Prawns APlenty

[webby]

Prawned the lower end of the river last night from 5-10pm and caught 15 buckets of greasies and 4 buckets of a mixture of tigers and bananas
No the cast net wasnt working overtime, but the 9m river beam trawler and nets were.
Yes did a trip with one of the rivers beam trawlers and sure was an experience to see how these blokes forge a living.
By-catch was minimal as you can see by the pics, although i did end up with a good supply of bait for future trips (herring/divers/poddies/squid) and a nice bucker of fresh prawns, sure beats throwing a cast net.
Dangerous game with all the bullrouts/happy moments/small catties/demon stinger/toadies, that showed up in some of the catches.
The way the nets are set-up now with extrusions devices, very little by-catch is now brought on board.
Great night.
regards

[webby]

the arvo was poor

[webby]

evening were better

[uripper]

Webby – do you think this experience is typical or indicative of the average estuary beam trawler?? - One recent afternoon in the Pine River I witnessed a beam trawler throwing an estimated 100kg+ (4 x large plastics crates) of all-dead by-catch over the side from one pull – mostly small herring, whiting, bream, etc - acknowledge they are an easy target for criticism on this site but really wonder how much damage they do – nevertheless, appreciate your efforts in getting out on one rather than standing on the bank (or the keyboard) & taking cheap shots - Mal M

[indy]

TRAWLERS WHAT MORE CAN I SAY

[allniter]

Geez mate , you sure do get around
more information please, why doesn't more bycatch get caught ?
do they troll that slow that most fishies can swim out of the entrance of the net before getting swept down inside the net ?
or is there some sort of outlet at the other end that allows bigger fishies out?
me just a dumb sprinkler boy
oh......
and where's my share ?

[uripper]

TRAWLERS WHAT MORE CAN I SAY

the simple answer is what more do you know?? or can you back up with credible evidence??

lets be objective & consider the "facts" carefully

Mal M

PS I've been a staunch critic of beam /creek trawlers for a long time & I don't plan on giving them any slack but have realised in recent times I should base my opinions on credible evidence rather than emotive assumptions - fish to all

[indy]

Mal M

Lets just say i have fished the pine river for a lot of years and have seen the same trawlers flogging it and they do catch alot of by catch that they are throwing back dead with a flock of birds behind picking up the scraps that is evedince enough for me

cheers pete

[2DKnBJ]

Webby
You werent on there for the prawns you were only there to restock your bait freezer
Cheers Dazza

[ShaneJ]

Hi Webby, do you know the owners/operators of this trawler? Or did you just ask to go on a trip? I have been wanting to do a trip on such a trawler to get a fist hand view of what goes on. But I dont want to make a fool of my self by asking

[rando]

Hi Brian
Can you share any other info.

Can they tell when they are onto prawns?
what areas do they fish,,, and when ,(deep, shallow, etc inside /outside of bends)
in short what they look for.?

Apologies if Im being a pest,

cheers
rando

[charleville]

I sense an interesting article in B&B coming.

Very interesting.

[tshort]

"By-catch was minimal as you can see by the pics, although i did end up with a good supply of bait for future trips (herring/divers/poddies/squid) and a nice bucker of fresh prawns, sure beats throwing a cast net.
Dangerous game with all the bullrouts/happy moments/small catties/demon stinger/toadies, that showed up in some of the catches. "

Webby bullrouts/happy moments/catties etc. are the by-catch. While fishers may call them vermin, others call them a very important part of the ecosystem.

[Jeremy]

interesting to see a real perspective on river beam trawling, or was it? I am not yet totally convinced though. Knowing they had a fishing writer on board, they may have changed their tactics? Trawl shallow for less prawns and less bycatch, trawl deep for more prawns and more bycatch? I don't know shite about this, just speculating. Be interesting to read your thoughts on this Brian.

Jeremy

[StevenM]

Jeremy,

I would have to say that I am with you on this one. 5 Hours work for 19 Buckets.

How do they pay the bills? Why are they or how are they still in Business

Cheers

Steven