What did the fishing use to be like?

[bigmack]

Does anybody on the forum have pictures from your folks or grand parents of the good old days - holding up XOS fish.

I remember my grandfather holding up crocodile size lizards from mallacoota Inlet years ago. I will try to get a hold of them and scan/post.

How was the fishing 60 or more years ago?

Phill

[Duyz72]

For that matter how was the fishing 10 years ago!

[finding_time]

I sometimes think we talk up how good the fishing used to be or talk down the fishing now! I still think there are areas that produce great catches that probably wern't fished years ago because it was to hard eg Wide areas that without the aid of GPS and quality sounders were impossible to fish. I mean how good was the last snapper run alot of older fisherman i know have said they have never had a season like it.

Ian

[Louis]

It seems to be getting worse and worse with every year that passes unfortunately.


Louis

[DR]

don't have pics, but as a kid in the 60s i could wander down to coff's Creek & catch 1/2 a dozen 35cm odd whiting in no time at all on a handline & worms.. you could see schools of them in 12" of water,they were everywhere. heaps of bigger ones as a well.
plenty of large flatties as well.
a whole bunch of us spent heaps of time on the old jetty catching dozens of garfish & yellowtail,used to start fishing at daylight & sell to as livies to fellas going outside, what was left was sold to the co-op as bait. sometimes used to make 10 shillings for a days fun. pretty good money for a kid in those days..

[Fishin_Dan]

I may get laughed at this for this, but I am kinda of the belief that it's a big cycle... The fishing was bad many years ago as well... And when you think about it, the fishing is not really hard. I mean if I can catch a fish!!! ::) ;D

Yes, there are millions of photos of old mates holding up monster fish, but you ask them, and I bet they will also remember when they said "Wow the fishing has been getting better every year"...

Now before you all start slaying me with lines from The Lion King's "Circle of Life", it's just a theory, and one I really hope is true!

[freddyfish]

After looking at a few of the pics posted here it ain't too bad now either!

Trying to find a photo of my Dad and Len Thompson after a night fishing for tailor on the Tweed .

Two big Alvey cane creels full and about 50 fish lying on the ground around them. Will post when I find it.

Brad

[Duyz72]

I always hear stories from Uncles, grandparents etc, that they would troll the Nerang River up near where the M1 Bridge is.
I also remember as a kid fishing the Cement Jetty at the end of Whiting Street. There was the 'Grand', the 'Cement Jetty' and the 'Wooden Jetty' (as we called them) they used to tie up a barge there and we'd catch luderick, sole, flatties and nice bream too.
Then someone started dumping heaps of fish frames off the end (like big snapper etc) which seemed to coincide with a lack of fish in the area.
Now days lucky to pick up a toadie!

But I think it also has a lot to do with the bait. If no bait around, why would the fish come in?
Again, when I was a kid . . . . . . fishing on the beach, you would always find pippies with every cast. Stand there, wiggle your feet down a little more each time the with the wash and find a pippie every time.

I am sure our grandkids will have plenty of stories from the 'good old days!' too

[bigmack]

Blufish - your post reminded me of perhaps the last great tailor run before things started to decline - many years ago we went to Collaroy Beach in Sydney for an afternoon beach fish and picnic. Standing at Nth Collaroy we could see all these sticks and a crowd on the beach just north of the surf club. We went down there and couldnt believe the scenes - never seen anything like it before or since. Big Greenback tailor had pinned whitebait to the beach and there was just fish everywhere - tailor tailor tailor and more tailor............people came running down in their Sunday best with handlines and ran into the water waste deep with wonder wobblers and then turned around and hauled out a tailor; men/women/children all doing the same thing. People had walls of tailor built - 20 fish along and 4 or five fish high. Wall to wall people with rods of every description and just absolute mayhem going on. An amazing site and something that I never expect to see again. On that level anyway.

Cheers

[CHRIS_aka_GWH]

back when i had abs

[CHRIS_aka_GWH]

back just after brekky this morning - my brothers fish missed the metre - #just a few more cms

the good ol' days are still here - its what you make it

[Darryl]

Duyz72 i couldn't have relived my past fishing as a kid any better than that.

