I DO not know how many a gazillion is, but that is about how many small carp are in the Billabong Creek at the moment.
They are bank to bank as thick as they can get. They all seem to be floating downstream. There were millions of these little buggers back in 2016. But the numbers were nothing like this.
If there is a good side to a gazillion carp it is the fact that cod love to eat them. We had a few fish deaths in our rivers and creeks with the blackwater that seems to come with floods nowadays.
But, there is always plenty of native fish survive when it is a natural blackwater event like this one. Blackwater has been happening for thousands of years so our native fish have learnt how to survive in it. It is only when those in charge try to be God that our fish populations really suffer with a manmade blackwater event.
There are not many native fish dying in our section of creek at the moment. We did have a big fish kill in our Billabong at the start of the flood with an estimated 100 dead cod or more in one depression. They ranged from .2 of a metre to 1.2m.
Either they are all dead, moved on or have adapted to the conditions in our creek.
I did an oxygen test a couple of days ago and it was around 0.7 to 0.8 per cent. Anything under 2 per cent is not good for our fish. Over 4 per cent is great. We have got a paddle aerator as well as a bubble aerator in our creek at the moment. The bubbles would be ok if the cod sat on top of that one in the bubbles.
But, the paddle one seems to cover a bigger area and I think would have a bigger effect.
The water always tests over a half to 1 per cent higher in the backwater around the paddles compared to the mainstream creek.
The cod that did survive will get hungry again. Let’s hope they breed as well as the carp so the little cod will eat the little carp and the cod will be back in numbers again before we know it.
All of us old poachers know that carp are cod lollies for when we were allowed to do that kind of thing.
So, the big cod will be as fat as mud and hard to catch they will be so well fed.
The biggest downside to a gazillion carp at the moment is with that many live carp, the water quality not being good.
There are plenty of small carp dead and dying on the banks. They may be small, but they make up for that in smell when there is enough of them. At least the dogs seem to have got sick of the smell so they have stopped rolling in them for now.
Generous volunteers
WE had some volunteers fly in from Western Australia to help our town out with the floods.
I didn’t get to meet them, but like all our volunteers, they were nice people and good workers.
When they got back home, they put the hat around and raised a few hundred dollars for our town.
Thank you to this mob from our town and district.
We are having a Celebrate Moulamein Festival sometime in February.
I am sure that money will be put to good use for our district kids.
Thank you once again to all those that helped from out of town as well as those from our town and district. We beat the beast.
Stay tuned for more details as the time gets closer to our Celebrate Moulamein Festival.
Xmas enjoyed in Moulamein
THERE is still plenty of crop to take off for our farmers which would have put a bit of a dampener on the celebrations.
But, if you wanted family to be able to come to Moulamein, they were able to.
They just could not spend as much time with you as a normal year.
River still dropping
THE 2022 flood is pretty well over. The only road that I know of with water flowing over it is the Tchelary Road.
But there are many roads in our district that were stuffed by the water over them and the interstate truck drivers.
If the sign says slow down, it means slow down or take your front end out of your car. Stay safe out there.
The irony of it all
WE finally got one pump back into the Billabong Creek to get some of the off-quota water that is still flowing past us.
If the water drops another foot, I will be able to get another one in and fill my storage back up while we still have off quota.
