TCD - new owners and access

[luderick -angler]

Hi raiders,

If you do not know TCD has new owners,. If you are not aware anglers have conmer close to losing access whilst under the old owners due to negligence in following conditions of entry, the below is qouted verbatim and I have been given permission by the writer to use this as it was kindly passed on by email. If we as anglers do not follow the rules it is most likely we will be locked out. The following goes

"I am one of the primaries on this and did a lot of work on the new agreement. The agreement gets reviewed every 5 years with an out for the owners (new or old) to revoke access if the conditions of entry are ignored at any time. Even while preparing the agreement anglers were constantly ignoring the entry conditions. Imagine how hard that was to put the case across for angler access at the same time they were ignoring the current conditions of entry ... The agreement is very specific and has fisheries closures in there as well.

The fisheries rules (not limited to )

No fishing off the wall
Fly & lure only
Fishing from 1 hr before sunrise to 4 hrs after Sunset.

Conditions of entry

No fishing off the wall
One point of entry - Willow Vale Road
No Dogs, Fires, Swimming , Boats , Float tubes, digging, extraction of anything other than fish (withing regs)
No interference with infrastructure
Did I mention Single point of entry !
No Litter

And a few others ..

Its simple if anglers break the conditions of entry then they run the risk of closing it down forever. I cant argue that anglers will do the right thing for the upteenth time with the owners anymore. Even when an angler entered from the forest fell off the wall and broke his leg I had to do some fast talking, the result is a formal fisheries closure of the wall and 12 months extra on the agreements signoff.

What can you do ? Report all incidents of bait fishing or fishing off the wall to the Bathurst fisheries office ph 02 6331 1428. With the other conditions report to angler.access@industry.nsw.gov.auor 0260424214 add as much detail as you can even send in a phone picture if possible. If you encounter other (non fishing) users on the site report to Delta security.

Anglers are the only group allowed access to the dam cherish the opportunity and remember that that guy fishing off the wall or coming in through the forest will blow it for everyone. The new owners purchased the place to make money not friends ...

Remember .....ONE POINT OF ENTRY ! DONT FISH OFF THE WALL think I am kidding we are that close already"

Cheerrs all hope this is useful

[jimnicdusty]

sad to say but the people doing the wrong thing wont care if the dam is closed they will fish it any way.

[Matt]

It would be an absolute travesty if we lose access to this Dam due to our own actions, and its not just a small minority. The amount of time I have seen people on the wall, coming in the back way or found where people have been bait fishing is astonishing.

Well done Luderick for bringing this up. We have to make the effort to obey the rules or we will lose NSWs best trophy Trout lake. With continued pushes to lock anglers out of all sorts of places we can ill afford to shoot ourselves in the foot by locking ourselves out.

Windy

[luderick -angler]

Windy,

All we can do as anglers is be vigilant report breaches of the conditions of entry and be mindful of our own actions.

I was kindly given permission to post this info to make more people aware of the dire situation we face in losing access. I for one will not be backwards in approaching people breaking the conditions but I won't be aggressive either a polite request and if ignored a happy snap with the iPhone and a phone call to the relevant number. As al said the owners are there to make money and it's a privilege we can ill afford to lose access.

[luderick -angler]

I'd like to credit Al with the text in blue on the original post as he is the man responsible for getting us all access and continued access without him we would not be fishing this waterway so a big thank you to his efforts and for allowing me use of his words.

[Guest]

I would be happy to pay a once yearly sum to have access and that could also help with the re-stocking perhaps.

[foolforjesus]

Hi Raiders,

To add to what Royce has very timely pointed out, I have seen several cars full of anglers arrive over the so called "back entrance" behind the quarry over the past month.

I have also witnessed fires, with several "fireplaces" present around the banks of the dam, which I have tried to dismantle.

The amount of litter that I have seen around the place, especially the quarry has been very bad.

The amount of fishing line left tangled up in a mess on the banks too has been appalling.

If you or I see any of the above mentioned, if we could do our best to pick it up it would certainly be a good thing for us all.

What this kind of activity highlights is the people responsible really don't care for the place and have no respect for the rules.

I know someone whom works for Delta who told me that if we see any irresponsible activities to contact the fisheries officer Pat on- 0488 220 443.

There is also going to be new signage put up around the so called "back entrance", stating that the dam has only the one point of entry via the car park on Willow vale Road.

At the end of the day, fishing is supposed to be enjoyed, and like Royce said, a polite word should be all it will take to enlighten anyone doing the wrong thing.

