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Mainland trout water. Sadly, its extent and productivity is shrinking by the year.
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I firmly believe that within another decade or so, the only viable, worthwhile trout fisheries left on mainland Australia will be those found in a handful of our higher altitude lakes, along with some of their upstream tributaries and downstream tail-races.
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A few days before sitting down to write this editorial, I returned from a five night sojourn through the Snowy Mountains of southern NSW, chasing trout on fly. I covered 1,200 kilometres, fished half a dozen different waters and caught a handful of lovely little trout along the way. It was a wonderful trip into a swathe of gorgeous high country that I hold very dear, and the company was exceptional. Yet I came home with an increased sense of unease and foreboding about the current status and future prospects of our mainland trout fisheries.
I need to preface the observations that follow by admitting that I’m passionate about fishing for trout, especially on fly gear. Yes, I know they’re an introduced fish in this part of the world and yes, I understand they’ve adversely impacted some of our native fauna. But we’ve introduced a veritable Ark-load of ‘exotics’ onto this island continent over the centuries, and without a time machine, it’s impossible to go back to any sort of idyllic ‘baseline’ of unsullied native purity, even assuming we could agree on what such a pipe dream might look like. (It’s also worth pausing to consider that the introduction of new species and significant human modification of Australia’s natural environments pre-dates European settlement by tens of thousands of years, although there’s certainly no denying its exponential acceleration since 1788.)
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Garry McDonald and guide Cam McGregor celebrate a small victory on the Swampy Plains River below Khancoban.
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I’m pragmatic enough to accept the argument that — from an extremely subjective and self-interested human perspective — there are ‘good’ and ‘bad’ animal imports. Personally, I’m happy enough to put beef cattle, domesticated chickens, Scotsmen and trout in the positive column of that ledger, with rabbits, foxes, cane toads and carp on the negative side of the page. Of course, it all grows a little muddy when you throw things like deer and redfin perch into the mix! I’m sure you have your own opinions on the relative merits of various ‘exotics’, and I understand that there are all sorts of arguments for and against each one of them. This is a field that’s far from black and white, and even the shades of grey vary with the passage of time. But the truth is, I like trout, and I apologise if that offends you.
In the five decades I’ve spent chasing trout here in Australia, I’ve seen many changes to the fishery. But the underlying and undeniable trend — at least on the mainland — has been one of decline in the geographic range, abundance and average size of these fish. Many waterways where I once caught trout on a reasonably regular basis are today either entirely devoid of these fish, or offer only sporadic and intermittent fishing opportunities — mostly in years with particularly favourable weather patterns, or across a brief handful of seasons following the liberation of hatchery-bred fish.
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It’s hard not to love the unique markings of a wild Aussie brown trout.
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Based on my own lifetime of observation, I’m going to go on record here with a sobering prediction: I firmly believe that within another decade or so, the only viable, worthwhile trout fisheries left on mainland Australia will be those found in a handful of our higher altitude lakes, along with some of their upstream tributaries and downstream tail-races.
I fully expect some readers to disagree with that pessimistic prognosis. If you’re one of them, I hope you’re right. But I see no evidence to alter my opinion that Australia’s mainland trout fishery is in serious and seemingly irreversible decline. There are likely many reasons for this, but the ‘smoking gun’ is obviously climate change. Our summers are longer and hotter than at any time in recorded or observable history, droughts are becoming more frequent, protracted and extreme, and widespread bushfires are increasingly common. The cumulative impacts on trout stocks are dire.
When the waters of the upper Thredbo River, even at elevations above 1,200 metres, can exceed 27 degrees for several days in a row during the height of summer (as they did last year), it’s reasonable to expect mass trout mortalities. Pulses of bushfire ash and debris washed into streams certainly don’t help. I’m told that a team of fisheries boffins recently electro-fished Nariel Creek in northern Victoria for five days straight without finding a single surviving trout… not one! This was once a thriving fishery, but the triple whammy of drought, fire and flood appears to have effectively erased its trout population. Re-stocking is currently underway, although few are optimistic about the longer term prospects. And remember, these are just a couple of examples of what has happened throughout the former range of trout on the mainland.
