EUNGELLA DAM

Eungella is roughly 100kms and about a 2hour drive west of Mackay, through the cane fields leading into the Eungella National park up a range that will test your car and driving but truely beautiful views the higher you climb once you hit the western side you take a step back in time greeted by corrugated dirt roads with livestock cruising along the them. But its all worth because by then you are nearly there the lake in the middle of no where with no phone service bush camping only full of thousands of standing sunken trees full of big angry sooty grunter and some barramundi thrown in to pull your pants down when not ready. Eungella is high up in the hills and weather can change at the drop of a hat so it pays to keep an eye up at the sky and trees when it blows up there it can be hard to navigate through a sunken forrest.

Sooty grunter are a very exciting species to target. They hit a lure as hard and fast as a mangrove jack they pull hard in the snags leaving your heart in your mouth the whole way through the fight. They eat a number of different types of lures, well they will pretty much smash anything put in front of them at times they are just a cool Aussie native.

Sooty grunter can be caught all through the lake but better areas tend to be the deep trees weedy edges and warm shallow weedy bays. While fishing deep trees some good lure choices would be top water, cranks, lipless cranks, spinnerbaits and soft plastics. Fishing weedy edges and bays casting top water, cranks and spinnerbaits to the edge of weed or parallel is very affective, while fishing these weed edges and warm bays are the areas you will most likely come across the barramundi so my pay to have a heavier rod and reel for these areas.

Fishing up the river is also well worth it casting lures at all the big old trees in the middle and laydown logs and Lilys that line the edge.