Noodles

Apologies for delay. Left my map on a mates boat and had to dig out the spare. You are correct. The area in front of Broughton Is. in close is a Habitat Protection Zone with special restrictions on anchoring and bait fishing. So drifting and flicking plastics, flies or other lures is permitted.

Bloke I knew used to fish the Mangrove Dam weir for them which is pretty close. Not sure where exactly but a good map should put you in the right spot. I have not heard of them at the falls though.

You may be right. I'll have to have another look at the maps. The only reason I can see for not allowing anchoring would be to prevent damage to the bottom structure. As for allowing SPs but not bait, that's a new one for me. I'll look into it and get back.

@raider:- You will notice that my post looked at the issue not the politics. I would be happy for a conscience vote on issues like this. You on the other hand, have clearly indicated your allegiance for all to see. This discussion is not a place for partisanship as recreational fishermen come from all political persuasions. Well probably not The Greens though, but you never know. Sometimes it's best to leave your colours at home and just discuss the issues without carrying the big banner. Read it again and you will see that I was simply suggesting that, as with any kneejerk, on-the-fly legislation, there will be unexpected and possibly undesirable outcomes as well as the desired ones, so it isn't appropriate to just all shout "Hooray". Nothing about being a supporter of this political team or that one. Where I live it will not make much difference to me personally, but I too am glad to see it gone. I'm just saying that it may not be a very manageable or effective legislation if it is only short term, which it is, having now been passed, albeit with a sunset clause imposed by the cross-benchers. This is another of those very loosely worded laws that are open to a wide range of interpretation and there could be many business people and investors out there who would not be sharing your certainty that this law will have no effect on the countries commercial opportunities. It is a law that allows the forced cessation of commercial activity based on the discretion of an individual Minister. Not exactly the way things are usually done in a democracy. I wonder if they will ever use it when people complain about CSG or Open-Cut. There is no reason why they can't. Now, if as you say, the Government was subsidising Seafish's operations in this venture, then all the more reason to question the backflip and justify their seeking compensation for their losses. I'm sure the legal teams will be debating exactly that point.

You had better read the published information about the Marine Park and make sure you understand the regulations regarding the different zones. I think what you are referring to is the area out in front of Broughton Island where you are allowed to do seasonal trolling. You must be underway by propulsion, ie, a motor is pushing you along. Not drifting and flicking soft plastics around and you are not allowed to use berley. From my reading of the maps, there is no zone called "Bait Free Zone". Yesterday, after fishing up that way we came back in to the bay to find a school of Salmon and Bonito boiling up on Nelson Head and around into Little Beach in front of the boat ramp and jetty. This is right in the Sanctuary Zone boundary. There were people flicking lures into them from the shore, the Jetty and from boats. Needless to say the Marine Park Authority turned up pretty quick. The school was moving up and down the beach and at times half the school was in the Sanctuary and the other half was not. It may seem a bit odd but you could legally catch fish from the same school just a bit up from where you were not allowed to fish.

I make no apology for entering into this controversial thread and wish to make it very clear from the start that this whole matter is real dilemma for all parties directly involved and otherwise. To the posters above who have just said "that's good to hear" or similar, you should perhaps examine the further implications of such legislation, should it succeed. This is a two-edged sword if ever there was one. I am truly in two minds on this. As a recreational fisher, I am pleased that the baitfish stocks of the Southern Australian waters will not be scooped from the ocean in a single massive event, but I understand that the pre-existing quota will most likely be lifted anyway. However, there is a difference between the two approaches. Smaller trawls will take lesser quantities over a longer period of time and possibly do less significant localised damage. The less efficient manner of this method will cause higher operating costs and keep the greater risk to individual fishermen, as well as concentrating the hawl on areas closer to shore and the processing plants. Good or bad? Which is better? It's very hard to say. Obviously the next step is for the parties with invested financial committment to seek some sort of redress for their losses by taking legal action against the Government. That will be your tax payer dollars being distributed to the legal professionals on the gov't side and should the fishermen win, it will be your money paying their compensation. This event has been in the planning for several years so it wasn't as if the Minister didn't know it was coming. There are very good reasons why the Opposition may not support this bill. The implications of it upon future commercial operations and investment in this country will be widespread. The Bill is going to give the Ministers the discretion of halting any operations based on there own whim or concern. This is not just a matter of saying "Oh isn't it great what the ALP and Greens have done". Remember that Christine Milne came out last night and said it was only a halt progress, not a stop. You can't just say that the Coalition is doomed if it opposes this Bill. This is a far greater problem than just this one ship catching fish in our waters.

