Archive 2012:
How much water is in Lake Tyers?
How
deep, or what is the lake level at?
It is relatively difficult to say what the level of
a small-ish lake is when there there is
no "mean tide" level to work against. So what ever is given here
is just general advice and needs to be qualified by any local
experience you can glean when visiting.
15th November 2012: The sandbar is pretty well complete at the moment and the lake is closed. There is more water than usual after this last opening and launching boats at the ramps (other than #1 which needs a lot of water to be functional), is fairly easy going. The lake water may seep out through the bar until it is at the mean tide level (where on average water seeping out equals water seeping in over a tidal period) and lower a bit during this time if no further rains occur.
20th September 2012: There has been a rapid build up of green algae (not the toxic blue green algae) out on the shallow water of the lower lake where the water is probably being heated quickly and promoting the fast algal growth, otherwise known as a bloom. Based on previous years observations this stringy form of algae will be clumped up the wind and form big blobs of it, and then movingit around on the lake. It may stink a bit then it gets washed up on the shore, but otherwise it contributes a major constructive link to the food chain, providing a haven for the small organisms and the fish fry that feed on them.
5th September 2012: The lake is still flushing to some extent with the tides and has not changed much in the last two months. There is quite a bit of debris, such as branches, that have come in on the tide having been washed off the beach further south of the entrance littered around the channel. This time of the year is when the Prawn larvae come down in the warm eastern currents and settle in the lake, so it is becoming increasingly likely that catching Prawns in the lake will continue for another few years.
15th July 2012: Lake showing no signs of closing over permanently at this stage, so levels are at lowest point, but I thought I would add this photo just for fun to contrast its very low point right now, with an earlier photo of what happens at Number 2 Jetty when the level gets high!!! :-) How to get back onto dry land to fetch the trailer for the boat and not get wet!!! P.S. Jan 2013: This should no longer occur as the two floating jetties have self leveling ramps now.
9 June 2012: The lake has emptied to its usual lowest point over the last few days and the entrance is tidal.
5/6th June 2012: First of all apologies as we have had to electricity for 26hours to update the site and deliver any content. I know we have a dedicated band of followers and the site hits peak visits around this time, that is when the lake is about to open. The lake has dropped slightly but doen not seem to have cut a big quick channel due to the high tides and extreme onshore gale winds pushing the tide up and keeping it up. Current height at 11am this morning (and from my lounge room window) has not changed all day is shown with the photo below. Check out Openings as well for more photos. Tuesday lunchtime....
So a bit more of the path to the surf has been exposed but no great channel and a quick drop, this may or may not change with low tides tonight. And 6th June 2012 Wednesday lunchtime it looks like this....
A bit messy but it will clean
up easy enough. Most of it has been blown there by the SSE winds
from the storm.
14th May 2012: The lake has peaked at the moment and lowered by 100mm to 150mm and reduced the likelyhood of a natural opening or the need to be opened artificially.The path from the Tavern car park to the beach is just covered and un-usable.
16 March 2012: The following photo says it all about the depth. Check the photo at the end of this www page for the depth approximately 11 months ago to see what it was like about 5 weeks ago. We have had a lot of rain!!!
11 March 2012: The flows into the lake have made a big difference. The photograph below will give anyone who has walked from the Tavern car park to the beach along the little pathway to the beach how high the lake is. Apparently these people caught a good haul of Flathead from this point.
30th December 2011: The lake has closed over and has a hefty sandbar in place. Very high tides, pushed by a strong southerly, might just run some sea water into the lake, but for all intensive purposes it is closed. The sand will continue to be a porous barrier and the lake will stabilise at mean tide levels over the next few months until it clocgs with detritus from the lake and begins to hold water and fill again. The fishers don't mind as the fishing is quite good by now, some would say very good. Nor do the families of swimmers, as it has created a little meander into the sandbar filled with lovely clean water.
29th October 2011: The lake is only just open and exchange of water with the sea really only occuring at high tide. In the next couple of weeks it will probably close over unless there is a surge of rain to cut it out again. The water level is a good height, though much lower than flood levels, but higer than the average tide level which what is will settle to when the sand bar closes over. Until then make the most of it.
15th August 2011: Lake Tyers is still open to the sea and the water moving through the mouth is showing signs of clearing. The channel is still allowing a lot of tidal movement and is showing no signs of closing over at present.
