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True Tales of the Trout Cod:
Ovens River Catchment History

As a teenager I fished in Lake Sambell. We caught numerous small cod in the lake fishing with worms and wood grubs. The lake used to supply water to the tannery on the other side of town. There was a tunnel under the town that drew down the water. About 1960 the creek was diverted into the lake, to keep it full. It was about then that the small cod disappeared.

– Lance Jervis, 2006.

Fishing in the Ovens

The Argus, 25 January 1871

“The buckets (of a water wheel) are rather deep, and as the fish endeavour to make up the river, they get into them as they pass, evidently to escape the force of the down current, and are thus lifted and emptied with the water into the flume.Large and small keep constantly turning up, and of all kinds, but they generally come in shoals, and we ourselves witnessed in half an hour some two dozen fish, chiefly bream, weighing from a few ounces to three and four pounds each. The small ones are of course returned to the river, but believe at least a hundred weight of saleable fish in the 24 hours is the rule and not the exception.”

Download the booklet

Learn more about the history of the Ovens River with the beautiful PDF booklet filled with stories, maps and fabulous old photos. You can get a copy the full booklet here for a donation of $5.