Logue Brook Dam (Lake Brockman)

Logue Brook Dam — Lake Brockman to the tourist park that sits on it — runs to a reported 197 hectares of jarrah-forest impoundment about 137km south of Perth, ten minutes out of Harvey and roughly an hour and a half from the city. DPIRD names it among the most popular trout waters in WA, and it is stocked every year alongside Glen Mervyn and Big Brook. The useful quirk is the zoning: water skiing is prohibited in the northern and eastern arms, so the dam is formally split into a ski half and a fishing half. That hands the quiet arms to kayaks, canoes and anyone walking the bank off Scarp or Brockman roads, where there are shallows suitable for wading. Marron are here too, and the rules for them are not the rules twenty minutes down the road at Harvey.

Start in the northern and eastern arms, because that is where the ski boats are not — skiing is prohibited there, which leaves them to a kayak, a canoe or a walk along the bank. Shore access is easy off Scarp Road or Brockman Road and the shallows are wadeable, so covering ground on foot is a real option rather than a consolation. Work small minnows, soft plastics and small vibes for trout, or a fly rod along the margins, and fish the first and last hours of light — early mornings and late afternoons are the windows locals describe. Redfin come on the same light gear with small plastics worked slowly around structure. Marron are snare-only here in season, and a pole snare is the only marron gear the law lets you carry to the water.

Trout are the headline and they ride on an annual stocking programme rather than a wild population. Keep the tape handy, because trout are 300mm minimum and sit inside a mixed freshwater bag of four, counted together with freshwater cobbler. Redfin perch are the reliable feed, with no size limit and no bag limit at all, and as a declared pest DPIRD recommends they are not returned to the water and are humanely euthanased, with dead fish not left on the shore. Marron are the summer bonus, and Logue Brook is not trophy water: 80mm carapace, a daily bag of eight and a possession limit of 16, not the 90mm and bag of five that apply at Harvey and Waroona.

Sort both licences before leaving Perth: a South-West Freshwater Angling Licence covers the trout and the redfin, and marron need a separate licence on top of it. Anyone who learned the marron rules at Harvey Dam and drove twenty minutes north has them wrong in both directions — the size and bag are looser here, the legal gear is far tighter. DPIRD would rather redfin were kept than released, which is a recommendation rather than a rule and a favour to the dam either way. Dogs are welcome on lead here.

About 137km and an hour and a half from Perth via South Western Highway, then Logue Brook Dam Road; Harvey is ten minutes away. Shore fishing access is easy off Scarp Road or Brockman Road, with shallows suitable for wading. Lake Brockman Tourist Park sits on the water with cabins, glamping tents, powered and unpowered sites and bushland campground sites, two camp kitchens, four ablution blocks, a playground, a BMX pump track, and a cafe and general store open daily — waterfront sites are worth booking well ahead in busy periods. Neither a formal day-use car park nor an accessible facility is described for the dam itself, so expect to park off Scarp or Brockman roads, plan for unformed ground, and confirm current day-use and camping charges with the park before you go. Dogs are allowed on lead, and the Munda Biddi and Bibbulmun tracks both pass through if the fish go quiet.

No tide and no swell here — the variables are water level, wind across the open basin and light. The northern and eastern arms are both the calm water and the ski-free water, which makes them the default whenever the wind gets up. Cool, overcast days and the low light at either end of the day are trout conditions, while hot, bright summer afternoons push them deep and hand the session to the redfin. This is a working storage, so the level moves through the season and the bank that fished well in spring may be sitting well back from the water later on. The strongest stretch of the year follows the annual stocking.

The main basin is shared with water skiers and wakeboarders, and only the northern and eastern arms are closed to them, so a kayak anywhere else is sharing water with boats moving considerably faster. The dam is reported to run more than 40m deep near the wall when full, and cold deep water plus a winter capsize is a hypothermia problem before it is a swimming problem. There is no patrol out there, so the life jacket in the paddle craft is the safety plan. March flies are a real nuisance through the warmer months, and they are far more reliable than the trout.

Yes. A South-West Freshwater Angling Licence from DPIRD is required for all freshwater angling south of 29°S and above tidal influence, which takes in Logue Brook Dam, and anglers under 16 are exempt. Marron need a separate recreational marron licence on top of that, so a summer trip means two licences rather than one.

No. Logue Brook is a snare-only water under the Fish Resources Management Regulations, so a single marron pole snare is the only legal method, and within 50m of the water the only gear you may possess at all is that snare, rods and lines and a landing net. Drop nets and scoop nets are out at the water's edge whether the season is open or not. The season runs from 12 noon on 8 January to 12 noon on 5 February each year, and the daily limit runs noon to noon rather than midnight to midnight.

80mm minimum carapace length, a daily bag of eight and a possession limit of 16. Logue Brook is not a trophy water — trophy waters are only Harvey Dam, Waroona Dam and the Hutt River, where the minimum is 90mm and the bag drops to five — so the Harvey Dam figures do not apply here. A separate recreational marron licence is required either way.

Yes, and the dam is set up for it. Water skiing is prohibited in the northern and eastern arms, which leaves those as the quiet water for fishing from a kayak, canoe or the bank, while the main basin carries the skiing and wakeboarding. Shore access to the arms is easy off Scarp Road or Brockman Road, with shallows suitable for wading.

Yes, on lead, which makes Lake Brockman one of the easier South West waters to bring a dog to. The tourist park on the water advertises pet-friendly sites and publishes a separate pet policy, so read that before booking a cabin rather than turning up with a dog and a cabin key.