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Updated 05/08/08

Lake Somerset Fishing

Lake Somerset is full of activity and leisure - it's up to you. Just north of Lake Wivenhoe is Lake Somerset which features powerboating, waterskiing and fishing. You can also enjoy sailing, picnics, swimming or just relaxing.

Kirkleagh provides a picturesque rural setting for camping, caravaning and day visitors. Two boat ramps are available for launching your sailing craft or your power boat for waterskiing or fishing. The Spit, for day visitors, has a boat ramp and you can cook up your catch on one of the barbecues and enjoy our famous Queensland sunshine.

Somerset Park immediately downstream of the Somerset Dam is an unique setting for camping and caravan holidays, as well as picnicing.

Lake Somerset Fishing Location

Lake Somerset Holiday Park is located on the shores of Lake Somerset, about 1 hour northwest from Brisbane Airport. It is a short 10-15 minute drive south of the nearby town of Kilcoy. It is accessed from the road that connects Kilcoy with the town of Esk.

Lake Somerset Holiday Park offers a relaxed 45 hectare family friendly environment for camping and watersports, providing unpowered sites, modern amenities, electric BBQ's, 3 boat ramps, sporting oval and a kiosk stocking drinks, snacks, ice, gas and limited grocery items.

Also available for bookings is our rustic log cabin. This cabin overlooks the lake and sleeps up to 8 persons. It has a full kitchen and bathroom as well as colour television and ceiling fans. Outside the cabin is a wood BBQ for al fresco cooking in the hotter months.

Lake Somerset is the perfect location for all your favourite watersports including fishing, waterskiing, sailing and swimming.

Well fishing alone is fine, but having a few mates along and turning the trip into a three day camp is even better. Five people and four boats later, the posse headed inland toward the dam.

The Lake itself was created to span the Stanley River Gorge as a flood buffer for the lowlands. The idea was it would also help to supply water needs to the growing population centres of the sunshine coast. The catchment area of the dam covers some 1,330 sq. km with a shoreline 240km around.
Started in 1935, construction continued until the war intervened and work stopped in 1942. The workers returned in 1948 and the last concrete pour was in 1953. When full to capacity it holds over 900,000 megalitres. Named after Henry P. Somerset, the member for Stanley back in the early 1900's, this dam has become one of the greatest freshwater fishing and trailerboat destinations in south-eastern Queensland. And for good reason as you will soon learn.

How to Get to Lake Somerset:

From the south of Brisbane you head west through Ipswich and take the Brisbane Valley Highway to Esk, then on to the small village of Somerset. From the northern areas of Brisbane head up to Caboolture, then along the D'Aguilar Highway, through Kilcoy and follow the signs to the main camping area of the lake, called Kirkleagh.
The time taken by either highway from Brisbane is about an hour and a half. The roads are all bitumen and will take all vehicles and any type of campers, trailers or caravans. Along the way you'll pass through dairy, agricultural and cattle country, all set in a rich and diverse patchwork of rolling hills, valleys and eucalypt woodland. The trip on either highway will never have you bored.
There are two main camping areas at Somerset Dam; the first and main one is at Kirkleagh, the second is near the dam wall at Somerset Park, opposite the general store. Beside the two boat ramps at Kirkleagh, there's another one at The Spit, again near the dam wall. All these ramps are concrete and cater for all size boats which are trailer launched.
Kirkleagh is a peninsular of land which juts out into the dam and covers many acres of maintained camping ground. There's room here for thousands of people to relax for up to three months at a time. When the Kirkleagh Fishing Classic is held each year around October, anglers come from all over the country and one year there were four thousand people present in the park for the weigh-ins. This is understandable when you consider the prizes on offer and the entertainment provided; it is one of the premier fishing events in Queensland.
School holidays can also become very crowded, so unless you're into throngs of people I would avoid these periods. At other times, weekdays and normal weekends, the park is much more relaxed and space is easy to find. You can pitch your tent almost anywhere within the park, although most prefer to be close to one of the five amenities blocks which house hot and cold showers, laundry facilities and power points.
There are many undercover picnic tables with BBQ facilities nearby, as well as other BBQ stands dotted throughout the park. All wood is supplied from a central heap at no charge. Many boaties like to camp right beside the water and, so long as you have a 4WD, you can launch the boat without having to use the boat ramps. The camp sites are not powered, but you are allowed to use portable generators provided you observe the curfew hours for noise.
Ice and very basic supplies can be obtained from the ranger and a small caravan kiosk on weekends, however, it's only a ten minute drive into Kilcoy where there are hotels and supermarkets.

Lake Somerset Attractions:

In the period 1996/97, over 575,000 people visited or camped at the dam. The greatest majority of them were into some form of boating activity. Fishing would be the most popular, however, certain areas have been set aside for swimming, canoeing, water skiing, jet skiing and sailing. In fact all the main watersport activities are well covered by this popular waterway.
The park is managed by the South East Qld Water Board who not only maintain the amenities in good condition, but seem to be constantly improving the facilities and re-stocking the lake. Their record of fish released into the dam since stocking started in 1988 is very impressive and one of the reasons why this dam is so popular with anglers.
This will give you some idea of the fish that's been introduced into the waters: Mary River Cod 8,824; Golden Perch 963,523; Silver Perch 745,777; Bass 398,855; Saratoga 319. Of these fish, the bass and yellowbelly are the easiest targets and are caught daily by both lure and bait anglers.