Your spot on with those frames , and i always fished the wooden jetty and always did well.

Do you remember the old bloke who used to be there everyday catching luderick?

[luggo]

Get an old "Guide to Fishes" by Ern Grant and you will read what used to be around and what happened to them,and if anyone thinks this is a cycle and those days will come back without stronger regulation of the "industry" the're dreaming.
Bob.L

[gunna]

Interesting post. Can't comment on outside fishing. Never did that years back. As for estuary. Its the numbers that have changed rather than the size. Bream were round in big numbers. Back in the sixties overnight catches of 100+ were really common in places like the Pin and Caloundra. Big lizards were no bigger than now - just more of them. There were good tailor catches on the GC beaches. Not huge numbers but better than now. But it wasn't as though you could drop a line in anywhere and catch fish. We camped heaps at Tallebudgera and I rowed and fished all over that creek. Always used fresh yabbies and fishing was pretty tough. Currumbin was just as hard. We would sometimes go and fish off the rocks toward the mouth of the Tweed and often came home fishless. I remember a couple fruitless trips to Donnybrook. I've also fished a specific spot in the Seaway once or twice a year for about the past 15 years and numbers haven't changed much in that time. We still have some good days there.

I do think that while the numbers have dropped the methods used these days make the fisho much smarter. Not so long back you would get the odd fisho outside who would get amongst them. Seems now that every man and his dog is taking heaps off our reefs. I do think that will come back & bite us in a few years. Bit like the bream catches of then and now.

[DougHanning]

My history isn't as long as some of you guys but in the eighties, lived in manly and after school Dad would take us out in the bay and we would always come back with a few snapper and big sweetlip. Also remember filling 2 plasterers buckets with prawns from lota creek many times and getting mudies every second day from the feeder creeks. Sure we have cycles but can you still do that?

[Burley_Boy]

You mean back in the days when I lived in a shoebox in the middle of the road? ::) ;D

[NeilD]

We can still usually get a feed but rely on pretty high teck tackle and electronics to support our effort. If I was to use the gear I used in the seventies, without GPS or sounders I reckon I would struggle. There are still plenty of fish around. We are just getting a bit more empty water between them.

Neil

[Always_offshore]

I remeber going out near morton island 20 yrs ago [aprox] and picking up 600lb of snapper for the day used to do it fairly regular.When your 300lb ice box was full and standing up to your knees in live snapper all around 3-4 kg then coming home and 3 of us cleaning fish for 4 hrs.I also remember when the weather report wasnt as good as today and you had to rely on your guts,I remember 4 metre swells and 25 knot winds ahhh The good old days ;D

[Duyz72]

Crestcutter - these are some of the stories I fondly remember from the days down at the 3 Jetties as a kid

1. #Bait Jig - this guy rocks up one day and throws out the bait jig from the Cement Jetty, brings in 10 herring in one hit! #Then the same bloke then starts catching luderick right there while he sends his livie is out. #Since that day I have realised there is more to fishing than prawns on your hook! #

2. #Long Casters - I was fishing the Timber Jetty without much success and an older bloke (grey hair - is really old to a kid) casts out to what seems like the middle of the broad water! #He is only using dough for bait and catches fish after fish after fish!

3. #Massive Fish - One evening fishing on the Grand Jetty a fellow is reeling in what seems to be a nice fish. #It gets to the jetty, his mate shines a torch down and I see the absolutely biggest flathead ever! #In all his excitement he tries to haul it up and 'SNAP' line breaks. #I have never seen a picture of anyone catching anything close to it. #That is also taking in to consideration a kids perspective. #To add to that, his next cast (which seemed also to land in the middle of the broadie) he brings in the biggest toadfish I have ever seen in my life!

4. #Catch a boat - Same night as Mr big flattie, a boat zooms past, a little too close and the bloke next to me has his reel start screeming! #He caught a boat!

5. #Pelicans - I always remember the pelicans sitting 3 or 4 per street light. #And the new paint jobs they would give the side walk and parked cars! #When I was of driving age, I was a passenger in a mates car. #Next minute his side of the windscreen is zero visibility thanks to pelican poo!

