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I have just spent a weekend at the beutiful Barwon Heads staying at a unit at seahaven getting relaxed and then my wife jumped out of a plane for her sixtieth birthday, I in the mean time, on the ground, spent my time talking to the locals about the fish in the area, one man i did talk to that knew a lot about local fish was a local artist and shop owner by the name of Stirky if your in Barwon Heads and want to know about the fishing call in and see Stirky he will set you straight  .

Its a good shop with an eclectic mix of maratime stuff and his artwork worth a visit, its just near the supermarket in the centre of town near the bridge.

It’s a timely reminder to be careful around waterways especially  given the warm weather lately. This copperhead snake although small could still give a nasty bite, I was bitten on the knee six weeks ago and needed antibiotic  to get the swelling down this chap could have been responsible, a bite from a snake this small could keep you from what you love ( like fishing) for some weeks.

I found this snake dead in a redback spiders web in my green house so if you think the snake s bad don’t mess with the redback

A couple of years ago i found  two small yabbies in a redback spiders web , that in itself is pretty wild to think a spider poisoned the yabbies and carried them to her web but real amazing thing the web was six feet of the floor of the green house ,now some people find hard to believe but i showed my neighbour and he can testify to it .

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During a trip to the Curdies River recently we came across a strange sight, a Koala swimming up the middle of the river.

The problem was he was swimming towards a swamp and he could get out that way so we positions our boat to encourage him to swim towards terra firma.

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As you can see he was exhausted but safe and relieved to be back on land.

I  have just returned from a trip to the U K and this is what I found out about their freshwater fishery.

Freshwater Aquaculture in the U K is fundamentally  about trout with some carp, carp and some other smaller fish of  are highly prized and much sort after by anglers

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There is no similarity between the U k and dry old Australia, the U k have much more water than we do ,the water is colder  and faster flowing.

The one thing we do have in common is some individuals feel the need to throw there trash into the environment .

Fishing is predominately fly fishing and many fishers  can be seen at access spots along the roads.

Algae blooms were not present although I was there after heavy rains but i suspect they would be isolated and not severe.

Overall there is not much to be learned from our English counterparts in regard to freshwater aquaculture.

I did visit an aquarium on lake Windermere in the lakes district and found it fascinating

below are some of the photos I took on the visit.

From a fishing perspective it is a great place for trout and carp fishing there is of course lots of opportunity for ocean and estuary fishing as well as freshwater, the people are friendly and the ones involved in fishing seem willing to share their knowledge freely all in all a fishing destination worth a visit.

 

 

Leighton Stace a qualified Arborist is trimming the trees on my property to shed more sunlight on the new dam and to stop the endless twigs falling onto the fence .

some of the tree tops ( the heads) will go into the  dams they will provide  place for small fish to hide and to feed and they will over time leach eucalyptus into the water this will help with fighting bacteria that is ever-present in fish ponds.

Notice the water in the dam, it contains lots of tannin from the trees I have placed in it this will also help fight bacteria.

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If you need trees trimmed and you’re in this area then call Leighton on 0416075661 he is a good worker and a nice chap.

I am off to the UK in a few days I intend to visit fish farms over there and will post the interesting things I see.

Farming of any kind means that we the farmers supply food for the animals we keep and this is true of fish as well, in my situation my fish can source some of their food from the environment they live in  my case the ponds.

As I have shown before I can and do feed my adult  fish on yabbies all year-round and I occasionally find things to compliment them, things such as worms, moths, grubs etc however this time of year ( its spring here AUST) us fish farmers must begin to create food for the young fish we expect in the summer, below is a video of plankton forming in my ponds

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the plankton in the video looks like bubbles, I am not sure what kind of creature it is there are many types and I don’t know them all.

Plankton forms naturally from nutrient in the water if you don’t have much nutrient in your water  then you can add some, a simple way is to place a bag of dry cow manure in the pond to soak, blood and bone is another way I have used, not too much, I am both lucky and cursed by nutrient the water that enters my property carries loads of nutrient from nearby farms this grows great nutrient but also algae and thats not so good.

My wife is not only a great nurse she is a handy artist as well, in this photo she is painting a Blackfish on some Masonite I am going to use it as a sign at the front of the fish farm , in the back ground you can see a dog which she painted on an old fridge door.

In the last week we had some serious ran ,  the new dam overflowed into no 4 pond and it flowed into the other two, the dam down the back has been overflowing for about a week and of course no 1 pond has been full for weeks, all the ponds and dams have had a good wash out all good for the breeding season ahead.

All the rivers are in flood and all the lakes have had good inflows so the year is set up to be a beauty .

The Gellibrand.

Aeration is important for water health and fish well-being however this aeration below is for another purpose, the soils where I am are porous and water seeps out so when I built the dam I placed ten truck loads of clay in the bottom and sides and then after it filled I spread an inert chemical on the water and as the dam leaks it takes the chemical with it, the chemical once in the soil expands and fills the leaks, aeration also helps spread the chemical around, the chemical is inert and cannot harm fish or other animals.

The solar panel is connected to a solar controller and then a large battery and then an aerator ,it works ok it struggles through the winter months and the battery wont last through the night.

 

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For native fish enthusiasts