Should there be a bag limit on WHITING

[xxxxhornet]

Guys,

With all the fuss on bream - what about whiting? My thoughts are bag limits of 40-50, but lets hear your thoughts.

Sure whiting are there still in numbers, but everyones got a very secret spot where they get the bigguns, and I bet those fishos only take what they can eat over a few meals.

If you ask me who cares if they are in plague proportions now - nobody knows what the future holds so lets ease up a bit while things are 'good'.

Open for discussion.....on Whiting.

[ba229]

Here we go again ;D

In NSW the bag limit on whiting is 20 total 27cm

Bream 20 total 25cm

[xxxxhornet]

Sounds like a plan!! ::)

We can kill this post now.....

;D ;D ;D

[easyrider525]

how many cans of worms do we want opened? :-X

[sharkbait]

Sure whiting are there still in numbers, but everyones got a very secret spot where they get the bigguns, and I bet those fishos only take what they can eat over a few meals.



Don't count on it. Round here, the gun whiting fishos think its ok to take 100 good fish in a night. Multiply that by a few boats in a club night, and they might as well be pros. I'm all for a limit, 20 per person is heaps.

[sharkbait]

:-/

[sharkbait]

should definitely add that not all gun whiting fishos do this (how would i know) and it certainly isnt possible to take large numbers all the time, but there are many who do.

[cindy]

Anyone with any common sense and respect for the environment should realise that there should be a bag and size limit on ALL fish. Fees collected from licenses for example should be used to police these regulations and ensure these irresponsible idiots are wiped out.
Lets ALL look after our our future.
My ten cents worth!
Cindy ;)

[Sportfish_5]

100 whiting in a night -hmm a few too many to be cleaning and filleting for me. Surely 20 is more than enough per person for a family feed. ;D

Greg

[Cheech]

A friend I use to go fishing with use to tell me about the time that he and his father and uncle caught 99 whiting between them once in a night. He had been fishing all his life and fishes every week, and had never had that happen before. So even though that sounded a lot, that was 33 fish betwen 3 families and he assured me that there was no waste.

This really is a tricky question.

Cheech

[sharkbait]

Yep, cheech, point conceded, tricky question. Bit worrying though when blokes are scoring a 'ton' on a club trip, but i think most would agree, the writing (whiting???) is on the wall.

[MTpockets]

In the old days in Mackay my parents had 2 good spots where they regularly caught 40 to 50 whiting each in an afternoon. Those days are gone. Now in Mackay you would be lucky to catch 5 or 6 in those spots.
My wifes ex in-laws used to catch 200 winter whiting in the bay as well at any given time they decided to go out. These days they would consider 15 winter whiting a good haul.
I would like to see a bag limit on all fish as well, simply cos I hate greedy buggers, and lets face it.... the people catching the hoards are probably not going fishing JUST for a feed. I am sure 20 whiting would be enough for anybody.
cheers
Les

[Bringback_the_esky]

HEY AUSFISHERS, I am back again, to give my 50 cents worth on this debait, with the whiting and bream topic (ha ha) i'll just finish me VB first.
ARHH THATS BETTER.
Being a club fisher for over 25 years now, i have seen many changes to the club fishing and club fishermen, or neanderthols as some people would like to call us :-[
Club fishing has been around for over 100 years now, and there has been some positives come out of the club scene.
Young angler clinics, which started back in the 1950s, fishing writers that do columns in the newspapers and fishin mags have fished and or have been associated with fishing clubs for decades and decades, which in turn help the average angler to catch a feed.

My thread on bag limits, is yes there should be a resriction for both whiting and bream.
An in your possesion limit is also the way to go, ( yes NSW have good limits, but that is 20 per day per person), i watched an angler recently in NSW catch his 20 luderick in a short time and stop fishing. i thought ok he has his bag, he is going home, but no :o :o,, straight on the mobile to a mate, the mate picks up the fish and the angler gets straight back into the fish again. he did this once more before he ran out of bait.
60 fish in on session, on a 20 per day bag limit, i bet the esky was full. ;D ;D.

Where was i, are thats right, from what have seen over my beer belly and many years of club fishing, is that that whiting and bream populations have stayed steady, the big thing that has grown is the human population, which means we are sharing the same amount of fish with more people. hence smaller catches.

In the late 50's, the goverment at the time wisely increased the size limit from 23cm to 25cm, the first winter club anglers released approx 80% of there catch at the jumpinpin,, the next winter this wise decision payed off as better quailty fish were caught, and the smaller ones were released, but the next year the size limit was put back too 23cm due to the fact they spawn at 21 to 23 cm.
( In hindsight would nt the fishery better now if they left the size at 25cm,,, i know most clubs have been fishing for bream at 25cm for over 10 years, and the Pin and the Broadwater have been the benefit for alot of anglers.)

At 25cm does this mean a bream could spawn 3 or 4 times, and the same goes for whiting too. ;D ;D [smiley=2thumbsup.gif]

I dont want to sound like a greenie,, but habitat plays a big part in the sustainabilty of a spieces. U lose the habitat you lose the spieces. ??? ???

Bream 25cm - 40 per angler in your possesion at any one time
Whiting 25cm- 40 per angler in your possesion at any one time

THat would be far, it would keep the clubbies happy and the general public.