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We need to be actively re-establishing cool water natives such as trout cod in our upstream headwaters.
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Over the past few years, I’ve grudgingly come to accept that I’ll need to travel to Tasmania or New Zealand more often to experience the calibre of trout fishing I once enjoyed locally, and that my less frequent forays up into the mainland mountains will focus on the highest, coolest waters, especially early and late in the season.
Taking a broader view of the bigger picture in terms of mainland Australian trout fishing, I also suspect that those in charge of its management will need to seriously reconsider some of their current strategies. I would respectfully suggest the following four starting points:
- An urgent re-assessment of the viability and economic benefits of continued trout stocking in some “marginal” waters, especially those at lower altitudes.
- A conscious shift away from rainbow trout to more resilient and adaptable brown trout in at least some of our remaining mainland trout fisheries.
- Consideration of the re-introduction of cool-water-tolerant native species including Macquarie perch, trout cod and various galaxiids to upper headwaters.
- Prioritising the effective passage of migratory native fish so that they can make seasonal use of these upstream reaches. (Read Jo’s thoughts on this subject below, and in last month’s “Fishotopian”.)
I’m not for one moment suggesting that trout fishing might vanish completely from mainland Australia in our lifetime, nor even in that of our kids. But it’s time we faced a few home truths and accepted that it will never return to its former glory in many areas. Rather than crying into our favourite beverage while lamenting that sad reality, we’d be better served by accepting the facts and moving on.
Tight Lines.
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----- > SCROLL DOWN! There’s much more below.
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Catch My Drift?
Thoughts, reflections, insights and epiphanies that occurred to Jo this month...
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CAUTION: Bogeyfish!
“...whilst fish lack the imagination to conjure monsters, we humans have imposed circumstances that stalk their shadows and totally inhibit their potential… we’ve gifted them bogeyfish. Aren’t we generous?”
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As children, we humans manifest imaginary entities to justify our natural fear of anything that doesn’t feel ‘right’ to us. Our bogeymen live under our beds, in the forests, in our dreams and impose boundaries on our self-perceived potential.
Recently, I’ve sacked my bogeymen. I’ve taken to exploring the meandering streams of my life, just to see where they take me, learning as much as I can along the way.
The past two months have been a real eye-opener for me. It feels like I lost my footing some bends back whilst wading one of my metaphorical passion streams: fish habitat. It’s a stream I’ve been leisurely following for years — stopping for many a cast, observing the nuances and wondering at its elegance.
… and then suddenly, SPLASH!
The stream is now a torrent. There is so much momentum and energy that I can feel myself being rolled and twirled, like a newbie in a competitive jive hall. Luckily, I like the beat!
What I’ve discovered is that, whilst fish lack the imagination to conjure monsters, we humans have imposed circumstances that stalk their shadows and totally inhibit their potential… we’ve gifted them bogeyfish. Aren’t we generous?
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NOT an image of Jo losing her footing in her metaphorical passion stream,
but rather her thoughts of what a bogeyfish might look like, if fish had imaginations.
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We discussed one such bogeyfish in the November Fishotopian — fish barriers.
Last month, I was invited to an update on the progress of the NSW Fish Passage Task Force Strategy for the Murray-Darling Basin. Whilst the Strategy is still in draft form and not yet ready for implementation, I found the lateral thought applied to what seems an overwhelming problem to be extremely encouraging!
Let me climb onto a metaphoric island for a minute and share an example of the Task Force’s left-of-centre approach:
THE ISSUE — NSW has over 2,500 barriers to fish passage throughout its inland river system. At our current level of effort and given existing asset lifespans, it will take about 100 years to fix all of them (cue the threatening music). Needless to say, that’s a catastrophic scenario for NSW native fish.
PROPOSED ACTION — Focus on the most significant barriers over a 20 year period. The Task Force has identified 165 high-priority sites that would restore fish passage to over 11,000km of river — AND that by addressing 47 of the high-priority fish barriers in the first five years of the 20 year program, fish passage would be restored to over 4,700km!
