Lake Tinaroo

Lake Tinaroo is a dam built on the Atherton Tableands, Far North Queensland, in the mid 1950's. Many rivers and creeks drain into this basin, including the Barron river, Mazlin creek and Peterson creek. Being 3 quarters of the size of Sydney Harbour, It holds up to 233 000 cubic meters of water, and is responsible for irrigation and drinking water for the towns surrounding it. Despite this being its main function, it provides many opportunities for recreational activities, including skiing, fishing, sailing, bird watching and swimming.

Lake Tinaroo Sunrise

Irrigiation

The lake provides a source of water to an immense area of land and is imperative for farms and towns. Every year, it is drained of around 200 000 ML which is distributed over an area spanning almost 415 square kilometers.

Water sports

Tinaroo has a surface area of over 8 500 hectares, and is perfect for many water sports including skiing, jet skiing, wake boarding, knee boarding and tubing. Sheltered by many rugged hills and mountains, including the Gillies Mountain Range, there are many calm sheltered areas on the lake that make it perfect for these activities. The lack of any dangerous animals and the numerous in this area further adds to its attraction.

Fishing

A large variety of fish species inhabit lake tinaroo, including barramundi, sooty grunter, catfish, banded grunter, archer fishand mouth almighty. Of these fish, the barramundi is by far the most iconic, and is know to grow to incredible sizes in the lake due to its lake of predators. Tinaroo holds many world records for this fish, making them a very popular target for anglers. Sooty grunter are also a renowned sportsfish and grow to enormous sizes here.

One of the larger barramundi specimens, measuring 109cm

Sooty grunter are a popular sportsfish

Animal Viewing

Due Lake Tinaroo being a massive ecosystem, there are naturally a massive variety of animals that are unique to the area. Tinaroo hosts many bird species and land animals in the surrounding forests. Ospreys, cormorants, parrots, ducks and more can be viewed at this exotic location. It is also possible to see the rare tree kangaroo near the water.