Fishing & Aquaculture

		Angling Waters of the Mitta Mitta Basin 1 West
			MITTA MITTA BASIN MAP (PDF 118Kb)
			BANIMBOOLA CREEK
			BANIMBOOLA LAKE
			BUNDARRA RIVER
			COBUNGRA RIVER
			DART RIVER
			DARTMOUTH LAKE
			DRY FOREST CREEK
			GIBBO RIVER
			HUME LAKE
			JIM AND JACK CREEK
			LITTLE SNOWY CREEK
			LIVINGSTON CREEK
			MITTA MITTA RIVER
			MORASS CREEK
			MURRAY RIVER (NSW)
			OMEO LAKE
			SANDY CREEK
			SANDY CREEK RESERVOIR
			SNOWY CREEK
			TALLANGATTA CREEK

A Guide to the Inland Angling Waters of Victoria
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Mitta Mitta Basin 1 West
MANAGEMENT | DIVERSIONS | HERITAGE | FISH STOCKING | BEST FISHING WATERS | THREATENED FISH | ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS

Macquarie perch from Lake Dartmouth

The Basin is mostly steep mountains or hills with extensive forest covering about 70% of the area. The upper reaches of the Mitta Mitta River, including its tributaries, drain from the High Plains through deeply dissected forests.

The Mitta Mitta River then flows for 70km through forest, Lake Dartmouth and then a wide valley to Lake Hume. Lake Dartmouth, situated in the middle reaches of the river and in the centre of the Basin, influences all flow downstream to Lake Hume. Most of the Basin has a mean annual rainfall over 700mm with rainfall increasing with elevation to 2,400mm at Mt. Bogong.

Two lakes (Hume and Dartmouth) are noted fishing waters providing angling and other recreational activities. Two rivers (Bundarra and Cobungra) are well known brown trout streams. There is good access by conventional vehicles to the two lakes and the lower reaches of the Mitta Mitta River but other locations may require 4WD vehicles or walking.

Management

Fisheries Victoria, DPI, manages stocking and fisheries policy. Northern Fisheries, DPI, manages compliance with fisheries regulations and angler contact. The Victorian Inland Fisheries Strategy has listed Lake Dartmouth, Lake Hume, and the entire length of the Mitta Mitta River as mixed species fisheries and Bundarra and Cobungra Rivers as salmonid waters.

The North East Catchment Management Authority is responsible for catchment management. The Goulburn-Murray Water Authority manages irrigation and rural diversion. The North East Region Water Authority manages urban demand. No Streamflow Management Plans are currently being prepared for any waters in this Basin.

Diversions

Water is diverted from Mt Tabor Creek into a 110ML reservoir then to Dartmouth township. Pumped from Lake Hume to Tallangatta and Bellbridge. Water from the Mitta Mitta River is stored in Lake Dartmouth and Lake Hume.

Heritage River Areas, Natural Catchment Areas and Representative Rivers

The Mitta Mitta River from Glen Valley to Lake Dartmouth has been listed as a Heritage River Area. The Upper Big River (above Glen Valley) and Snowy Creek (below Granite Flat) are listed as Representative Rivers of East Victorian dissected uplands. Mount Tabor Creek and Banimboola Creek have been listed as Natural Catchment Areas.

Ramsar Sites

None in this Basin

Fish Stocking

The Department of Primary Industries' (DPI) fish stocking program is designed to enhance recreational fishing opportunities for:

• Desirable introduced species such as brown trout, rainbow trout, Chinook salmon and Atlantic salmon, and
• Desirable native fish species such as golden perch, Murray cod, Australian bass and silver perch.

Stocking Plans for desirable species are developed annually as part of the regional consultation process involving VRFish representatives and various arms of DPI including Fisheries Victoria and Primary Industries Research Victoria (PIRVic).

Up to date information can be found on the Fish Stocking section in Fisheries and Aquaculture.

Best Fishing Waters

Freshwater Fish in the Basin

* The broad-finned galaxias are native to coastal catchments. They are believed to have entered the northern catchments via the Snowy River Scheme.

The Murray spiny crayfish, Euastacus armatus, is present in the Basin.

Threatened Fish Species

The Department of Sustainability and Environment has listed trout cod as Critically Endangered, Macquarie perch as Endangered, Murray cod and golden perch as Vulnerable and the flat-headed galaxias as Data Deficient. Murray cod, trout cod, Macquarie perch, Murray spiny crayfish and the Lowland Riverine Fish Community of the Southern Murray-Darling Basin have been listed under the Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act 1988.

Environmental Condition of Waterways

Most of the waterways are in good to excellent condition. However Livingstone Creek at Omeo and some sites in the lower Mitta Mitta River, are only in moderate condition, while Tallangatta Creek and some other smaller tributaries near Lake Hume are in poor to very poor condition.

The most common reason for poor environmental condition is that the banks have been cleared of native vegetation and/or damaged by stock. Despite this, habitat for aquatic biota is generally very good throughout the Basin. A major change occurred in the lower Mitta Mitta River as a result of construction and operation of Lake Dartmouth. The natural flow regime was altered from low summer and high winter flows, to prolonged periods of low flow during winter/spring when the lake filled, then bank full flows during the normal low flow summer period.

The normal water temperature regime was also changed to cold water temperatures, which are as much as 10^oC lower than normal during summer. This has resulted in a failure of native fish such as Murray cod and Macquarie perch to spawn in the river downstream of Lake Dartmouth. Departmental surveys (1992/93) failed to find either of these two species present and concluded that the section of the river downstream from Lake Dartmouth has been changed from a warmwater, native fish environment to a coldwater trout stream.

© The State of Victoria