Cooby Dam
Cooby Dam is a small impoundment of only 317ha and is situated on Cooby Creek which is a tributary of the Condamine River. It is located only 30 km north of Toowoomba and is a popular haunt for electric motorists as it is an electric or paddle only impoundment, and therefore does not receive the pressure of nearby Cressbrook Dam. There are excellent facilities here consisting of a well maintained grounds, clean and tidy toilet blocks, BBQ areas, and a single concrete boat ramp that is currently netted off to trailer boats as the water level is below the ramp. This dam is apparently well stocked with Perch (Silver & Golden), and the mighty Murray Cod. Most of the dam is fairly shallow, although a couple of hundred metres down from the ramp there are some cliff edges with very deep drop-offs. There are a very limited number of snags and debris, so educated casts are out, but most of the dam is fringed with water weed which the fish hold up in chasing shrimps and small bait fish about an inch long.
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| Date: | 26th August 2004 |
| Time: | 8:30am - 2:00pm |
| Tide: | N/A |
| Launch site: | Cooby Dam Boat Ramp |
| Water temperature: | 15 - 17°C |
| Lures/baits used: | Every lure in my box |
| Report: | I tried every trick in the book today and every lure in my tackle box but to no avail. I had hoped to take my wife out and show her some good native fishing but this lake had a different idea. I have been advised that Cooby does not fish well in winter and to wait until late spring where it really fires up, but I thought the last week of warm weather might of set things off early. I was wrong! |
| I believe this to be a perfect little lake for kayakers because of the lack of outboards and its small size. Unfortunately the inflowing creek is a no-go zone, although I doubt there would be much water in it anyway as the impoundment is suffering a bit from the lack of rain. Due to the declining water levels, launching is becoming a problem because of the silted muddy bottom and I was stuck knee deep in it today trying to launch at the ramp. There are however little rocky shores which are okay to pull up, stretch the legs, and have a bite to eat. | |
| Although I did not catch a single fish (not even a hit for that matter) I found the best way to fish is casting to the edge of the weeds and fishing the drop-off, or flicking some spinnerbaits over the top of the weed keeping it just above so as not to foul the hook or blades. I am not sure what went wrong today, but had a nice paddle around none the less. I probably wouldn't recommend heading out there at the moment, but instead waiting until mid spring so the water warms up a bit and causes the natives to become more active. Talking to other anglers about Cooby's current fishing has not done it any justice, but in saying that, they all say the same thing -- "give it till late spring, she'll fire up". Hopefully it will, and hopefully I will be there when it does. | |
| Submitted by: | James D. |
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