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The first 47 fishways proposed will reconnect over 4,700kms of river in the Murray-Darling basin.
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It excites me to see stakeholder collaborations like this — bringing together fishos, irrigators, scientists and government agencies — to develop strong potential solutions for all our futures.
Plunging back into my flowing stream and drifting further along the torrent, I’ve discovered that fish barriers come in many forms. You may remember last month that I was shocked to learn that many fish won’t enter the blackened culverts we build under roads to allow flow. Bloody bogeyfish! Was I alone in thinking this was adequate fish passage?
Apparently, the issue is the unnaturalness of the darkness (wait… is that a foreboding score I hear in the background?).
This month, my RFNSW Advisory Council colleagues and I discovered another bogeyfish during a presentation from one of our own, Matt Hansen of the Inland Waterways Rejuvenation Association. Matt and some scientist buddies (Professors Martin Mallen-Cooper and Lee Baumgartner from Charles Sturt University) had been discussing the potential for a change in direction towards off-river water storage in future, rather than the construction of more dams and weirs to sustain human needs. This intrigued me, as I thought all would be fine, so long as we constructed all our weirs and dams with functioning and habitat-appropriate fishways.
What I discovered through the presentation is that our native inland species are flowing water specialists. Whilst they’re not rapid-runners like our northern hemisphere anadromous species, they are still most titillated by riffles and runs.
Prof. Mallen-Cooper, an internationally recognised native fish expert, explained the reason in this way: Rivers that flow, uninterrupted by dams and weirs, have extremely high ecological value, compared to flows that are stored in dams and weirs and then release on demand.
He went on to explain that, as they flow, rivers pick up nutrients (especially carbon such as dead eucalyptus leaves) and naturally generate plankton, the essential food source of fish larvae. This is the fundamental process of river ecosystems that sustain our native fish populations.
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Riffles and runs are the food corridors. They are the preferable spawning grounds, the happy waters.
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“If flow is uninterrupted over long distances, it has even greater ecological value as this enables fish that are a long distance downstream to detect the increasing flow (fish can sense the slightest increase in water velocity and have an extremely acute sense of smell) and migrate upstream to spawn so their larvae have greater survival,” he wrote.
Following a study into habitat use, movement and activity of Murray cod and golden Perch (published in The Journal of Fish Biology), it was found that the construction of dams and weirs, and the resulting changes to the water level and velocity of rivers is a key environmental threat for fish. Potentially, it can cause changes in their movement, habitat use and activity. Overall, the study showed that although Murray cod and yellow belly can survive despite flow regulation, their behaviour may change in weir pools, potentially having a negative impact on long‐term population levels.
The reason lies in the flow… that nutrient-rich, oxygenated water. The riffles and the runs are the food corridors. Mussels and insects live here. These flowing stretches represent the natural way of the rivers from when our natives evolved. They are the preferable spawning grounds, the happy waters.
Conversely, the waters we back-up behind weirs and dams deplete the nutrients and effectively create unnatural dead-zones. BOGEYFISH! [dunt-dun-daarnn!] Our fish survive here, but they don’t thrive.
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That's one helluva barrier! Googong Dam was flowing over the wall during our recent visit.
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I don’t know about you, but this was an epiphany for me.
As you can see, I’m “going with the flow” like an Aussie inland native by this point.
… and then I came up against another bogeyfish: cold water pollution! I knew about the devastating impact the outflows of cold water from storage dams can have on the spawning success of natives, but I hadn’t extrapolated that it would limit the spawning grounds as much as it does. It would be very interesting (and, I’m sure, depressing) to know what the reach of cold water outflows is below Australia’s southern dams. If we were to add those hundreds — likely thousands — of kilometres up, we’d learn how much of our riverine spawning grounds has been stolen by this frigid monster.
Fishing for our inland freshwater species is a uniquely Australian privilege that is unlike any other fishing experience in the world. These fish are truly something else and the passion for targeting them is only now starting to reach cult fishing status. Let’s make sure that our passion for these species becomes their saving grace. As anglers, let’s weld on the mantle of steward and fight for our freshwater natives. We need to ensure those with the power to effect change do so. They must hear well-reasoned, articulate and educated alternatives, suggestions, ideas and demands from our sector — demands that we stop perpetuating our historical mistakes and start coming to the rescue of our inland waterways.
