STRANDED FISH.

Taranaki Daily News, 20 December 1919, Page 6

STRANDED FISH.

A CURIOUS PHENOMENON. Sydney, Dec. 10. Gundagai, down in the south end of the State, smelt on Saturday like one huge fish shop. Everywhere one met the aroma of fried fish, boiled fish, cooked yabbies, and strong-smelling shrimps. There was a phenomenal downpour of rain, and thick, poisonous fioodwater from the parched lands swept into the Murrumbidgee, which became like brown soup. The river rose rapidly over its banks, and the suffocating fish rose to the Burface and drove into the shallow water seeking relief. The river fell as quickly as it. rose and in a few hours the uncovered banks were lined with incredible 1 masses of fish—bream, big cod, weighing up to 301b, yabbies, and shrimps. It is said that, in many places, the shrimps lay a foot deep upon the banks. The people, for many miles around, came to the river banks with every kind of conveyance, from wheelbarrows to motor-cars, and carried off the choicest fish while it was fresh. Never had they known such a feast of fish. But a river that was famed for its fishing has been so damaged that it will take years to | recover.