42 
FISH BREEDING PONDS. 
district, and those turned out in 1871 have without 
doubt multiplied during 1873. 
The streams of the colony have not yet been thrown 
open for trout fishing, and therefore but few instances 
can be given of the success of the fish turned out. 
While lowering the water recently in the race which 
supplies the Society s ponds, more than a dozen young 
fish were seen, weighing from half a pound downwards ; 
these are the produce of fish turned into the stream 
about four years ago. Near Ballan a trout was caught 
weighing over nine pounds, and near Gisborne several 
have been caught approaching that size. In Lake 
Learmonth, in Beales Swamp, and in other waters 
where fish have been placed by the Ballarat Society, 
trout turned out in 1872 have, through accident, been 
caught. These were found to weigh from two to three 
pounds when but thirteen months old, affording 
perhaps the best proof of the fitness of Victorian 
waters for them. 
On the subject of trout in Beale’s Swamp, a Ballarat 
observer writes : — 
“ We were seated on the embankment of this huge reser- 
voir, watching a shoal of minnows in the clear water at our feet. 
The sun had dipped behind a dense cloud, and the faintest 
breeze gently stirred the dull, heavy atmosphere of the 
sultry evening, when a sudden and unaccountable movement 
of the minnows attracted our attention. The shoal were off 
like a shot ! Two flashes of lightning, some three feet below 
the surface, with streaks of silver and gold ! A cheer arose. 
All well knew what it, meant— ‘ big speckled fellows in 
Beale’s!’ We sat on the embankment until the sun dis- 
appeared, when we were again and again rewarded by sights 
of the fish. First one rather shy fellow came up, took a gnat 
and a look round, then, as if half-frightened at his own 