Best times to go fishing at Lake Somerset:

Most freshwater fishing is done during the summer months in south-east Queensland. The higher temperatures and barometer readings, plus the warming of the water all tend to bring the fish on the bite much better than during the colder months of the year.
However, angler comfort is another matter entirely. The lake being inland means temperatures can become unbearably hot during December, January and February with some very wild thunder storms mixed in. The winter months are just the opposite with frosts blanketing the ground and tents. The three premium months, after the cold and before the heat really sets in are September, October and November. This is quite a good time for fishing and the weather is more bearable.

Let's Go Fishing at Lake Somerset:

I know how difficult it can be for anyone going on holidays to fish a new location for the first time. You tend to spend most of your holiday trying to find bait, the channels, what type of fish are on offer and where to catch 'em.
Well I've already done the hard yards for you and if you follow along with the accompanying map (overleaf), it's going to speed up the learning curve for Somerset. Hopefully.
Any timbered areas which you see on the map and on the dam once you arrive are good places to bait fish for bass, yellowbelly, perch and cod. The best bait is live worms which can be bought from most of the small towns that you pass through on the way to the dam. Two other top baits are live shrimps and yabbies. Be sure to buy yourself a live-bait trap before coming. If you walk around the camping area of the dam beside the water you'll see areas of weed growth. These weedy areas hold the bait. A piece of meat in the trap left in the water overnight will normally give you enough bait for a days fishing. Also around the edges of the dam you'll pick up as many freshwater mussels as you want. They're not the best of baits but are handy for a stand-by issue.
I'd be fairly close to the mark when I say that 90 percent of the fish caught here are taken on lures. That's why I highly recommend you have a fish finder/depth sounder aboard. Not so much to find the fish, but to establish the depth of water under the boat so you can set your lures to suit the spot you're trolling over.
Most fish in this dam are caught between 10 and 25 feet deep. The lures that work well for me are the Mann's + range, Jaysea Patriot, Bomber, Hop Lips and Crawdad. If you've got a selection of these in the tackle box you'll catch fish here.
What is difficult about lures and the most unpredictable part of the whole fishing process, is what colour lure is the right one? The answer is, there's no best colour. Lure fishing is an exciting and experimental sport. The experimental part comes into it because you're forever changing lures depths and colours, trying to get that first hit of the day. Then when you get the magic strike you can say to yourself, I knew that one would do the trick, and feel happy with your intelligent selection. I do anyway. If you can't inflate your ego, who can? There's one other trick most of us use to find the fish. Let's say we're trolling in 25ft of water and we're looking for that first hit. Depending on your boat setup, troll three or four lines out the back and sides. Use different coloured lures, and lures which dive to different depths. For instance, you might run a pink Manns' 10+ on one rod, a Hot Lips in green that trolls at 15ft on another rod, and a Patriot in black and gold that runs between 20 and 25ft on another.
What we've got is three completely different lures covering the whole fish strike zone. By varying the distance you let the lures out behind the boat, you can raise or lower the depth of each of your lures as you go along. Another little trick is to vary your troll speed every now and again. Every five or ten minutes I'll kick the motor into neutral, count to five slowly, then knock it back into gear again. What this does is to change the swimming characteristics of your lures for a few seconds. Very often this change of pace and lure attitude induces a strike from a fish that may have been following the lure.
Once I've got the first hit of the day, (I might have tried ten different lures thus far), I'll change all my other lures to the same basic colour as the one that generated the hit and use that colour for the rest of the day. Be aware of this point though, tomorrow you'll have to go through the whole process again. What they like today, they probably won't look at the next day.

On the Lake fishing:

A detailed map showing the old river bed of the Stanley River can be obtained from the Ranger's office at The Spit. This map is very helpful for locating the drop-offs that fish tend to live near. However, read on and follow the map for an overview.
The first place worth a try are the trees north of the Kirkleagh boat ramp. Lures or bait will take bass, yellowbelly and a few cod here. Be warned though, it's a lure loser's Mecca.
A Tackleback lure retriever is a must here if you don't want to waste a fortune in lures. If you want to catch fish in this area though, you have to have your baits or lures right in amongst the timber.
The next spot is the very best of all for me. This is where I catch most of my fish every time I visit the dam, but I'll keep it for last.
Heading south from Kirkleagh is Queen Street. I would imagine its name has been derived because of the number of boats that can be found in this small area when the fish are on the chew. It is a noted fish producing area for both lure and bait anglers.
South from Queen Street you will see many other names and red dotted lines on the map. All of these places produce fish at some time or another. If you're not having luck in one spot, try another. Brad's Bank, The Hump and rocky cliff's opposite The Spit are the favourite haunts of Hank, a mate of mine who catches more fish than anyone else I know.
The Eagle Nest is a long cliff dotted here and there with trees where Eric, another fishing buddy, consistently takes good yellowbelly and bass using purple coloured lures. But for me the
place with the best results is just across from the Kirkleagh spit. It's called Ivor's Area (that's me). Only joking, it doesn't have a name, but that's what I call it!
The old river bed comes across the lake from the Kirkleagh peninsular and in against the rocky headland on the opposite bank. If you troll your lures, criss-crossing the area, they'll be over a bottom that rises and falls from 40ft to 10ft of the surface. I like to troll from Kirkleagh over to the rocks and down toward Queen Street. My best results are always in about 15/20ft of water.
I've taken Bass, Yellowbelly and Mary River Cod from this area on a regular basis and if I can't catch a fish anywhere else in the lake, I always end up back here.
Well that's about it. As I said earlier on, this destination has it all; great camping, all manner of water sport opportunities and great new friends to meet. But above all, it's a great place for the trailer boat fisherman to visit and enjoy.

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