11th August 2011: The lake levels rose again overnight with significant rainfall in the Gippsland region, resulting in the lake opening to the ocean. The lake has dropped to below normal levels now and it's quite any easy walk around to the main beach from the Tavern. The breach began with a 30 m channel early in the morning and widened to 100 m+ by 4pm when this photo was taken. Many of the locals were down to witness the lake water pouring out to sea. A number of fishermen where taking the oppotunity to try their luck in the channel. As there was no rush to join in, we assume that little was caught by the early opportunists. However, one local said there will be good fishing at the mouth when the system settles down. Get those rods out folks as the weekend forecast is looking good. (Report by Mr W 2.0)
26 July 2011: There has been a little more rain, but incoming water is mainly from the down flow of the recent rain in the catchment area above Scrubby Creek, slowly pushing the lake up. Here is a photo for David showing the view from the front of the Tavern at dusk. As he will be able to see, plenty of windsurfing area here now, but for how long?
22 July 2011: Lake is filling
quickly, but still away off opening. However you can see the
floating jetty is about level and fixed jetty is now under water,
so it has risen this much in exactly 48 hours!!! Checking the
level tonight it has not risen much more after another 12 hours, so may
have stabilised.
Below is how high it was last time it went. We have a little way
yet to go. 29th November 2009
20 July 2011: Very consistent falls over many days, with very little let up. The level is getting close to the break through point, though a little way off yet as far as I can see. The rubbish bins in Tavern car park are not floating yet, nor is the fish identification chart under water yet. Could be a little way off yet. It would be nice ot have this level over a summer. We live in hope.
19 June 2011: Considerable
rain has fallen in the catchment area and the lake has risen
significantly. I made it to be 36mm here at the LTB, maybe
considerably more in the headwaters. Anyway the lake is starting
to hit prime depth at the moment, however a bit cold for many fish.
(note the bottom rung under the jetty is well and truly covered)
15th April 2011: Some quite
heavy falls have maintained the level of the lake at about what is
shown below, about 100mm (6") below the lower rail on the jetty.
We could have hoped for a slight lifting of the level with the
amount of rain we have had in East Gippsland, but maybe it just hasn't
fallen in the lake's catchment area.
27 February 2011: Occasional falls in the headwaters of 20 to 30mm but not enough to top the lake up. It has been steadily declining since mid December 2010, probably a drop or 15-20mm.
21 January 2011:
A bit of scattered rain, in 5 to 10mm lots. The lake has fallen about
80mm over the last month or so. Probably due to evaporation off
the lake and
leakage across the bar.
23rd December 2012: The level of the lake has been keep up
by
recent rains, but is dropping quickly at the moment to the "very low"
level without these occasional inputs of water. The bar is too
high for tides to wash in, so the lake till will be losing water
through evaporation, and seepage through the bar. The extensive
sand shallows in the bottom section of the main lake are only 400-500mm
and only just navigable with smaller boats. However on the plus side
the quality of water is good without much algae and water temperature
rising.
15th November 2012: The sandbar is pretty well complete at the moment and the lake is closed. There is more water than usual after this last opening and launching boats at the ramps (other than #1 which needs a lot of water to be functional), is fairly easy going. The lake water may seep out through the bar until it is at the mean tide level (where on average water seeping out equals water seeping in over a tidal period) and lower a bit during this time if no further rains occur.
20th September 2012: There has been a rapid build up of green algae (not the toxic blue green algae) out on the shallow water of the lower lake where the water is probably being heated quickly and promoting the fast algal growth, otherwise known as a bloom. Based on previous years observations this stringy form of algae will be clumped up the wind and form big blobs of it, and then movingit around on the lake. It may stink a bit then it gets washed up on the shore, but otherwise it contributes a major constructive link to the food chain, providing a haven for the small organisms and the fish fry that feed on them.
5th September 2012: The lake is still flushing to some extent with the tides and has not changed much in the last two months. There is quite a bit of debris, such as branches, that have come in on the tide having been washed off the beach further south of the entrance littered around the channel. This time of the year is when the Prawn larvae come down in the warm eastern currents and settle in the lake, so it is becoming increasingly likely that catching Prawns in the lake will continue for another few years.
15th July 2012: Lake showing no signs of closing over permanently at this stage, so levels are at lowest point, but I thought I would add this photo just for fun to contrast its very low point right now, with an earlier photo of what happens at Number 2 Jetty when the level gets high!!! :-) How to get back onto dry land to fetch the trailer for the boat and not get wet!!! P.S. Jan 2013: This should no longer occur as the two floating jetties have self leveling ramps now.