6. #Oysters - While fishing the Grand with my cousin, we ran out of bait. #So on low tide we started collecting squirts for bait (Cunjivi we called it). #There were so many oysters on the pylons and rocks too we started collecting them for bait too. #My cousin says his Mum likes to eat them.
"Eat them?" I ask bewildered why anyone would eat bait!
So we filled up a Chinese Takeaway Container full (all meat no shell) and gave them to his Mum. #I learnt that some people really do love Oysters!

And another one but from the Sundale Jetty (it will always be Sundale Bridge and Sundale Jetty to me).
A bloke is there with his daughter, throws out a token line and gives it to her. He sets up his own rig and casts out. After a while his daughter says,
"Daddy Daddy I got a fish!" her dad barely takes a look and casually replies
"Ok, just reel it in" concerning himself with his own fishing
"I can't" she replies having troubles with the obvious big bend in the rod
"Of course you can, just try" he is not even taking any notice of her, has a huff thinking he's going to spend the entire day baiting hooks, casting, reeling in his kids line and that it was a wrong idea to bring his little girl after all.
She struggles but manages to bring in some line bit by bit.
"I can't Daddy, I can't" she cries again, this time we all see a big FLASH in the water.
He looks over with a 'what the' look on his face and finally he notices that the his kid is almost being pulled in to the water. He races over and does the last part to land the biggest bream I have ever seen to this day!
Goes to show you anyone can catch fish and outfish their parents!

[rabbitohbill]

When I was a kid, I recall catching trag on peices of rag off Broughton Island ( Newcastle).

Haven't done that since, [smiley=bigcry.gif]

[rabbitohbill]

When I was a kid, I recall catching trag on peices of rag off Broughton Island ( Newcastle).

Haven't done that since, [smiley=bigcry.gif]

[Volvo]

Has always been great for this little vegymite ;).Just the methods and the terittory has changed.
As for yarns or piccies??, Not enough space provided lol..
Cheers

[Freeeedom]

I've been fishing SE Qld rock, beach and estuary since the mid 60's and the big change over that time is in the numbers of fish available. Through the winter (late April to August) I used to fish the Tweed River for bream through the night and tailor across the top of the tide. I didn't consider it a reasonable night unless I caught at least a hundred bream, and you could usually do that in about 6 hours or less. I frequently had century catches of tailor inside the river, often averaging over a kilo each. One night I took a mate and we pulled over 300 tailor between late afternoon and about 10pm. In defence of this slaughter, which I would not be interested in repeating today, even if I could, none of those fish were ever wasted. I doubt very much that you could repeat catches like that today, particularly the tailor. You consider it a good catch today if you can get anywhere near your limit. The picture shows a pretty average bream catch, of about 50 plus a few luderick. There are a lot of quality fish in there though.
Cheers Freeeedom

[RobSee]

My partner's dad can catch fish.

he was able to get 62 bream last season

[DaneCross]

I remember when I was a youngn' (2-8yo) living in Manly, the neighbour would regularly come home with massive hauls of whiting. Catching only 300 was a bad day. He use to scale them by throwing them in an old washing machine and running it... Hmmm, maybe he's part of the reason I went out last Sunday chasing whiting and didn't catch one! (Could have also been the heavy boat traffic and shitty bait we were using... or maybe we're just crap lol) Ahh the good old days ;)

[major-defect]

one of me dads mates used to take me and my brother fishing when we were little kids.He used to take us out of Nudgee and Cribb and get 400 winter whiting in 3 or 4 hours then spend the rest of the day filleting.You would only do this once or twice a year.

[Tassie_Boy]

I doubt recreational fishers have much to do with any decline.

In the 70's and early 80's we used to get 100's of ( what we called ) Jack Mackeral. They used to feed half of the town ( George Town, nth Tassie ) for a few months every year. Then the govt permitted Russian commercials in monster ships to catch em for animal feed and fertilizer and we never really got any more. :'(

Cheers

Jon

[thumps]

sand flatties down the neck are still in plague proportions


primrose sands/slopen main

still nothing to catch 200 in 2 hours