While I don't necessarily agree that this trawler should be allowed to strip the ocean, I doubt we will be able to stop it from undertaking the task it is here for. My understanding is that it has been commissioned by an Australian company to fish for baitfish that would otherwise be fished in a different manner, but fished anyway. On ABC Radio the other day there was a representative of some South Australian Tuna Fishing / Farming Association (not sure which one) being interviewed and he was supporting the operation of this vessel. On the other hand there was an interview with a different bloke last week from a Game Fishing Association who said that last time this type of intensive fishing occured there was serious damage done to stocks, which took 5 years to recover. Lets hope that common sense prevails and no long term damage occurs. Remove the baitfish and you have a problem with fish up the food chain all the way to the top.

You can usually get in to a depth point where there are none, but then there is often nothing else either. They are voracious feeders and will eat anything. I have pulled flathead up from the bottom to find them with chunks missing. LJ's = lost gear = money.

I was also told to avoid the multicoloured / depth counter line as well. Apparently they see the colour change as something to eat.

They are not just off Sydney. Out off Swansea over the weekend in any water over 35m, they are in plague proportions and have been for quite some time. Only a couple of months ago they were only 6 inches long but there were hundreds of them underthe boat at any given time and they were snipping line above the trace. Now there are still just as many but they are much bigger averaging 15 inches with a few bigger ones still. On Sunday I took my son and daughter plus daughters boyfriend out and we put 32 in the esky in about half an hour. They were breaking the surface and we could sight catch them directly under the boat. We could have easily taken our bag limit of 80 but what's the point. Ate a few last night, gave some to friends and family and still have leftover for the freezer and cat food. If you don't have wire rigs, give up and go home or at least move into shallower water. We even lost some wire when they bite you off above the trace. Losing jigs to them out on the kingy reefs can be quite an expensive hobby. The local tackle store guy up here told me of a regular who'd come in the shop and spend $400.00 to replace lost jigs from a single days fishing. Some people say they are around up here because of the Coal Ships but if they are down that far too, it must just be a plague. I remember the same thing happening 40 years ago and there were no coal ships off Broken Bay back then.

Many fish (and other animals as well) are chromatophoric. Flathead are an excellent example. 3 flathead can be caught in different locations and they will come out of the water looking completely different. Catch one on sand and it will come up lightly coloured with very little variation. Catch one on dark coloured mud or rock bottom and it will be nearly black. Catch one on scattered gravel or over weed beds and you will get the blotchy patterns. Blue-spotted flathead will do the same thing and they are quite likely to be caught with the blotchy marbling many people associate with the "Usual Dusky". I have caught over 100 open water flathead in the last 12 months including Blue-spot, Tigers and Marbled, and the spotties are not all exactly the same. They will however, always have the spots which can vary from bright blue to nearly white. The other thing is that I haven't caught any Duskies in open water over 12 - 15m deep or more than a couple of hundred metres from shore, and only 1 in the last year, since they are predominantly an Estuarine species and while they can be caught in oceanic water, they rarely venture very far from shore. Actually, I haven't caught a single dusky, but my son did on the Blacksmiths Bait Reef which is 6.5m deep and swimming distance to the beach and estuary entrance. The OP has reinforced that the fish was a Blue-Spot.

DPIPWE Tasmania The southern bluespotted flathead has a lighter sandy brown body with scattered small blue to white spots intermingled with dark blotches. The tail fin has dark spots surrounded by white. This species of flathead can grow up to 90 centimetres and weigh up to 8 kilograms. Some authorities say the Eastern classification is no longer valid as there are 2 species being Northern and Southern.

Ah, the naysayers strike again. Looks to me like the angler knows the difference or he wouldn't have specifically said so, and I can't see a tail spot in that photo. Well done on a cracker Eastern Blue Spot flatty mate. I catch them in any depth from 30m out to 60m and don't catch many duskies in those waters. Fish up to 70cm are not uncommon and the biggest one I've seen was a metre plus fish taken on a 45cm model which it ate headfirst at Coffs Harbour.

I used to watch a guy pull them in off the rocks at Putty Beach while I was casting for Tailor. Low tide, fishing the protected side back in towards the beach. Not recommended in Southerly conditions. North East wind and swell preferred so summertime really. At low tide you can wade / rockhop right out to the edge of the rock wall down where it drops vertically down to the sand. This bloke used to stand on one of the higher rocks and cast his jigs sideways along the edge. He used to get plenty and I saw him do it an several occasions. It is a well known jew / kingy spot too so don't be afraid to throw one out with a hook in it. The only problem now is that National Parks have put a ticket vending machine on the road in and they charge you to enter an area about as big as a football field and walk over to the public beach. I don't fish there anymore.

I enquired about bulk hooks at a local franchise type store recently and was told straight up that the likes of Mustad etc, simply don't supply the old 100 qty box anymore. 25 was the biggest pack they could get. However a few years back, maybe 5 or so, I purchased a couple of boxes from online shop out of the USA when our dollar was pretty good. It's not bad at the moment either, but the basic postage charges from the states has gone up. It was still well worth the effort and expense plus they had models that you don't see here in OZ. Get some mates together and buy a few different boxes and divy up the spoils. It will be well worth it.