tomandzoe.com - live from the northside

There’s a few little streams around Mudgee, but the one that flows through town is probably the only one that holds any trouts.

You see, the Cudgegong River is dammed upstream and during the long, hot Australian summers (i.e., 7 years of drought), cool, clear water is released from the dam to serve the areas downstream (including Burrendong Dam near Wellington). It’s all part of the Macquarie River catchment and while it’s many miles upstream from the Marshes themselves, it’s part of the reason they’re so stuffed.

Native fish don’t do well between the two dams - the water is too cold, too clear and too stable - but the trout (predominantly rainbow trout) love it. Part of me does too (but it makes me feel all icky inside).

I guess if you’re going to have environmental devestation and contradiction (with exotic species actively stocked by one hand of the government and eradicated by the other), you might as well have fun too…

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