Mr Fyfe was at the water’s edge for the inaugural release of 10,000 golden perch fingerlings into the wild.
“I’m actually living in Melbourne but I hate Melbourne, so I come up here a lot,” Mr Fyfe said.
“I go to Jamieson to fish the Goulburn River there all the time. I average three days a week every week (fishing).”
Mr Fyfe manages this amazing feat because he was retired early by a spinal condition.
“After working 38 straight years, the first six months of retirement I was basically sitting at home in tears,” he said.
“Then I started to get more involved with fishing and it’s been the greatest thing ever. It’s given me self worth and I supply them (Victorian Fisheries Authority) with a lot of wild fish information.
“I keep a comprehensive diary and I’m out there every week; I see it every week and have for the last four years.”
The dedicated VFA volunteer has more than 700 followers on his fishing Instagram (harry.wanderer.3) and releases every Murray cod he catches, no matter the size.
“The older and wiser I get, the more interested I am in protecting them, but to catch them is just wonderful,” Mr Fyfe said.
“I don’t think I’m a better fisherman than anybody else, but every time you catch a fish an image forms in your subconscious ... the more images you form the easier it is to walk down to a river and see where the fish will be.”
Mr Fyfe said restocking the environment with native fish was incredibly important.
“I grew up with a grandfather born in the 1900s and an uncle who’d tell me about the monster cod they caught as teenagers.
“It took me 65 years to see my own monster Murray cod. I don’t want to be a grandfather telling my grandkids about cod that don’t exist any more.”
The 2022 Codference will be held on Sunday, February 27, at the Eastbank Conference Centre, Welsford St, Shepparton.
Attendance is free but booking is essential. Mr Fyfe will be talking at the Codference about the art of clear-water cod fishing with bait.
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