CALLIDE DAM

Callide dam is about an hour drive west of Gladstone and 6 hours north west of Brisbane and only a 10 minute drive from closest town Biloela. Fishing this lake makes you feel like you are in a Simpsons episode with the power plant stacks always in view but Callide is well stocked with some of the fattest barramundi getting around with some 120cm models lurking in there as well. It also has a good population of golden perch and red claw. its not a big body of water with only a handful of points a few bays and some sunken trees down into the old creek it doesn’t take long to sound around and find the fish.

Fishing Callide dam for barramundi is best in the warmer months from October to April it gets quite cool there In the winter months and the fish get a bit sluggish and feeding slows down. Best times to fish are dusk and dawn like most fish but following tide and moon phases can really boost your numbers. Fishing around the full or new moon, moon set or moon rises and tide changes all make a difference. Fishing through the daylight hours is a great way to get a feel for the dam. Cruising around casting soft plastics and jerk baits on the points and through the timbered areas should have you getting your arms stretched if that doesn’t work. As the sunsets and the moon rises the Barra will start to patrol the points and ambushing bait fish. So find one of the points with wind blowing on to it looking to anchor in about 15ft of water casting up into 3ft or 4ft. Effective lures to use while point fish are paddle tailed plastics 5 to 8 inch casting to the point or edge and slow rolling back with a few pauses all the way back to the boat. The other lure is a suspending jerk bait making long casts wind the lure down and the start a jerk and twitching action with some pauses in-between they will usually take the on the pause.Trolling is another effective way to catch Barra, areas like the bouy line and creek bed and deeper water in that area are worth a look as well. Trolling diving minnows and big soft plastics work really well.

Fishing for golden through the day can kill the time while waiting for the Barra to wake up. Fishing soft vibes and blades on the stepper rocky walls casting in shallow and hopping them down the face to deeper water is a good technique or sitting over the top of the school vertically hopping the lure in there face will also work. if you are wanting to get a feed of red claw this is the place to do setting pots around the tree stumps in 15ft of water using cat or dog food and rockmelon should see you eating a red claw dinner.