Carp muster is coming to Canowindra again this year and we can’t wait to see you out there so let’s look into how you can be part of it all!

The Event – Family Friendly and Free

Our native fish are at risk from invasive European Carp, so it’s time to band together and remove these destructive bottom feeders from the Lachlan River and surrounding wetlands! While we’re at it, we’ll clean up some rubbish from around and in our waterways.

We’re hosting a Carp Muster to remove as many as we can, helping to improve the health of our local waterways.

It’s free to enter and there’s prizes for the biggest carp and most carp caught, with categories for kids, teens and adults. In order to enter your carp into the prize categories, you must also collect at least 50 items of rubbish from local waterways. A prize will also be given for most rubbish collected.

Sign Up: This is an Oz Fish event that our Landcare team are facilitating. As such, you’ll find the Carp Muster sign in sheet here. It’s really important that you register ahead of time so we know numbers AND you then show up on the day for a safety briefing at the venue below.

Help with Sign Up: Our partners at Canowindra Connections Centre are again able to help people sign up for this event. Spread the word among anyone who may need a hand with the online process and head down to the centre at 38 Blatchford Street, Canowindra. Alternatively give them a call on 0480 450 079. Their open hours vaary but are currently advertised as Wed, Thurs 9am – 3pm and Friday 9am – 5pm.

Date: Sunday 27th September

Time: from 7am – 3pm

Weigh in: 2:00pm to 2.30pm at the OzFish hub (Age of Fishes forecourt)

Where: Meet at the front of the Age of Fishes Museum, Canowindra for a safety briefing before going off and fishing on the Belubula & its tributories.

What to bring:

• Bring your fishing gear.
• Sun-safe clothing and enclosed shoes.
• Children must wear life vests and be supervised near water.
• Bring drinking water and snacks. A BBQ lunch will be provided.
• Empty feed bag for rubbish collection – we’d love you to bring any you can spare to help with our clean-up efforts.
• Gloves for rubbish picking.

What else is happening on the day:

• Headspace will be on hand to introduce you to their team and the services they offer.
• There will be a free barbeque sponsored by Local Land Services.
• Our Landcare team will be on-hand coordinating & participating in the Canowindra Carp Muster rubbish pick during the day.
• Our Landcare Coordinators will be on hand to show you how to digest carp and turn it into fertiliser for your garden or farm.

Feral to Fertiliser Carp Digester

Last year we trialled the following recipe with great success and plan to do the same again this year. This recipe was forwarded to me by Cheryl Nielsen from Watershed Landcare, Mudgee who in turn had learned the method in a workshop with Gerry Gillespie. We’ll have a bucket of fermented solution ready to go for anyone who wants to donate the carp they’ve fished to our composting cause. For those interested, we had our final mixture chemically analysed once it had cooked and found it to be on a par with commercially available Charlie Carp which was quite reassuring. Here’s a link to the post with our test results.