Under all that willow was a river and it took a fire to find it, this part of the Curdies was  hidden from view until the Saint Patrick day  fire burnt a lot of the non native trees .

The earth moving contractor has done a great job not only has he removed the willows he has left the stumps to rot and then poisoned the stumps.

it looks great and I look forward to native trees and grasses to be replanted and native fish like blackfish to be encouraged and stocked to provide locals and visitors with a true fishing experience.

Feeding the fish moths see how the fish hide under the floating habitat, I have this habitat for more than ten years some people are just starting to wake up to its benefits.

[wpvideo MUtULRrv]

A few images from the fires that came to close.

This little fish survived the Saint Patricks fires and looks healthy if not a bit hungry , no insects about because there is not vegetation left around the ponds.

I am delighted they survived now I need to get the bird netting up as fast as I can, before that I have to replace the post that got burnt.

I have created a new group on Facebook called (Blackfish action members) or BAM for short, the group will seek to lobby government and other groups to help in the coming fight to save the iconic river Blackfish ( gadopsis marmoratus ) if you are interested in joining myself and many others in this fight please visit the Facebook group and become a member.

New brood stock for the farm, all the fish shown here are from a private farm dam none were taken from the wild, these fish will breed next season and produce many fingerlings for individuals to own.  at the end of the second

year they should be around 22 cms although some grow at different rates to others.

These are native fish and fisheries Vic require you to have a permit to take them from the wild and keep alive.

On a recent trip to London I found an  old book on fishing in  the city, this book printed in 1885 ( that’s 133 years ago ) gives details about fishing around the United Kingdom and is a good read, along with the text are 17 plates all showing different tackle along with tied flies and insects of the time ( six coloured plates ).

The author of the book is Francis Francis (The author and his Gillie plate 0, ) a well-known fisherman of his time he travelled extensively throughout the UK and some parts of Europe.

Some lucky individuals out there may have a copy of this book, however this books spine is broken and this means printing the plates is possible without further damage to the book, this means I can now make it possible for individuals to own one or more of these incredible printed  plates. I have asked a local and well-respected printer to print them  and below is the result. The coloured plates are incredible while the black and white ones are instructive of the fishing methods that were used then and maybe even today, along the Thames and other rivers in England .

The price to follow

If you wish to purchase any of these wonderful plates go to fishsticks .co and view the shop blog or view the post below .

All funds raised from the sale of these plates will go towards my work breeding the River Blackfish, Gadopsis marmoratus.

Continue reading →

[simple-payment id=”3545″]

[simple-payment id=”3554″]

[simple-payment id=”3552″]

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 .

Continue reading →