Mary river,Conondale region

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Further to a location report by Novice back in October I did a bit of an exploratory paddle on the Mary river up and downstream from the bridge this morning hoping to catch a bass. No bass were raised but an abundance of platypus and some nice rocky sections made for a pleasant paddle. Photos (1)looking downstream from the bridge;(2)looking upstream;(3)the sandy launch by the eastern right side of the bridge;(4)the bridge looking downstream with flood debris evident. I read in todays paper this bridge will be replaced in 2012.

[Member]

Further upstream the river remains fairly shallow 2-3 feet with a rocky/sandy bottom and small areas of weed. Not alot of snags are evident those that are there are very tight to the bank. This section had three platypus feeding over an area of about 100 metres one of which was very curious coming within 6 metres eyeing me off cautiously.

[Member]

At the top of the first long pool above the bridge the river shallows into a rocky portage leading up to some deeper pools through some boulder strewn reaches. Alot of flood debris covers the side banks with the eastern bank partially developed by property owners and many water pumps in the river. The passage further up is blocked by a fence built at water level across the river.

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Top stuff 

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Downstream of the bridge cattle were seen in the river and algae growth on the rocks through the shallow sections suggests the nutrient load is higher through this section. I dragged the yak for a hundred metres or so then just walked the rest not before getting zapped by an electric fence wire that stretched across the river. The portage lasts a few hundred metres then looks like it opens up again but I suspect it is still shallow further down. The righthand bank shows evidence of severe erosion from last seasons floods. This section I will explore another day. Pat.

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Bloody nice looking spot.

Pity bout no fish but that is great looking water.

[Member]

Awesome country...thanks for sharing the pictures.

Did you stop when you came to the fence or push under / around / over it? Was a few electric fences up the Dumaresq River last week, we just pushed them down & glided the kayaks over them.

fitz..

[Member]

G'Day Fitzy the fence upstream you probably could have held it up and pushed under but I only saw it from about 100m or so away as at that point I had already walked a few hundred metres over flood debris just with my spin rod and spinnerbait working the pools. With a bit more effort you could drag your yak up to the pool that the fence is at the top of but at that stage I decided to turn around and explore below the bridge. The electric fence was about 150 metres downstream from the bridge ,very hard to see being pale blue in colour and single strand (very taut too). It is about half way between belly and chest height in a section that you have to walk the yak. I got zapped twice once loosing my footing as I prepared to get under instinctively grabbing it for support BAM !!! then as I bent down to go under it touched my back which hurt even more - glad I didn't have a pacemaker Cheers Pat. ---here's the electric fence pic again.