Reply With Quotewe catch our own ,whats wrong with that.
SteveOriginally Posted by rabbi
Hey matt,
The restocking has been an annual event for the last 5 to 6 years and it normally occurs twice a year in the Richmond at least and thats why there have been prolific schools of small jew in various stages of growth development.
I recall that they may have done restocking further south of here too.
As far as netting goes matt, I believe that they have the ability to undo a lot of the rivers ability to recover by itself by destroying habitat and killing huge amounts of juvenile fish. The potential for the river to recover is there but there needs to be some conservation measures in place to ensure that it has a chance to do that.
Nets are not selective especially trawl nets where anything caught in the back of the net is killed. I realise that there has been a lot done to ensure a lot of bycatch has the chance to escape with improved netting methods which is a plus.
What really bites me is that we amateurs land only a small portion of what we hook(especially jew) as they have every chance to escape, or are released by fishos who let undersize (and oversize)fish go back to the river(apart from a few people who fill buckets with whatever they hook, bigger fines and more fisheries officers can help that problem).
Nets have one use and that is to take out whole schools of fish in one shot.
South Ballina beach is a big fish desert after the mullet netters have gone through it in winter.
When the jew netters have had a big week up the river it will take around about a month or two before we see small numbers of them creeping back into the system.
I keep records every year of my own personal jew fishing sessions and for the last few years I have been getting mostly juvenile fish and the bigger fish are just not there in any numbers anymore....
I am all for reducing the jew bag limit and upping the legal keep size but what is the point if we legally are obliged to do that when other groups have open slather and take all they can catch.
Blows the sustainability and conservation reasoning out of the water, Doesn't it!!??
Wish I was good at playing golf (But then would someone would come along and take all the golf balls?)
Just having a good whinge guys cause I have spent too many hours fishing for little or no fish. Coulda been doing something productive!
Cheers, steve.
I understand what you're saying. One thing which continues to go unacknowledged in the whole trawl fishery debate is the end point for the product of trawling for school prawns - rec fishers. The bait you see at tackle shops and servo's are most likely to come from the rivers of NSW and south east Queensland. It's a difficult issue because banning the trawl nets would mean that there overwhelming majority of the bait prawn would be gone from the freezers, meaning that it would need to be sourced elsewhere. Most likely from south-east Asia, where it is farmed in massive quantities with associated increases in the amount of chemicals needed to ensure the prawns can survive such high densities. Not to mention the increased risk of importing disease which could have a detrimental effect on local stocks. So, I think there has to be a regulated trawl fishery to allow the production of this bait prawn.
The number of blokes that bag commercial fishers, but then go and buy pilchards or mullet from the bait shop is amazing. Not everyone can catch their own bait, so it needs to be sourced elsewhere. If it's sourced from overseas, what does that do to the stocks of baitfish and prawns from these countries? Does anyone really care as long as it doesn't happen in their own back yard? Complex issues with no easy solutions, unfortunately.
I'll be looking to get a few jewies from the Bellinger on the new moon in April... Hopefully there'll be a few around!
we catch our own ,whats wrong with that.
Shut up and fish
Yeah I guess its pretty hard to jig up a few herring or pump a few nippers.
When I grew up down at Mylestom on the Bellinger River my dad used to take me bait gathering for nippers, poddy mullet ,herring etc and that used to be half the fun of getting out for a fish. We used to catch bigger mullet on a rod an reel using floats and stale bread mixed with water and sand and made into a putty like consistency, that was a hoot!!
These days people expect everything to be there in plastic bags ready for use but if you watch closely its the fishos that go outside the circle and use fresh bait or artificials that always seem to do okay with their fishing.
Small bream love packet prawns!
My partner uses chicken for bait and she always gives me a run for my money.
There seems to be a lot of american squid packets on the walls of late too!
I dont use bait for shore based fishing these days so that counts me out. I tend to get bored and go a bit stir crazy after an hour sitting there baitfishing.
But I digress again.
There are still a few juvenile jew around at the moment but hoping that a few bigger fish swim in soon but still a little way to go before conditions are right for the bigger fish.
Should be some nice salmon around shortly
Cheers.
It's not about the 10% that catch 90% of the fish (like you and blackjew, for example) - it's the 90% of people that catch 10% of the fish. They are in the majority who rely on packet prawns, etc.
Fact is, if packet prawns weren't available, people who wanted to fish would quickly adapt and use something else.
"Pudding" (bread, cheese, mince, etc all mashed together), steak, liver strips, chicken meat and gut, plenty of things were used to good effect before packet frozen prawns came along.
Hey rabbi, you can keep those salmon mate......lol, although they do make good bream bait.
I reckon salmon make even better crab bait
Ok then, Heres the challenge,
To the 90% of part time fishos out there go to your local butcher or shopping centre and get some cheap chicken bits, thighs etc & cut them into 50mm x 6mm strips and take them fishing one day.