Lets remember that apart from a stick of dynamite or a net, catching fish with a bit of metal on a piece of line is still the most primative way of getting feed of fish[smiley=2thumbsup.gif]

Any way i m getting thirsty,, and for the bloke who wants to give me a carton to take him out and catch a feed,, i would do it gladly,, make sure there VB,, and you will be only out for a hour.

10% of anglers get 90% of the fish. [smiley=2thumbsup.gif]

BUT NOT ALL THE TIME!!!!!!
I am thirsty,, GO QUEENSLANDER

[webby]

Well spoken mate (VB. ??? better off with a bundy mate ;D).
Next they'll want a bag limit on Mullet ;D
regards

[Gazza]

Yeh Webby ,i'm shore #::) some of these guys would vote to .....
Cut off one arm ,if they could adequately pick their nose with only one. #:-*

;D :D :D :D

Anyways , because i'm more sensible ,than the "cut an arm off mob" #:P
I reckon it 'shouldn't be ' illegal to have a undersize whiting for bait on a ganghook ,and of course #::) in doing so , release it.......

Ohh wells ,can't be right all the time. #:P :P

Regards
Gazza

[smiley=end.gif] [smiley=rifle.gif]............ [smiley=scholar.gif]

[jockey]

Yep, there should be a bag limit on all fish - high for some though. You never know what crazy stuff people might do - fertiliser for example.

[Gazza]

yep ,let's have a baglimit on toadies as well........and,and...... ;)

[jockey]

I think there is a bag limit of 0 on toadies, unless you are going to eat them...

[ba229]

I NEVER EVER throw a toady back. :)
And I love it ;D

[ba229]

HaHaHaHa to all you greenies who get upset by that HaHaHaHa ;D

[Gazza]

I think there is a bag limit of 0 on toadies, unless you are going to eat them...

hey Jock ,could you post the link or reference to which yu refer....... :P
;D

[jockey]

I don't remember referring to any references :-*

ba229, I think it's bad for fishing, not just the environment. You are shooting yourself in the foot by killing fish you don't need.

[ba229]

Ahh come on Jockey, you can do better than that. No rumour or hear-say? :D

[Gazza]

Yeah C'mon Jock , give us a "Take Two"....... ;D i.e. ireadthishere ,or linkhere ::)
Name your Sauces ;D

Or forever hold your rod

[jockey]

Fishnet. There is a post about a guy who got done for not returning a toadfish. He had a record for illegal netting I think. Everyone lept to his support. He took it to court and got it thrown out I think.

[dasher]

Hehehehe grasping at straws mate. ::) The guy was sited for not returning the fish to the water. Unfortunately because he was otherwise involved with fisheries and making sure they didn't root up the side of his boat he didn't get the chance to release said fish while he was being questioned. Musta been a hard decision for the judge. ::) :o ;D ;D

[ba229]

Is it against the law to keep toadies in NSW?

I have searched this very topic and haven't found anything that says I can't take home 20 toadies a day if i want to. 20 being the daily limit for any fish here in NSW (other than bait fish).


He had a record for illegal netting I think.

Far removed from catching them by line when going for other fish don't you think?

[jockey]

I think it was in Victoria, not NSW. I think the law is that if you don't want a fish you should return it to the water ASAP. Not sure if that is just in Victoria or everywhere.

So if you want the toadies you are more than welcome to bag out on them. But if you don't want them you can't just throw them up on the bank to die.

I am not sure if his convictions were for netting or something else.

[ba229]

I think the law is that if you don't want a fish you should return it to the water ASAP.

;D MATE are you kidding?

A law that says if you don't want the fish you have to return it?

Very hard to convict someone on that don't you think?

Fisheries: "Right son you are coming with me"

Me: "What for?"

Fisheries: "You've just kept a fish you don't want"

Me: "How do you know I don't want it? I wouldn't have kept it if I didn't. Go and catch the guys who are keeping 100 undersize fish and do some good for a change. :)"

[jockey]

If they pick up someone who has a toadfish flopping around in his boat (as was apparently the case) then a conviction is difficult. But if they sit there watching you fishing and anything you don't want (toadfish, little stingrays etc) you throw up the bank to die, then they would have no trouble convicting. I'm sure sure if the law applies in all states (and I would like to know).

[ba229]

Fisheries "you don't want that fish, so you are busted"

Me "how can you tell I don't want it?"

Fisheries "well you just tossed it on the shore to die"

Me "I don't have time or see it as necessary to bleed and ice my fish. I am too busy fishing"

Do we need to keep going with this?

[jockey]

yes please

It should be obvious from the circumstances what your intentions are. Most people have an esky or some other carrying device to put the keepers in. But if you were throwing the keepers up the bank as well (not a good idea, I've had dogs and birds pinch my fish like that) then they would just have to wait until you pack up and leave - ie pull you up as soon as you dtart your car to drive off. But that is a very extreme case. If you still wanted to argue the point you could go to court and say under oath that you intended to eat that toadfish.

[ba229]

Thanks for the discussion Jockey.

The End.

[in_my_blood]

I am a South Australian and we have aa bag limit of 20 per person 60 per boat minimum size is 30cms that is for king george whiting, yellowfinis same bag limit but 24cms minimum and the same for silver whiting this has been in place for many years and we are still finding it hard to catch regular feeds in the metro area put them in place soon or you will find the same thing will happen there