At the base of Mount Feathertop, between the fresh snow-fed waters of Stony Creek and the Ovens River, is a little fishing spot where you are almost guaranteed a catch.
Rainbow Trout, Golden Trout, Tiger, Brown, Brook and Cheetah Trout thrive in the cool, pristine waters, as well as Atlantic and Chinook Salmon. Beneath the shade of grand old trees, they glide through idyllic ponds that divide the garden beds, which open to a delightful little café.
Welcome to the Stony Creek Fish Farm, small in scale, decisively focused on sustainable aquaculture, and in the throws of becoming a fully regenerative system.
“How we differ is that the farm we’ve got is a flow-through farm, so the water is always moving and it’s always new water coming through,” says Rebecca Crawley, who owns and manages the farm.
“We also look at our stocking numbers so that there are not too many fish in each pond. So we don’t produce as many fish as some of the other farms, but we also don’t require as many inputs in terms of medicine or oxygen and that type of thing.”
Crawley says the farm is investigating the addition of aquaponics to use the nutrients from the ponds to grow their fruits and vegetables.
The result is best-practice aquaculture that produces healthy fish while avoiding the controversial pitfalls of high-density fish farming in open waters, farms that rely on recycled or recirculated water, indoor pools or the overfishing of natural fish stocks in ocean and river systems.
The farm supplies a number of local restaurants and cafes, but it’s also open to the public, allowing you to fish the ponds for yourselves and pay only for what you catch. The farm-gate store will scale your fish, or if you’d rather, you can choose to skip the fishing and purchase a fish that’s been pre-prepared or wood smoked.
Or you can simply relax by the ponds with a house-made fish pie, smoked trout quiche or sourdough bagel, or take home a treat like premium hand-cured Atlantic Salmon caviar or Stony Creek’s signature smoked trout pâté.
Stony Creek Fish Farm and Café is open Friday to Monday, 10 am to 4 pm all year (except in February, when it closes for a month to rest the ponds during the summer heat). Its year-round stock is particularly useful during the winter months when the river fishing season officially closes to allow the fish to spawn.
How to get there:
Ride straight to the farm gate on the beautiful Great Valley Trail, just 15 minutes from Harrietville or 1.5 hours from Bright. Or jump in the car for a scenic 20-minute drive from Bright along the Great Alpine Road.