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Until next month, FISH ON!
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----- > SCROLL DOWN! There’s much more below ;)
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Tips like this can be found throughout the public area of Fishotopia.com
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AMAZING BONUS MEMBERSHIP OFFER!
Recently we launched a very attractive Inner Circle membership offer in the lead-up to Christmas. By taking advantage of this offer, you can join us in the Inner Circle for a year for $55 (or sign someone else up as a gift) and either you or they will receive a pack of goodies valued at $52!
The gift pack contains a personally signed copy of Starlo’s “Blokes & Tackle” angler profiles book valued at $25 PLUS a beautiful hand-crafted timber lure from RTBroughton Lures valued at $27. So, you’re effectively getting a full year’s membership for just $3, which is absolutely crazy! (By the way, if you’re still wondering what membership of the Inner Circle actually offers, click this link to watch a short explainer video.)
To take advantage of this limited-time gift offer, just click the button below.
*Please note this offer only applies to NEW memberships and the colour of the lure may vary from the one shown.
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Our latest “Beer With Starlo” video interview is a little bit different, in that Starlo and his interviewee opted to drink a kombucha rather than a beer! There were two reasons for this: firstly, the lads were on the water at the time and, secondly, Steve’s drinking partner was none other than Canberra-based cod and yellowbelly guru, Romen Dicovski of Roaming Productions, who isn’t a beer drinker.
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It’s a fascinating chat that covers Romen’s fishing background and his amazing discoveries while unlocking the secrets of Googong Dam, along with a bunch of other inland impoundments, PLUS some priceless insights into his innovative use of electronics in freshwater fishing… definitely one worth watching! Inner Circle members can view the full-length, uncut version here, while everyone else can watch a pruned-down highlights edit at the link below.
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“PHONE A FRIEND” MEMBERS’ OFFER
And speaking of Romen and Roaming Productions, we have 14 copies of his wonderful, 93-minute “Green & Gold On The Road” DVD (valued at $25 each) to give away exclusively to Inner Circle members! This action- and information-packed production covers Googong, Burrendong and Pindari Dams and explores a range of techniques targeting cod and goldens.
To pick up a copy, all an existing Inner Circle member needs to do is to convince a friend or family member to join us on the inside before Christmas by signing up for a full year’s membership (and YES, they can take advantage of the book and lure BONUS Offer already described above!). As soon as they sign on, we’ll send both you and your mate a copy of the DVD! How good is that? But only the first seven sign-ups score this double-barrel giveaway, so pick up the mobile now and “phone a friend”!
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FREE COURSE FOR MEMBERS — How Fish Vision Affects Intelligent Lure Tackle Colour Selection
with Greg “Doc Lures” Vinall
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Doc Lures’ authority in the realm of effective lure design is highly regarded around Australia. His Australian Lure Fishing podcast is a must-subscribe for any fishing enthusiast and his timber lure crafting courses are unparalleled. We are delighted to announce that Greg has provided free access to this fascinating course to our Inner Circle members, who can jump straight in HERE
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Under Pressure
The latest Inner Circle members-only feature from our resident freshwater gun, Glen ‘Stewie’ Stewart’, offers some incredibly astute observations concerning heavily-pressured fisheries and how to best handle them.
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While based on Stewie’s inland experiences these lessons have great relevance in practically every fishing scenario you care to name: fresh and salt. Members can go straight to the piece by clicking the link… and if you’re not a member, perhaps it’s time you joined! CLICK HERE
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WIN A LURE!
We’re delighted to be able to give away not one but two RTBroughton hand-crafted Aussie timber lures this month to a pair of winners who responded by email to our last newsletter. The first was Kris Davis from QLD who wrote us a wonderful letter that was a little long to run here in full, but which began with:
“Starlo & Jo — Loving the newsletter, especially the fact that you guys promote all styles of fishing, be it fly, soft plastics, hard bodies, chatter and spinnerbaits [etc]. ”
Kris went on to explain that he’d grown up in North Queensland, where he was influenced by famous Aussie lure carvers such as Eric Moller, Dave Killalea and others, inspiring him to get into lure making himself, and he included some images of his own wonderful creations.
