The group used rod and line methods to catch 15 Murray cod, 14 golden perch and one European carp during the three-day trip and filmed and documented their efforts for the next series of Mr Paxevanos’s TV show next year.

A large 91 centimetre Murray cod was caught within half an hour of  Mr Paxevanos’s arrival.

Angler Matt Hansen said the findings fly in the face of the EA’s aquatic field survey of the area, where consultants using netting and electro fishing caught no fish at the offtake site, one native and one exotic fish at an upstream site, and two native and three exotic species were caught at a downstream site.

Mr Paxevanos said he was surprised at the numbers caught following recent storm damage in the area.

“The upper Macquarie between Bathurst and Burrendong is spectacular,” he said.

“The river is the jewel in the region as far as fishing goes.

“The EA said there is no significant numbers [of fish] in that river which is garbage.”

But council spokesman Nick Redmond said the EA did acknowledge the species of fish were present, despite the limited number of fish caught during the survey.

“We’ve given consideration to trout cod,” he said.

“You can’t rely on the survey.”

Mr Paxevanos said a lot of work had been done to increase the numbers of native fish in the river.

“The river was selected by Fisheries NSW as one of the few places to stock endangered trout cod so we know there are endangered species in there,” he said

Mr Paxevanos said the impact of water being sucked from the river during low flows was the primary concern for anglers.

But Mr Redmond said the low flows had been set by the NSW Office of Water and historical data suggested the low flow level had only been reached on 17 days of the last 100 years. *

“If we can’t demonstrate that we can minimise the impact then it won’t be approved,” he said.

“We believe we’ve put forward a sound EA.”

A submission from NSW Fisheries said  council had not met deficiencies in the EA to address the impact on the river’s aquatic life.

*CORRECTION: This story said the low flow level had only been reached in the Macquarie River on 17 days of the last 100 years equating to .04 per cent of the time.

It should have said low flows of 22 megalitres and below, which Orange City Council does not propose to pump at, occur about 20 per cent of the time.

The story should have read that council spokesman Nick Redmond said council gave consideration to trout cod and a number of other species, including eel tailed catfish and Murray cod, in the environmental assessment (EA).

Mr Redmond said council could not rely on the aquatic field survey alone and also consulted with anglers, including Matt Hansen, and included the fish species they identified in the EA.