Werribee Galaxias

One of my goals on my holiday back to Melbourne was to fish my old local river, the Werribee River. It is a fairly short river which travels down from the Great Dividing Range just south of Daylesford. The river is home to quite a few species of fish. Natives include several species of galaxias, pygmy perch, lampreys, Shortfin Eels, Australian Smelt, Flathead Gudgeon and River Blackfish. There are a large number of introduced species as well including Carp, Goldfish, Tench, Redfin (European Perch), Roach, Mosquitofish and Brown Trout. Estuarine species occur just below the town of Werribee.



Common Galaxias - Galaxias maculatus

I had previously caught many of the above species, but my main targets were going to be the Tupong, Mosquitofish, Flathead Gudgeon and Spotted and Common Galaxias. These occur in the weirpool about a kilometre from where I used to live and are species that I do not have photos of. I collected some earthworms from the garden earlier on and the tactic would be to fish simple rigs, basically two handlines of 2lb mono. One with just a small splitshot, a size 14 hook with about half an earthworm or a grain of corn to target the bottom feeding fish and a waggler setup with an 18 hook and a microscopic piece of worm for the midlevel and surface feeders.



Common Galaxias - Galaxias maculatus

Within seconds of the waggler settling, it got dragged in. It took up to a dozen strikes to hook into a fish, and it was a 1” common galaxias, probably the smallest fish I had ever caught on hook and line. I found that I got more bites by moving the waggler, and caught a second common galaxias about double the length.



Common Galaxias - Galaxias maculatus

I didn’t catch anything on the bottom rig. I did lose baits a few times, but was unable to land anything.

I might have caught more species if I had stayed longer than half an hour but at least got a photo of a common galaxias. I would love to have caught a Spotted Galaxias. I have only ever caught one, but this was at the exact same swim I was fishing when I caught one many years ago. These guys look almost like a brown trout and will take dry flies like a brown trout as well. I will have to target the remaining species again the next time I am home.

The 1990’s – Fishing during my High School Years.

Vietnam
In 1991, I had a family holiday to South-east Asia where I did some fishing in Vietnam. The only species I can be sure of that I caught was the Climbing Perch [#11] which I caught on a bamboo float and ant pupae, in a pond in Saigon. In the same pond, I also caught a species of Gourami which I have not been able to identify, being so long ago, I don’t even remember what colour it was, but it was only about 5cm. In another pond, I netted a larger species of Gourami and possibly two species of Snakehead. On the same trip, I spent several days in the Mekong Delta where I fished in the Mekong. Using worms, I caught a species Catfish and a Danio or Rasbora. All I remember was that it had a red ‘glowlight’ stripe across its body. In some rice paddies, I collected some Betta using bamboo nets and in a flooded river, I netted some Bumblebee Gobies and a species of Halfbeak.


Bumblebee Goby - Brachygobius spp.

Werribee River at Exford
Before I moved to Werribee, I recall several fishing trips to The Werribee River at Exford just below the Melton Reservoir where I caught a Redfin and Roach [#12]. Fishing for roach here was interesting because it was the first species of fish that I caught on sweetcorn.



Roach - Rutilus rutilus #12

Port Phillip Bay off Altona
I cant really remember which year it was, but I did a once off boat fishing trip drifting off Altona. On this trip, I caught my one and only ever Gummy Shark [#13], some Southern Sea Garfish [#14] and a lot of Flathead. Others on the boat also caught Goatfish and Snapper.


Gummy shark - Mustelus antarcticus #13

Geelong
Geelong became more accessible when my family moved to Werribee in 1994. I only ever fished the little Jetty off the end of Yarra Street. Here I caught King George Whiting [#15], Southern Cardinalfish [#16], Soldierfish [#17] and Blue Weed Whiting [#18] towards the shore and Snapper and Silver Trevally out into the bay.


King George Whiting - Sillaginodes punctatus #15


Southern Cardinalfish - Vincentia conspersa #16


Soldierfish - Gymnapistes marmoratus #17

Werribee River
Living in Werribee, I lived only a few hundred metres from the Werribee River. My favourite spot here is just below the Weir. There were large shoals of Redfin Perch here, a lot of them where stunted but there were a few occasional good specimens. At the right time of the year, there were Shortfin Eels [#19] at the base of the weir giving good sport. I caught several mini species here as well including Common Galaxias [#20], Spotted Galaxias [#21], Tupong [#22] and Mosquitofish [#23].


European Perch - Perca fluviatilis - This is the oldest fishing photo I can find, a Werribee River Perch


Shortfin Eel - Anguilla australis #19


Common Galaxias - Galaxias maculates #20


Tupong - Pseudaphritis urvillii #22


Eastern Mosquitofish - Gambusia holbrooki #23

Barwon River, Geelong
Later on, I started fishing in the Barwon River for Redfin Perch. The Redfin here seemed to have the reddest fins I have ever seen. They were really easy to catch here, just dip net in the margins for some freshwater shrimp. And float them into the river where they will get gobbled up by large Redfin in no time. I occassionally caught shortfin eels and roach here as well. Netting the margins, I sometimes caught Flathead Gudgeon, but have never hooked one.



Australian Freshwater Shrimp - Paratya australiensis



Flathead Gudgeon - Philypnodon grandiceps