Keflapod

Guys, I'm not sure how effective this poll will be. Give them an inch and they'll take a mile. We need to state unequivocally that sanctuary zones are unconstitutional (or something like that) and that we have a right to access any area. We have shown we are responsible in our use of the areas and can demonstrate their sustainable use. If any form of ban is in order to preserve the area, then the danger must be identified and banned - ie commercial netting. They should not be called marine parks or sanctuary zones - they should be called net-free zones. Any users of that water must be restricted to line fishing methods only, bound by size limits. Bag limits apply to recreational fishos as per usual. This is a fair compromise and involves no more work to police than a marine national park. Government can still claim a big victory, the greens could still be happy that the major destructive force has been removed and rec fishos still can access their best spots and be bound by their usual bag and size limits. We should be proposing a compromised solution - it may make more sense to all as there are no outright losers - everybody compromises a bit - it's like being married....

Next time you catch and release, could you find a way to release them in Botany bay?

The prediction from seabreeze ain't so bad. How often do these site's predictions differ? All the time. Evaluate the weather on the day.... By the way, Ali, do you find you still get kingies in the bay on the full moon?

A few good points in there. I too fish for the table, and although I enjoy a good fight as much as the next person, the fight goes from excitement to disillusionment if the fish caught is undersized. I would feel I failed in my primary objective - to provide a fresh fish for the family to eat. Sure I enjoy being out there and playing the hunter game, but if that's all it is, then the wife and other members of the family would see this as a very selfish activity on my part - I get to have all this fun - they don't want to come fishing, and the argument is that I should be doing 'family oriented' fun activities, if I'm not going to provide fresh fish regularly. It creates a downward spiral and a lose-lose scenario. Yes we should have bag and size limits, within reason. We can only keep five fish - fair enough. But if you keep increasing the size limit, and you still get your bag limit, there would be too much fish caught for one person in one day. By the time you get through it, you would have probably caught more kingies anyway, and the frozen fish would not be as appealing as a fresh fillet or cutlet. In any case, you would get sick of eating kingies for every fish meal in a month. Then your focus would go to another species for a while. You say 'well you should let any fish go that you can't eat'. Well if that's true, why not reduce the number of fish you can keep? Crikey I practice enough catch and release with the undersized fish - I have done more than my fare share with catch and release to feel any guilt or try to justify keeping my fair entitlement of 5 fish. I think that 60cm and 5 fish per person is OK. The only problem is... Commercial fishermen take large numbers of fish - so a drop in size means they can catch tonnes more fish per year, thus depleting the biomass and forcing fisheries to increase the size limit.... see the problem? There should be a fair quota system (in KG's) imposed on the pros - reach it and you can't catch any more....but for us poor buggers who count the days to go out and de-stress from the pains in our lives, enjoy the water, catch some fresh fish, satisfy our primeval instincts as hunter-gatherers to provide food for our families, then we should not be penalised by being over-regulated in the way we are being. Life is a big balancing act where we are asked to balance more and more. If the overregulation causes too much imbalance, then our world will come crashing down. Did I hear someone say marine national parks for the NSW coastline or desalination plants? There goes our world.... I'd love to see what salinity levels we'll get along the Sydney coastline when the desal plant spews masses of brine back into the sea. Then we'll have the dead-sea marine natinal park - preserved in brine for all to see.

Hey Raiders, Went out on Sunday looking to try for every species known to man. First up - get the livies. None on the drums, none on the breakwall, none on Molineux, none at the suction but finally found them on Watts. The yakkas were a bit big but beggars cant be choosers. Went to the peak in nice conditions. Water was 21.5 and blue but no shows on the sounder. Decided to go to the peak and lighten it's leatherjacket population. Anyone can do it - if you have a downrigger with wire on it, attach a heavy duty wire trace, 3 droppers and a couppla pounds of lead on a 60lb breakaway trace and go to it. The jackets are excellent eating. After anchoring in 113m of water (right on the southern edge) the current was quite strong but workable. The jackets were there in their numbers but unfortunately, the size was quite small. We only managed 7 nice ones before the wind picked up and pulled the anchor prongs out of the reef. A few free drifts was a bit too fast so we went back to the peak to see if there were any shows. The wind had picked up even more so we went back to cape banks to anchor up and try for a red. No sooner had the anchor caught when we got 20 knots of southerly! GGRRrrrrr! Up with the anchor and trolled around the heads half-heartedly for a kingie - no show so go home. ...but next week, if it has fins, it had better watch out.....mind you, it will be a full moon on the saturday - time to rethink the strategy... Hey Scrubworm, if you read this - I'll be trying the afternoon 4:00pm to 10:00pm for bream/whiting/flathead - the afternoon rising tide corresponds to your scenario last month when you brained them. The arvo rising tide will not be as strong as the morning tide - see how our theory holds up....