I bet you will catch Bream,whiting,Flathead,school jew,Tailor and mudcrabs on it and at $5 a kg you will probably get at least 2 if not 3 fishing trips out of a kg.
Its cheap,clean and it works!!
For all of us budget conscious people it may even change your ideas about using expensive smelly old black prawns.
I am not trying to shoot you down Matt but there are always alternatives to use and I would love to see less bait packets laying around on our walls and more prawns & juvenile fish in our river systems.
And if any of our chooks go missing I will know who did it
Cheers guys.
Onya Steve ,second that .and that lo what a pisser mate love it ,it might stop the placcy bait bags you often see washed up on the beach .Mate talking bout crab bait have you ever tried cattys ,i use to use tuna oli soaked chicken carcases they work a treat got one muddy once went 2.5 kg ,just missed out on winning a fully decked out tinnie by 200 g was spewin,thne late found out the young guys that won the comp ,had the crab caged for 3 months .Little shits got away wif it .hey how did you go the other night .
Cheers Rob
Shut up and fish
The sooner we get those prawn nets out of the water destroying and killing everything in their path, the sooner the fishery will recover. Don't understand why the pro Snapper fishers arn't up the trawler operators destroying their livelyhood.
The bait arguement is ridiculous, real fishermen, rec or pro will get on just fine without the destruction that this long past it's use by date method of kill and prawns caught by trawling are not a necessary or unique bait in any case .
I have seen our bays, creeks and rivers turn into fish barren wastelands over my 50 odd years, have worked on a trawler and was sickened by what I witnessed and it's still happening day in day out, and could never do it for a living in any way. I am surprised there is a fish left alive out there.
Polititians need to be held accountable and educated as much as possible and not conned by the garbage continually put up by the so called industry.
The situation with many other netting practices and species is just rounding up the survivers.
Rec fishing/boating, tourism is so much more important and much more valuable to the countries economy IMHO so we need to fight for it's viability now and hopefully our kids, kids will be able to go fishing as we have, and sustainable and non destructive commercial fishers may still have a fishery left.
That's my rant
Yes john car thanks for your rant its so true ,i know just were your coming from.
Oh by the way this is the link to a study the government did on the migration of JEWFISH ,
Cheers Rob
http://www.int-res.com/articles/meps2007/328/m328p237.pdf
Shut up and fish
Good read that one. Ben
since this thread have pretty well got away from the original post and turned into Bash the trawlers thread
perhaps a few of you would care to comment on this article that was part of the original thread banter
as it appears that this bloke is some sorta GOD to mullaway and not just a journo making a story to earn a living like people of all walks do every day
ken
COMMENT: Time for action on mulloway
19 Mar 2012
By Jim Harnwell
AS you will have read in the main news piece, there has been concern about the sustainability of NSW's mulloway population for some time now. Something needs to be done and it needs to be done quickly if stocks of these iconic inshore sportfish are to remain viable, let alone grow.
Fisheries management is a complex business but it would seem obvious that putting control of mulloway in the hands of a steering committee dominated by commercial fishing interests is something like putting a fox in charge of the hen house.
If mulloway stocks are in such a dire state, then maybe we need to get really serious about protecting and enhancing the fishery. Instead of continuing to catch and net them, maybe we should take some serious and even controversial action.
My understanding of the mulloway stock situation is that it's in a pretty bad way. If that's the case, then it's my opinion that we should stop fishing for them. Simple as that. If we are serious about saving these fish, then we should put a total ban on the catching of all mulloway for, say, five years. That's no commercial catch of mulloway at all and the mandatory release of all mulloway caught by rec anglers. Pretty serious stuff. But, hey, there's no use just pissing around. If something needs to be done, then let's do it.
After the five years of no-take we could assess the situation and maybe re-allow carefully managed commercial and recreational fishing for mulloway if stocks have bounced back and are on the increase. On the other hand, we might need to continue the ban if stocks continue to remain unviable.
This would basically make mulloway a catch & release only species. Is that such a big problem? While I enjoy a feed of fresh mulloway as much as the next bloke, I would be happy to carefully release any and all of the jewies I catch if that means my kids will have the chance at enjoying these fantastic sportfish in the years to come. To keep catching them until they are completely wiped out or unviable just doesn't make sense. If something needs to be done – and it obviously does in regards to mulloway – then let's bloody well do it!
I'm not saying anything particularly new here. This sort of radical program was used in the US some decades back when the red drum, a close relative of our mulloway, was netted almost to the point of extinction due to the popularity of a Cajun recipe called "Blackened Redfish". The US fisheries managers introduced tough restrictions on the red drum fishery – commercial and recreational - back in the late 1990s. Over the ensuing decade, red drum populations bounced back and the species has become hugely important as both a sportfish and a commercial target.
Personally speaking, I'd rather see tough decisions taken now if that means my kids and I can expect to see good numbers of thumping big mulloway swimming around a few years down the track. Continuing to exploit the fish – especially 45cm juveniles that have no hope of breeding – seems to be a crazy strategy. I can't see how anyone could even contemplate condoning that sort of thinking ...