“It really feels as though there has been a resurgence in timber lures and the craftsman behind them, some of who you have promoted quite well.” Kris wrote. “The likes of Paul Kneller, Ray Broughton and Bushy. I have been able to get my hands on a few Kneller lures over time and love fishing them. And there are quite a few lesser known guys whose lures I really love: Kuttafurra, Havok, Tucker Time, Chilton Baits and Frequent Flash [to name a few].”
We completely agree with your assessment of a timber lure resurgence, Kris, and there’s one of Ray’s creations on its way to you in recognition of your celebration of our local makers. Up to you whether you hang it on the wall or fish with it!
This month’s other lure prize goes to a correspondent by the name of Shaun, whose email tag is pointyfish. Shaun had some fantastic suggestions about outside-the-square ways of managing marine reserves and sanctuary zones in the future to not only protect aquatic resources, but also allow rec’ fishers to continue pursuing their passions and contributing to the economy. Among other things, Shaun suggested that: “… some areas could be made ‘No Take Zones’. Areas that are still open to rec’ anglers on a catch and release only basis.” It’s a model we wholeheartedly support, and something Jo and I have been quietly working away on in the background for some time. Hopefully, we might have some positive news on that front soon!
*** Don’t forget, YOU could be in the running to win an RTBroughton original timber lure simply by responding to this newsletter and sending an email to us at: admin@fishotopia.com.au ***
So, what are you waiting for?
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THREE FOR THE PRICE OF TWO!
Speaking of special offers and Ray Broughton’s great timber lures, Ray has a ripper deal going at the moment allowing you to effectively buy three of his Shimmey timber minnows for the price of two! That’s right… buy a trio of RTBroughton Shimmey timber minnows (1 x 50mm, 1 x 60mm & 1 x 80mm) in your choice of colours (4 colours* to choose from) and you’ll save a cool $21!
You’ll receive a 50mm Shimmey normally valued at $23, a 60mm Shimmey worth $25 and an 80mm Shimmey with a standard price of $27 (a combined value of $75) for just $54, plus $9 for packaging and postage. So, you pay just $63 all-up for a pack of 3 hand-made timber lures that would regularly cost $84, delivered to your door!
How do you take advantage of this amazing offer? Simply go to Ray Broughton’s RTBroughton Lures page on Facebook, “LIKE” the page, recommend the page to at least ONE of your friends, and then quote the code #starlosentme when ordering your three-pack by messaging Ray on the page… It’s as simple as that! Get over to the RTBroughton Lures page NOW and secure your bonus offer. Stocks are limited, so first in, best dressed!
* Please note, because each lure is hand-painted, small variations will naturally occur and your lures may look slightly different to the ones shown here.
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ANNOUNCING OUR NEW MINI-CHANNEL IN THE LIBRARY OF STARLO GETS REEL VIDEOS...
Already boasting a number of short and sharp videos, this new library shelf will continue to grow with bite-sized, handy how-to's, like this one. Members can check it out here . .
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Non-members can go to Starlo Gets Reel on Youtube (NB: in future, more advanced tips will only be available to members).
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STARLO GETS SPOOLED!
In case you haven’t discovered it yet, Spooled Magazine is a wonderful and totally free on-line publication that comes out quarterly and is packed with great articles and reviews of gear, boats and the like. The current issue (Spring 2020) features our very own Starlo on the cover with a fat Googong golden and also contains the first part of an informative profile piece of Steve’s life in the fishing world, beautifully written by regular contributor, Matthew Taylor. Click the link below to go straight to that issue.
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The Clubhouse Wall is our Inner Circle Members’ private forum. This section of our monthly newsletter highlights some of the topics discussed in our virtual “Clubhouse” over the past month. The above collection of pics has been collated from some of our favourite posts of late.
