The annual Trout Weekend was recently held 17 – 18 May with around 4,200 people attending over the two days at Liawenee. The feature of the event is the annual migration of brown trout as they leave the Great Lake and travel up Liawenee Canal to spawn.

The spawning run was at its peak and this natural phenomenon is what any nature lover would be excited to see, thousands of fish in the crystal clear waters flowing from Western Lakes World Heritage Area. IFS staff were on site collecting and fertilizing ova from the fish which were taken back to the New Norfolk hatchery for stocking out as fry into other waters later in the year.

This year celebrates 150 years since the first trout were successfully hatched in the southern hemisphere at the Salmon Ponds.

Supporting displays that added interest this year were the Wild Side Chefs from Tarraleah and their trout cooking demonstrations, trout smoking, the old footage being shown in the movie room, the interactive water bug display, MAST flare demonstrations and the ever popular children’s fishing ponds run by Fishcare volunteers.