I was actually talking with a nice young bloke, fishing, whom brought a push bike up to the dam not too long ago. I politely advised him that your not allowed to bring in a push bike. He was very apologetic and sincere, and said he wouldn't do it again.

Tight Lines!

[luderick -angler]

It's not about paying a fee it's about irresponsible angler behaviour an alternate would be the Victorian approach you need a day permit by registering your details with the owner or dpi and you produce said permit along with your fishing license no permit your asked to leave caught doing the wrong thing your fined at least with a permit they know who's there and when!!!! If you breach conditions of the permit your banned from obtaining one it could go a long way to solving problems!

[Matt]

I agree it will go a long way to solving the problem, but I have to admit I feel very uneasy about permits. It goes down the same road as that seen in Europe where nearly every piece of water is owned and requires permits. Whats to say that the other big Hydro companies like SMA and the ones in Tassie decide they would like to do the same thing? Imagine showing up to Eucumbene and requiring a permit! Extreme I know.

Windy

[SargeRX8]

I cant find this Willow vale Road or the car park. If someone here can take a whereis.com link to where the car park is that would be great. I really wanna give this place a try during the next week or so.

[luderick -angler]

Mate head out of wallerwarang on pipers flat road till you get to the cemetery and turn left opposite the cemetery that will take you to the access gate. Hope this helps.

[luderick -angler]

Matt in regards to a permit system it should not regulate how many people access a Sam or water but is basically a condition of use and you acknowledge that as you do for your license it is an addition to the license for a private water and the owners own set of rules adjacent to dpi works elsewhere why not TCD? Just a thought! Ps we should catc up for a session on the fly I have sage sp 5 weight I just acquired a magic rod and it needs a trout!

[Matt]

We should indeed catch up for a session, I have been waiting for the real cold to hit before heading up to TCD. Always find it fishes better when the weather is at its worst. Sage 5wt sounds awesome, I have been looking for a 6 or 7 for my lake work, my 5 doesnt handle larger Woolly Buggers or any with a bead head very well. Which is a shame as my favourite searching Fly is a Black/Olive Bead Head MkII Woolly.

Looking forward to opening weekend too, even though it is a while off!

Windy

[luderick -angler]

Matt pm me your number I can possibly put you on to a good second hand rod!

[jimmy72]

here here and credit to Al for his work.. (what a job hey? he works for fisheries - trying to help us ).

if you are interested Al is also working on keeping access to many rivers via public roads (that are/were going to be sold to adjoining land owners, blocked with illegal signage, leased illegally to others , or just illegally padlocked) , and thus no perceived legal access for the fisherman when he stumples upon the gate or sign in his pursuit of new waters to fish. Al is physically putting up signs, and cutting illegal locks on gates and providing resources for us to know what roads we can use to access a river legally. (keeping to the river bed once you get there means we wont be trespassing ).

a lot of the access roads run straight though private property and are little used by anyone despite getting you to the rivers edge, they dont feature in forums cause the old guys that know about them 'don't do internet' , or dont fish anymore and the farmers seem to take over at some point in time with locking gates, incorrect no trespassing signs etc. then when the road is not used they can then be bought off the Govt so access is then lost for ever !

google this and sign if river access is importance to you " transparency for governments plan to sell unformed roads in nsw" - lets try keep what we have !

we have all probably done exploratory missions only to get turned back within a few kms or even within 100's of metres of the rivers by locked gates and "private property" , or " trespassers ill be prostituted " ;-) sign..... but now with Al's info you can now find out if its a load of rubbish and we could have got to the river down there legally. ( it doe nt mean the farmers wont still give you a spray, but least if you can call their bluff you might have a fish)

i think you can use the email address in the original post to get more info on the access -- part of me want to keep it all secret and fish secretively the access points i have found out about on the these rivers, but thats how we lost control and use in the first place.

cheers..

sorry hope this is not a hijack

grant

Edited August 6, 2013 by jimmy72

[luderick -angler]

Jimmy glad you brought this up I know of Al's work and this is all relevant to the cause thanks for adding to the info he so generously provided to me! The man is a dead set legend I have never met or spoken to him but his efforts championing access for freshwater anglers is off the highest quality the man deserves a clap and coldie!!!! And no you have not hijacked you just expanded cheers!

Edited August 6, 2013 by luderick -angler

[Tinman_zx10r]

Wow that's great info on TCD luderick angler will keep an eye out next time I'm out there

Thien

[BAYMAN]

Went there for a try today no luck. There needs to be a large sign at the entry to notify anglers of the no fishing on the Dam wall the small signs on the top of the dam could be very easily missed.