Fishing
The Queanbeyan River was renowned as a beautiful river abounding in native Murray Cod, which once extended to the vicinity of Googong Dam, and native Macquarie perch, which extended to at least the headwaters of Googong Dam. Due to this abundance of native fish, the Queanbeyan River, along with the Molonglo River, was often known as the "Fish River" in the early days of settlement. Sometimes the Queanbeyan was further distinguished by being called the "South Fish River".
On more than one occasion in the late 19th and early 20th centuries floods deposited live Murray Cod in the main streets of Queanbeyan. Sadly, this abundance of native fish did not last. A variety of ills including introduction of exotic fish such as trout, overfishing, willow encroachment, siltation, and weirs blocking migration saw native fish populations in the Queanbeyan River close to extinction by the time Googong Dam was built.
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Famous quotes containing the word fishing:
“If fishing is a religion, fly fishing is high church.”
—Tom Brokaw (b. 1940)
“I confess I was surprised to find that so many men spent their whole day, ay, their whole lives almost, a-fishing. It is remarkable what a serious business men make of getting their dinners, and how universally shiftlessness and a groveling taste take refuge in a merely ant-like industry. Better go without your dinner, I thought, than be thus everlastingly fishing for it like a cormorant. Of course, viewed from the shore, our pursuits in the country appear not a whit less frivolous.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Once fishing was a rabbit’s foot—
O wind blow cold, O wind blow hot,”
—Robert Lowell (1917–1977)