9 June 2012: The lake has emptied to its usual lowest point over the last few days and the entrance is tidal.
5/6th June 2012: First of all apologies as we have had to electricity for 26hours to update the site and deliver any content. I know we have a dedicated band of followers and the site hits peak visits around this time, that is when the lake is about to open. The lake has dropped slightly but doen not seem to have cut a big quick channel due to the high tides and extreme onshore gale winds pushing the tide up and keeping it up. Current height at 11am this morning (and from my lounge room window) has not changed all day is shown with the photo below. Check out Openings as well for more photos. Tuesday lunchtime....
So a bit more of the path to the surf has been exposed but no great channel and a quick drop, this may or may not change with low tides tonight. And 6th June 2012 Wednesday lunchtime it looks like this....
A bit messy but it will clean
up easy enough. Most of it has been blown there by the SSE winds
from the storm.14th May 2012: The lake has peaked at the moment and lowered by 100mm to 150mm and reduced the likelyhood of a natural opening or the need to be opened artificially.The path from the Tavern car park to the beach is just covered and un-usable.
16 March 2012: The following photo says it all about the depth. Check the photo at the end of this www page for the depth approximately 11 months ago to see what it was like about 5 weeks ago. We have had a lot of rain!!!
11 March 2012: The flows into the lake have made a big difference. The photograph below will give anyone who has walked from the Tavern car park to the beach along the little pathway to the beach how high the lake is. Apparently these people caught a good haul of Flathead from this point.
 |
6rd March 2012: Well rains from the "big wet" for SE Australia are helping fill the lake here. Continual rain or showers with overcast skies has kept the ground damp and the runoff high. The lake has risen in the order of 300mm and about steady. The lake is equal to the the middle rung of the wooden jetty. Boggy Creek, the main tributary for the lake is running high and steady, and will do so for a number of days to come. The froth would indicate some significant falls or either rapids further back up stream. |
| Leakage through the sandbar will probably see this dissipate somewhat before Easter, but will no doubt have some effect on the fishing regardless. News so far is encouraging with Bream and Flathead still being caught. |
30th December 2011: The lake has closed over and has a hefty sandbar in place. Very high tides, pushed by a strong southerly, might just run some sea water into the lake, but for all intensive purposes it is closed. The sand will continue to be a porous barrier and the lake will stabilise at mean tide levels over the next few months until it clocgs with detritus from the lake and begins to hold water and fill again. The fishers don't mind as the fishing is quite good by now, some would say very good. Nor do the families of swimmers, as it has created a little meander into the sandbar filled with lovely clean water.
29th October 2011: The lake is only just open and exchange of water with the sea really only occuring at high tide. In the next couple of weeks it will probably close over unless there is a surge of rain to cut it out again. The water level is a good height, though much lower than flood levels, but higer than the average tide level which what is will settle to when the sand bar closes over. Until then make the most of it.
15th August 2011: Lake Tyers is still open to the sea and the water moving through the mouth is showing signs of clearing. The channel is still allowing a lot of tidal movement and is showing no signs of closing over at present.
11th August 2011: The lake levels rose again overnight with significant rainfall in the Gippsland region, resulting in the lake opening to the ocean. The lake has dropped to below normal levels now and it's quite any easy walk around to the main beach from the Tavern. The breach began with a 30 m channel early in the morning and widened to 100 m+ by 4pm when this photo was taken. Many of the locals were down to witness the lake water pouring out to sea. A number of fishermen where taking the oppotunity to try their luck in the channel. As there was no rush to join in, we assume that little was caught by the early opportunists. However, one local said there will be good fishing at the mouth when the system settles down. Get those rods out folks as the weekend forecast is looking good. (Report by Mr W 2.0)
26 July 2011: There has been a little more rain, but incoming water is mainly from the down flow of the recent rain in the catchment area above Scrubby Creek, slowly pushing the lake up. Here is a photo for David showing the view from the front of the Tavern at dusk. As he will be able to see, plenty of windsurfing area here now, but for how long?
25 July
2011: The floating jetty at Number 2 Ramp is under stress!!
20 July 2011: Very consistent falls over many days, with very little let up. The level is getting close to the break through point, though a little way off yet as far as I can see. The rubbish bins in Tavern car park are not floating yet, nor is the fish identification chart under water yet. Could be a little way off yet. It would be nice ot have this level over a summer. We live in hope.
27 February 2011: Occasional falls in the headwaters of 20 to 30mm but not enough to top the lake up. It has been steadily declining since mid December 2010, probably a drop or 15-20mm.
Comments on How Deep the Lake is before 2011
Plea: If there is some other place or method you can suggest measuring how much water is in the lake then let me know by email. Cheers!