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

I use these contraptions to feed and breed my fish.

the first one is a devise I made up to feed my fish.

It consist of a length of tie wire and a cork float, this system of feeding does many things it first allows me to supplement the natural food the fish find for themselves and to make sure fish are well fed it also allows me to check on the health of the fish. if fishes come up to near the surface and feeds vigorously then all is well. the wire is soft and easy to bend if a fish did get caught it can easily release itself. the cork is a leftover from my previous trade it is a natural substance its actually the bark of a tree its stuck together with latex adhesive witch is water based and cannot in any way hurt the fish.

The picture above shows a breeding box its made of ply wood and nailed together its about ninety by ninety  in diameter and six hundred in length   the long stick is so it can be fixed at a depth I generally keep it shallow these fish seem to prefer to nest nearer the surface usually less than a metre deep. I did use polypipe but decided to go with all natural products to try and imitate nature as closely as possible.

this is the kind of food I feed the blackfish this is a large Yabbie ( cherax destructor ) he was born and bred on this farm this one has been in a fight with another yabbie and has lost the tips of his nippers. wood grubs and moths are also used when available.

hi to mark in FNQ.

I should point out that fisheries have allowed me to sell Yabbies to the public this is to offset some of the cost of power and other resources used in breeding the River Blackfish this really only affects local readers ( proximity) of this blog and they are only for bait not eating if any one would like some yabbies I have about five dozen at the moment but as it warms I will have more. you will need to call 0407843998

below are some winter yabbies I got this morning they are to big for bait but are a good size for breeding so they went back into the bottom dam. I should also point out that if you want yabbies to grow to this size in your dam you need to feed them, these yabbies are fed on silage, the silage was placed into the dam early in the autumn.

For all those people in Australia and  around the world here is an update of the new dam.

Notice the bird wire in the background covering 2/3/4 ponds.