Topics of interest have included:
• Breaking into fly fishing
• Resilience of injured fish
• Scientists at last recognising rec fishos’ environmental stewardship potential
• Targeting flatties
• Combating the unpredictable weather
... and much more.
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Have You Checked In On Your Aussie Anglers Almanac Today?
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You may have noticed that Mako Oil have been advertising with us here in the newsletter and on Fishotopia.com since day one. We really appreciate their wonderful support… but we appreciate the amazing product they produce even more!
Steve was first introduced to Mako Oil back in his days as a TV presenter for “The Offroad Adventure Show” and he quickly became a “believer”. Mako Oil now plays a vital role in all of our tackle and gear maintenance regimes, as well as many other jobs around home, and we absolutely swear by the stuff. We particularly like the fact that it seems to have no adverse impacts whatsoever on fishing lines, and that its fish-based formula means it doesn’t turn fish off biting, even if sprayed directly onto hooks, sinkers and lures… in fact, it might even attract them!
You can watch Starlo’s video explainer about Mako Oil and its many uses by clicking the play button above, or cut to the chase and view a shorter, how-to clip describing our regular after-trip tackle maintenance routine here.
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You likely already know that we’re huge fans of Mako Oil here at Fishotopia, and that we use this brilliant Aussie-owned product for all our gear maintenance. However, we recently received this wonderful and totally unsolicited testimonial from a member of the public, posted as a comment on Starlo’s YouTube clip (above). It’s well worth a read:
"Well, I bought some [Mako Oil] and have been conducting a corrosion test for nearly two months. Three steel ingots were prepared, all from the same bar stock. All three were soaked overnight in acetone to remove any grease or oil, then a thin film of Mako Oil was applied to one ingot and a lanolin-based spray to another, using an identical method (some paper towel was moistened with the products then wiped onto the surface). The third ingot was left un-treated. All three were then placed outside on the handrail of my decking, which is uncovered, so the test pieces are exposed to rain, condensation and direct sunlight. After just on two months, the un-treated ingot is completely rusty and the lanolin coated piece has rust on most of its surface — at a guess, I would say around 60% of its total surface area. The piece treated with Mako Oil has almost nothing — a few tiny spots [of surface corrosion] about a millimetre in diameter and almost invisible. I’ve been using the lanolin-based product to stop corrosion from condensation on my workshop machinery. The old saying 'have you ever seen a rusty sheep?' sort of holds true, but then again, have you ever seen a rusty fish? Next I want to try spraying some Mako Oil on my baits and lures to see if I get a positive or negative result in bite ratio compared to untreated bail or lures — could this stuff be a berley trail in a spray can? Time will tell!”
~ Ian Bertenshaw
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Fishotopia’s happy band of Inner Circle members enjoy unlimited access to a constantly growing library of articles, e-books, videos, reviews and area guides. But now non-members can also access a few hand-picked gems from this treasure trove of fishing knowledge.
We’re now offering for sale at a very reasonable price our complete e-zines (they’re actually more like e-books) focussing on various native species different species: mulloway, flathead and golden perch or yellowbelly. More titles are also on their way... and, Wild About Bass has just been added to the line up!
Each of these e-books is highly detailed and information packed, and several contain embedded video clips to further clarify the how-to training process. We think they represent incredibly good value for money, and we urge you to check them out. Inner Circle members can go straight to the shelves of the Fisho’s Library here, while everyone else can shop for these exclusive on-line publications at the link below.
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Want to read one of the Tight Lines titles, but don’t want to become a member of Starlo’s Inner Circle?
Good news! All four issues of Tight Lines magazine —
- Mulloway Mania
- Chasing Unicorns
- On Golden Ponds
- Wild About Bass
— are now available
for sale!
Click the button below...
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WOULD YOU LIKE TO ADVERTISE IN THIS NEWSLETTER?
Our readers are enthusiastic, thinking anglers from all over the country.
If you have a product or service that benefits them, let’s tell them about it! Advertising spaces are limited.
CLICK FOR MEDIA KIT & MORE INFORMATION |
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Until we see you in Fishotopia...
Tight Lines!
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