habitat is vital for all native fish however blackfish are even more reliant on it they use it for homes ,shelter and nest  and place to ride out floods, what kind of habitat is best well when it comes to blackfish it doesn’t seem to matter, hollow logs like the ones above are perfect for larger fish how ever smaller fish would feel safer under it rather than in it this must be considered when placing habitat back into rivers and streams.

the location of habitat in rivers and streams is also important Australian rivers and stream dry up from time to time and this must be allowed for so some habitat must be relatively close to the surface and some must be placed in deeper water to accommodate fish when water levels drop.

In Australia all the rivers that run through farm land  are silted up and not as deep as they once where so it will be necessary to deepen some holes to allow for dryer times.

UPDATE: I would like to thank my daughter  son in-law and my wife for helping with this video.

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This is truly a great video these fish are feeding despite the very cold water, notice to that one fish has a white eye it could have been damaged when it was caught it is not holding it back, Notice also how they check out the food with there feelers and then back up and take the food.

It could be too that the lighter coloured fish are female

Erosion at lake Bullen Merri.

large amounts of rain have caused some erosion at Bullen Merri’s  south beach boat ramp  this in turn causes the water to become silty this then hurts fish and the food they rely on for food.

Surely this needs to be fixed as soon as possible, I don’t know who is responsible but quick action can lessen  longer term ramifications like fish kills which the lake is known to have from time to time.

The problem with to much nutrient entering the water from adjacent farm land also needs  a solution sooner rather than later its time to fix this lake and make it one of Victoria’s great holiday destinations.

Jan -FebNowWe have had a wild night reminiscent of the seventies, Rain, hail , lighting, thunder, wind all my dams are over full as you can see, the farm land around the area looks a picture I know the last thing farmers need is floods but the waterways need this and they will need several years of it if they are to recover.

This trout was caught on a weighted fly in the Curdies river it was one of seven or so that I caught that year, they should not be in the Curdies river but they are and this will make stocking native blackfish that much harder, sharing the same food source  and both being top predators means that only mature blackfish will survive but of course their young should they breed will become food for the trout, I am not sure how far upstream the trout reach it maybe possible that deeper section of the river upstream may give the blackfish a safe place to breed. 

We have had very good rains and it has set me up for a great breeding season, my dams and ponds are full and all but one is holding water and that will be fixed this week.

Frogs abound in all the dams to the point that you can,t hear yourself think over the noise , lots  of yabbies witch will be food for the fish .

These Yabbies came from my large dam and have survived the dry summer . the water is between 8-9 degrees so this goes to show even yabbies move around in the cold , these will populate the ponds and become food for this years batch of juvenile blackfish. Continue reading →

After the blog ( Own your own) was posted I have had lots of inquiries from people looking for blackfish there is no way yet to satisfy all of the request ( over 4000 views ) however I am so pleased that blackfish are making a come back in the  minds of people because the best way to save this fish is public awareness.

We have had good rains for the start of winter and my dams are filling it is also good news for the rivers and lakes in the area.

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No sign of that aggression that the literature speaks of   all of these get along fine. Notice the different colours and all these fish in the same water around the same age.

they are all doing very well going into the next two months of winter, these fish are my new brood stocks and I am very pleased with there progress. I will have young fish from these fish around Christmas.