will be residual from stockings several years ago.

Another less sought after species is eel. Rumours about some of the scary-sized serpents that have poked their slimey snouts in the masks of divers checking the dam wall sound as if they've emanated from Loch Ness.

Absolute monsters, apparently, though I have only encountered specimens about 1.5m long, which will readily take a lure and put up a good fight.

Moogerah produces its best fishing results when water is at about 50% capacity. This will only come about with plenty of irrigation, so summer is the best season for this waterway.

When schools of bass are found, they are often stationary or moving slowly within the system, so maximum time spent in the strike zone means cast and retrieved lures will give better results than trolling. Bibless crank baits such as small rattlin' spots, Halco tremblers and other rattling lures that can be cast and allowed to 'count down' before retrieval are ideal. Spinner baits in larger sizes during the hotter months are also a popular choice.

With winter upon Moogerah, less irrigation is occurring downstream. The dam fills and the water spreads over the shallows, with bass in hot pursuit of worms, grubs and beetles living along the warmer edges and drowning in their lairs.

This is the time for soft plastics and flies. Picking a wind lane running parallel to a weed bank or grassy headland pays dividends with a gentle drift while casting the edges. If battling the elements, an electric motor is an asset, as it keeps you in the strike zone longer.

Spinner baits and soft plastics should be cast towards the top edge of the weed beds and jigged away from it as it falls down the face to near the hanging level of the fish. If you're fishing the trees at the western end or the steep submerged banks of the old creekbed, sit off the bank and count down the time for the lure to hit the top of the bank. Make the next cast shorter and let it slide down the bank, jigging it slightly towards you as it falls.

Moogerah is serviced by two ramps. The western ramp is useable until the water level falls to 20%, at which time the mud below readily traps trailers. The eastern ramp is concrete and local services top up and extend the stone surface over the mud as the level drops back even further, making it an accessible launch ramp all year round.

Most of the cabins situated on its shores are the private cottages of waterskiers, but there are clear, grassy camping areas aplenty, with ablution blocks and a kiosk on the southern side. Waterskiers descend in droves to Moogerah on the weekends, so if you want quiet fishing, aim for the weekdays.

Maroon Dam, on the other hand, offers much more structure for those working lures and jigs. It has steep stony banks in places, big spreads of weed beds and a lot of submerged timber. The weed beds and submerged trees offer the best results, with surface-striking fish more prevalent in the warmer months, while deeper lure work is required when it's cooler. Generally speaking, the waters of Maroon are a lot clearer than Moogerah and therefore a wider range of lure colours may be utilised. Should the water be dirty or the fish deep down in the darker parts of the water column, metallic gold or bright or white coloured lures should improve your results.

On the opposite side to the launch area, a bay runs back into a gully near some waterskiers' shacks. Good weed beds are found in this quiet water and a large buoy mid-bay marks a rock pinnacle rising rapidly to near the surface when water is low. It's worth fishing this location using the count down method, running lures down its face.

Casting is not everyone's favoured method of fishing these dams. Trolling can be effective. But remember, if the fish are down deep, you will need to down rig your lures to get to the strike zone, which may be as much as 8m below you. Also remember that the time required to catch 'X' amount of fish holed up in one position with trolling methods is much greater than pulling up and casting. Throw into the equation the fact that the fish will bite spasmodically, and you may further cut your results by towing lures rather than casting them.

Thermoclines play a major part in the habits of these fish. Provided you can find them on your sounder, thermoclines will lead you to fish. Screen resolution of 160 pixels vertical or more is required to further reap the benefits of fishing these impoundments. It's then a matter of searching the thermoclines for signs of bass sitting in their vicinity. With such a high volume of water being removed for irrigation, the water layers are continually turning over. Therefore, where you find a thermocline on one day may not be where it is on the next.

For newcomers to the inland fishing scene, you need a 'stocked impoundment permit', which allows you to fish 25 freshwater impoundments in Queensland ($35 for 12 months or a weekly issue for $7). This money goes into fish stocking and caring for these waterways, so it's good value considering the numbers of fish that may be caught when they are on the chew.