It's my opinion that we as anglers should take the moral high ground here. If the mulloway are in strife, then we should properly protect them. If the pros are fair dinkum about our fish stocks then surely they would have no problem adopting the same line of thinking ...
In my view it's bloody stupid to allow the exploitation of these fish to continue. And I mean commercial AND recreational exploitation. Hopefully Minister Hodgkinson will act accordingly ... Stay tuned and we'll let you know what eventuates.
Meantime, let us know your thoughts. What do you want Minister Hodgkinson to do about the jewie decision? Do you think it makes sense to allow the netters to continue taking juvenile fish, even if in relatively small numbers? Should we anglers push for more stringent action, like the total ban I've advocated above? Or should we be allowed to also take fish? If so, do you agree with the proposal for one fish over 75cm per day? Do you think that fish should be bigger or smaller? Should anglers be allowed more than one fish? If so, how many? And what about other management techniques such as spawning closures? Do you prefer that sort of measure over a total ban?
Have your say. All of us here at Fisho look forward to hearing your comments. And you can be sure that the Government will be taking note of your opinions and comments, as will the commercial sector. Let 'em all know what you think.
Jim Harnwell is the editor and publisher of Fishing World.
i thought i'd throw another bit out there for discussion.
the few on ausfish who have commented on this thread are not the majority of rec fishos that go out to catch a feed of fish.
it's the tens of thousands of mum and dad , three kid families that are the majority i think.
so in line with the thread title joe blow, mrs blow and the three kids go fishing in the family pride and joy to catch whatever is legal to eat.
fresh yabbie, live herrings etc ready to have fun!
at the moment the crew can keep 5 jew each /25 fish ?
probably unlikely but thats the rules.
25 plus kilos whole minimum of fish.
is this wrong ? need or greed
i'd support a size increase on all species but not jumping from 45 to 70/75 in one panic driven jump
55cms for starters in my opinion then review later.
putting the size limit up to the higher level in my opinion is is penalising the people above mentioned not the people who target big fish as thrill or trophys.
as for stopping pros with bigger size limits as with gut hooked rec fish i think there will just be a lot of good eating size fish floating around dead good for nothing or it will create a bigger than already is blackmarket fillet trade.
ok start firing
cheers
ken
I still reckon stopping all fishos,pros included from taking jew will not succeed unless you also stop the netting which kills large numbers of juveniles. Thats the guts of this rant!
If you want to preserve a species you have to also look at whats happening to juvenile fish as well.
I was at Maclean a few days back and there were 3 trawlers working around that area in the Clarence. Wonder how many juvenile fish were killed and wasted that day??
Non sustainable I think.
cheers.
OK, can you please tell me one method of "non destructive" commercial (or rec) fishing, every method destroys something, whether it be the death (or potential) of the fish we caught, the bait/plastic we used, the rubbish that maybe left on the bank, or tossed over the side, the motor we used, the cast we dragged over the bottom, the whole lot is destructive to various degrees, what the whole argument is about is WE dont want pros taking OUR fish.
I'm an average Joe Ken,
ill copy these threads and send the Jim Harnwell ,does anyone have any objections to this .
I think the Trawlers are the main problem IMAO
Yes its ridiculous to say we can take 5 jew each ,you can only fit one big one in the bloody esky,then you go home with a big smile on your dial.
Yep Im definitely having a big shot at the trawlers because they don't care what they take ,they must be so dam stupid or just not right in the head,how the hell do they sleep at night ,oh they don't,there to busy raping our river eco systems .They do a shot and get a net of Bass or juvenile jewys ,and a few kg of prawns .Oh well chuck the shit as they call it down the chute,Keep them out of the river systems ,not only do they reduce huge numbers of juvenile fish species,they destroy the bottom structure with there gear.
It is pointless having a size limit or bag limit on any fish if there is no one policing the size and amount scumbags catch and get away with it .A fellow Ausfish member has seen a guy with a bucket of small jewys on a number of occasions,The idiot is stoked because he has a bucket of fish ,he could not care less that they are undersize.
I like the 55cm size limit
i really don't see how a few hundred rec anglers that only target to catch jew fish ,could have a real impact on the breeders.
Where as one shot from a mullet net or trawler can take a big school of any size fish big ones kept and small ones go over the side Thats the difference in my opinion.
Sure ban them for everybody when they are spawning why not they ban Bass fishing in there spawning stage,but what about the pros
eg the taking of Jewy is banned during the spawning period for say 2 months ,but the are still allowed to net ,they cant release the fish that are banned because they would be dead.It doe not make sense to me .Just ban netting full stop within 5 km of any river system .I recon most of the time its convenience for them to trawl the rivers ,its nice and calm and alot less chance of losing there gear because of the conditions .
Cheers Rob
Shut up and fish
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