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The local buzz is that he new hatchery in Gladstone that is located at Lake Awoonga is now up and running and has in fact done its first stocking of Barramundi fry in recent weeks.

My sources tell me that 200,00 fry were stocked in May and the intention is to stock 1 million fry by Christmas.

Being fry that means there will be a relatively high attrition rate due to predation by shags and larger fish including both Barra and Catfish but it’s a start and from 2023 onward we should start seeing some of those fingerlings getting up to 30cm in size and even taking some smaller lures, flies, Soft plastics etc.

Mangrove Jack are also being raised at the hatchery and apparently, we can expect 200,00 fry being released as soon as possible and ongoing releases hopefully giving Lake Awoonga a daytime species to target.

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