Drought stops Kyogle Fishing Club Family Competition this year

Toonumbar Dam in better days
Image: PDR Nationwide, Kyogle NSW

The Northern Star, 26 February 2019, p. 5:

The annual restock of Australian bass has been cancelled too.

There just isn’t enough water in the dam.

Club president Barry Reeves has been fishing at Toonumbar Dam since it was built in 1972.

“All we can do is wait for rain,” Mr Reeves said.

Mr Reeves said the Family Fishing Comp planned for February was cancelled due to the red alert on blue-green algae.

The competition was moved to October but with the dam sitting at 54 per cent of its storage capacity, according to WaterNSW, the comp was cancelled again.....

For the first time, the restocking of dam with bass wouldn’t happen either.

Every year Kyogle Fishing Club spends $4000 on bass and the Department of Primary Industries matches it, so $9000 worth of Australian bass is put into Toonumbar Dam.

“Fish are getting distress sores on them,” Mr Reeves said.

The dry spell has alsoclosed the Bells Bay camping ground as dam levels are too low for activities.