Jeez it's good to see so many taking part in this ' debate '. What this does , is get the tongues going and in so doing , that helps others to make sense of the regs. The more you talk, possibily, the more you learn.
Well Dazza, 300 Bream at night sessions don't really happen. That may have been for 2 people in a boat. The best catch this year ( by a Club fisherman ) was 170. Having said that, Bream don't come under bag limit regs, for a specific reason, they are not in danger. Club records from up to 50 years ago confirm that numbers of fish caught then and now have remained constant. Same as Whiting. BUT, I do know what ya saying, and I believe that Clubbies, in particular, should have a re-think on the way they operate.
As JB was saying about us old timers, 20 years ago we may have been putting a good number of fish in the esky, but hey, at he time, the FISH were in good numbers and didn't appear to be waneing. Hindsight is a wonderful thing. But, once we started to see fish number reductions, the first folk to say ' we should do something about this ' was the rec fishoes. We just needed a bold Government to make the changes.
And sure, rec fishoes equipment has improved out of sight in recent years, and so have the Pro's " effort ". So again, the old ' blame ' finger pointing happens, and yes Joe, we are all in there somewhere. But, at least we ( recs ) are doing something, and all that is, is obeying the Law and practicing " catch & Release ".
Just because ya jumped up and down a while ago , JB, doesn't mean law has to change imediately, and it never will. The Government process is a long drawn out affair that depends on elections and enthusiasum by those elected. But I'm sure, yourself and others can look back in years to come and say " I had a hand in helping this resource, I had my say ! "
Let's just hope we can put a little ' reverse spin' on what has happened over the last 20 years.
And a big help, will be no more JB, out there doing the big ones .
If for some reason, you are not happy with the regs as they stand, tell someone, NOT ya mates at work, tell Henry, Peter, Robert, or at least your local member. And don't just email, write them once. Get into it, make it a monthly effort, weekly effort, daily effort!
The rec and pro fishing industry , I think, is the most Economic Productive industry that Australia has, in that the vast majority of money spent in this industry stays in Oz. That fact should be re-inforced to anyone you speak to, who happen to be on the publics' payroll
cheers Phill