Kinchant in the crosshairs
by Luke Galea
Offering what can be an explosive barramundi fishery, Kinchant Dam typically flies under the radar of many anglers wishing to tick the Holy Grail metre-plus barramundi off their bucket lists. Although large fish are encountered here regularly, impoundments such as Monduran, Awoonga, Peter Faust and Tinaroo seem to grab all the attention. Not anymore. The secret is out and this little, lesser known dam located just to the west of Mackay is now holding its own within the barra fishing fraternity.
a clear absence of dead standing timber at this dam. There is one lone tree that stands in the southwestern arm of the dam which is frequented by a few local anglers, however, results from this spot are minimal. The dam wall extends for 5.5km along the north and northeastern sides of the dam. Although consisting of large rocks and being the only hard structure present, it is actually illegal to fish within 100m of the dam wall. This exclusion zone exists along the entire length of the wall and is clearly marked INSET
15hp motor nosed up into the weed will put you right in the game. Most sounder shots black out when the water column is wall to wall with weed anyway. The main advantage a sounder gives you in Kinchant is the ability to view the water temperature, and shows whether or not fish are moving in or out of your field of view. If you stop and think about it,
clear, glassed-out mornings, it is not uncommon to see the barra’s large, round tails breaking the surface while they sit head down feeding or ‘mooching’ in the weed beds. This visual aspect certainly gets the blood pumping, but casting at these fish can be frustrating as they are usually too focused on what they are feeding on to chase down any other offering thrown at them.
NO BOATING OR FISHING WITHIN 100M OF DAM WALL
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No boating or water skiing Six knot speed limit - no water skiing Unrestricted area Shallow water - water skiing not recommended
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BACKGROUND Kinchant Dam is situated in the picturesque Pioneer Valley, some 41km west of Mackay. Constructed in 1977, at full capacity it holds 62,800ML of water and occupies an area of 920ha. This dam may be small but its emerging reputation as a big barra fishery is helping to put Mackay on the map. Obviously the barramundi are the main piscatorial target the dam is renowned for, but huge sooty grunter (upwards of 50cm) and sleepy cod are often encountered and have been actively stocked here by the Mackay Area Fish Stocking Association (MAFSA) since 2000. Sooty grunter are a worthy impoundment target in their own right (and Eungella Dam located just up the road is full of them), however, as they usually come as barra by-catch at Kinchant, they are knocked over relatively easier on the heavier gear. Structurally, Kinchant Dam is unlike any of the more well-known impoundments. It has been constructed as an off-stream storage rather than being built on an actual major river system fed by a upstream catchment. Kinchant has quite a small catchment leading into it, so relies on an extensive network of irrigation channels to pump water from the Pioneer River in times of heavy rainfall. There are some regulations and requirements relating to this infrastructure that you will need to be aware of when fishing the dam, so more on this later. STRUCTURE Kinchant Dam is quite shallow overall and averages 6.8m in depth. Shallow, weedy areas and lily pad edges make up at least 60% of the dam. There is
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NOorBOATING OR Local guide Paul Dolan can’t go past a Zerek Fish Trap a Slick Rig in black gold for the dam’s big barra.FISHING WITHIN 100M OF DAM WALL
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on signage at the boat ramp, so don’t say you haven’t been warned! In saying that, I know that Waterways Officers within the Mackay Regional Council are currently embarking on a project to install log ‘hotels’ and other forms of habitat enhancement into Kinchant Dam. This project forms part of the region’s recently adopted Recreational Fishing Strategy aimed at boosting fishing related tourism opportunities for the Mackay region. Until such a time that this structure is installed, the weed beds are the main form of structure. Because of this a big flash bass boat with sounders the size of television screens don’t necessarily give you that much of an advantage at Kinchant. A busted-up 12ft tinny, with a
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what could provide a better form of habitat and source of food than a weed bed? They are absolutely loaded with small shrimps and Aussie natives like rainbowfish, gudgeons, spangled perch and barred grunter, which are all high on a barramundi’s menu. On
TECHNIQUES AND GEAR As you have probably picked up by now, Kinchant Dam is all about the weed beds, and unless you tailor your type of fishing to this structure you are wasting your time. While you may have