Lake at Quarry Reserve Ferntree Gully stocked with fish

If you’re fishing for activities with your kids these school holidays, a suburban lake has been stocked with hundreds of fish, with youngsters encouraged to cast a line. And it’s just the start of a new plan to stock lakes with fish across Melbourne.

Will Ingram and Mitch Turner from the Victorian Fishing Authority with Upper Ferntree Gully Primary School students Jone, Amalia and Zoe. Picture: Andy Brownbill

There’s something fishy going on at Quarry Reserve, and families are invited to check it out.

The lake at the Upper Ferntree Gully park has been stocked with hundreds of rainbow trout, Murray cod and golden perch, creating an instant fishery for youngsters to enjoy.

It’s the third urban waterway in Melbourne to be stocked with catchable size native fish this year after Karkarook Lake in Heatherton and Casey Fields Lake in Cranbourne East.

Eastern Metropolitan Labor MP Shaun Leane said the project was a key commitment of the State Government’s $34 million Target One Million plan to get more people fishing, more often.

Mitch Turner from the Victorian Fishing Authority releases a Murray cod into the lake at Quarry Reserve in Ferntree Gully. Picture: Andy Brownbill

Quarry Reserve has been rehabilitated as a parkland with open fields and walkways, which provide great access to the 11m deep lake.

More rainbow trout will be stocked for the June and September holidays.

Australian bass fingerlings will be released in December when they become seasonally available from the hatchery.

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The stocking mix of trout and native fish will provide year-round fishing opportunities with the cooler months better suited to trout and summer better for native fish.

Other Melbourne waters to be stocked with catchable size native fish over the next 12 months include lakes Rowville, Lilydale, Navan Park, Roxburgh Park and Melton Reservoir.

Mr Leane congratulated Knox Council and local angling clubs on their hard work in creating “such a magnificent natural asset”.

“This is all part of our plan to get more people fishing, more often and will mean families and diehard anglers can get out and cast a line in more places across Victoria,” Mr Leane said.