Fishing in Orange: Suma Park Dam, Lake Canobolas or Gosling Creek could opened to recreational reel-casters

Suma Park Dam, Lake Canobolas, and Gosling Creek are the primary sites under consideration by Orange City Council for reel-casting.

The vast water bodies are believed to contain Rainbow Trout, Golden Perch, Murray Cod, Silver Perch, Brown Trout, and Redfin Perch.

Councillors Steven Peterson and Jack Evans requested information on "the feasibility and impacts of fishing in Suma Park Dam" in May, 2022.

An ongoing review was confirmed by council this month. When asked about its status, a spokesperson said: "This will be subject of a report ... at a later meeting."

Cr. Peterson told the Central Western Daily his request was lodged to help capitalise on possible government grants for camping and fishing infrastructure such as jetties.

"I want to know if we have a business case to be prepared, so if such an opportunity turned up we could try to use that funding," Peterson said.

"Suma Park Dam is big, but its not any more valuable than any of the other water sources ... it could be any of those - if there's a jetty and a place for rubbish people could put that to good use."

A federal grant is not currently available, but Peterson said: "I'm imaging it'll come back ... I want to know is it possible and are there other areas were have to consider ... then we can have a plan ready to go."

Canberra, Tamworth, and Bathurst currently allow recreational fishing in their primary drinking-water reservoirs. All say they do so without compromising water safety.

The possibility of permitting recreational fishing in Suma Park Dam was explored by council in 2018. It's unclear why plans did not progress at the time.

Orange's Ploughmans Wetlands were recently opened to fishermen, but reports of "environmental vandalism" this year drew controversy.

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