Borumba Dam Tag-a-Long

Borumba Dam

By Helen Johnson

After a week in NSW having endured rain, sleet (form of rain before snow) and wind, we decided to return to Qld to finish off our last week of holidays. On our way home we decided to call in and look at the Borumba Dam. This is a stocked impoundment which is located 12 km SW of Imbil. This little country town is well worth the visit with its historical history, having the Steam train (Valley Rattler) traveling to the town twice a week on Wednesday and Sunday from Gympie to Imbil and back.

One of the other inhabitants of the lake  Swimming Hole

The Dam is stocked with Australian Bass, Golden Perch, Silver Perch Southern Saratoga, Mary River Cod, Eel-tailed Catfish and Spangled Perch. (Stock Impoundment Permit is required) For those who like Red Claw, the lake is also home to these crustaceans. It was built in 1964 and has a surface area of 500 ha. Average Depth is 6.6 M comes from the Yabba Creek river system and is used for irrigation.

We called in to the Fishing Shop at Imbil which is run by a gentleman called Graham and he gave us plenty of information and maps of the Dam, along with the weather for the next couple of days. Having the dog, we were able to stay at the Borumba Deer Park, which is located 2km below the Dam Wall. All sorts of accommodation are available, Powered Sites, On-Site vans and Self-contained Cabins. Camp kitchen in large undercover area, Tank water available, hire boats and Canoes and there is plenty of room for the kids to run wild, swimming and feed the deer.
Neighbouring Deer Park   Deluxe Cabins  

We arrived midday and set up camp early, giving us time to put the boat on the dam for a quick trip around and have a look at the facilities. There is one main ramp and one that is short and has loose rock which is ok for small tinnies, however this ramp takes a lot of bigger ski boats and the angle is steep. The parking is limited, but for the weekend we were there everyone found parking. The water was high due to the latest down pour the week prior and water was trickling over the spillway.

The water temperature was just starting to rise, which is apparently good for the fishing. We ventured up into some great looking country were there was plenty of timber and rock walls, but our fishing was not so good. We tried bait, plastics and fly to no avail but it was early days and there is always another day. The evening was spent watching the deer in the paddock beside us and telling the dog that they are not toys to chase, as there were 3-4 roaming around freely about the camp sites, Zoe couldn’t understand. By the end of our stay she was use to them.

Camp Kitchen  Local Wildlife  

The next day was up to the lake to explore and try all types of fishing but all we could manage was Eeltailed Catfish and one nice small Silver Perch. This fish took a bunch of worms jigged under the boat. Good fight for such a little fish. They grow quite big in the dam and are known to take lures as well . We travelled well up into the Yabba creek arm to no avail but the scenery was great. Watched a herd of wild deer roaming about the timbered country comes right down to the waters edge. The back country holds lots of dead timber and lilly pad areas which are great Saratoga country. The dam is full of live bait namely Boney Bream along with a lot of insect larvae we found on the t Trees we tied up to. We didn’t manage to get up the other arm of the dam called the Kingaham Arm, due to time and the weather was meant to turn for the worse. We trolled the main basin edges and fished deep in the main catchment but was not successful. Being a weekend we had to contend with the water-skis and jetskies, but they stayed in the lower half of the dam.

This dam fishes well when the water temps are right and there is less traffic around on the water, Graham said “most successful fishing is done between the weekends”. But if you get up into the back water it is just as good then.
Yabba Creek  View up the dam

As you can see the scenery is great. This is looking up one of the small bays we fished in the Yabba Creek arm. Great Toga country due to the lilly pads and timber in the area.

This is a map of the Borumba dam courtesy of the AFN Fishing & Camping Queensland Dams book by Rod Harrison. If you call into the Fishing Tackle Shop in Imbil George can give you maps as well. At present the Club is looking to have a Tagalong on the weekend prior to Easter next year. Making it the 15th, 16th and 17th of April 2011. Hope everyone can come along!

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