Thanks Dogtooth. I think I'll have a go at bolting my feet to the floor and see if I can wrestle one of these brutes out. After the fight, I may end up with the arms and legs of an Orang-utan! Stretched to the max. I'll be walking and dragging my knuckles along the ground...Gotta bring some bananas with me....

Seems to me the PDF is talking about a species called Threadfin leatherjackets, not the chinaman jackets as we know them. It states they are a tropical species swept down away from their normal habitat into our areas. I imagine the jackets that were found were chinamen and that the observations made by the fishos downcurrent (or downwind) from the trawlers must have got it right. Price for jackets on the fishmarkets floor is very low, even if the pro fishermen clean them first - which is something they never like doing.....

Hey Penguin, sorry to hear you had a fall in your own boat. I hope your back is OK - the boat can be fixed but the financial ouch is never as bad as a physical long-term ouch. You normally get good numbers of decent bream. I see the bream count was down, even though the fish are a good size. I too have been down on the bream numbers. I think they are spawning and that they are not feeding much at the moment. What do you think?

Top kingies. Nice to see some hoodlums still around in the bay (I mean the fish, not you guys !) Maybe you didn't see my questions in your last post.. Are you anchored? Are you fishing close to the rocks? What water depth do you like? Do you burley? If so, cubes or squash the pot?

Hey Dogtooth, Awesome kingie. You will need to bolt your feet to the floor next time.... By the way... Are you anchored? Are you fishing close to the rocks? What water depth do you like? Do you burley? If so, cubes or squash the pot?

Whoa - that's a flatty ! I would frame that photo. As for mud crabs - which river are you looking for those in? I thought the only place you could get them was at the fish markets...

Hey Kruzenvax, I fish the bay a lot - almost every weekend, but I have only been doing it for about 6 years. It seems a bit more hit'n'miss this year. Often I see the conditions as being good, but the fishing average. My guess is that if the water gets to 22 degrees and we still don't get much (ie < 10 bream), then we need to worry. At the moment the water has just been nudging 20 degrees, with most times only getting to 18.5 or so. My guess is that the water is still a bit cold. Some weeks ago the whiting were preparing to spawn so they may be spawning now and not eat while spawning - I don't know their life cycle well enough to say for sure. As for the bream (my main quarry), they are more prevalent in the warmer water, but even then, when you find them, they have been more picky. I don't chase tailor, trevally or salmon, but kingies get a look-in every now and then, mainly oceanfront and beyond. Too many people crowd around the known spots and send them down. Jewies are as usual hit'n'miss, in the river and bay and I will fish for them occasionally so I don't have a lot to offer there. I wouldn't worry just yet - but when the desal outlet pipe gets built and starts discharging the heavy brine into the bay, expect to be fishing in the dead sea. Then it will be 100% fishing on the ocean, beginning at the 80m line, if you want to find fish. Leatherjackets may end up being a godsend...

Hey guys, I too fished the bay. I went out BOTH Saturday and the Sunday. The most amazing thing was that i was able to con, er, I mean convince the wife that a feed of bream and crabs was DEFINATELY on the menu... Well, saturday I tried for jews up the river early morning - no luck. I used the crab traps at the mouth of the river at three different spots (1.5 hours at each spot) - only got one large femal crab in full roe so she went back in to have her babies. Didn't do too much serious bream fishing saturday but only managed 2 bream, 35 and 38cm. Sunday, just did the bream thing - I fished from 6:00am until 1:00pm for only 9 bream and 1 nice sand whiting. Bream were 29 - 38cm with about 6 fish borderlining that went back in. Also got about 6 sting rays - when the fishing is quiet, the rays have time to find the bait and take it before the bream so it's very annoying. The water was 19 degrees but the baits were cold to the touch. I'm unsure why the fishing was so slow - the water did not appear to be dirty so I can't say the dredging is doing it. The weather was so nice - it was good to be out there. The prediction for saturday was really bad but the apprentices that predict the weather get it wrong so often that it's hard for me to take them seriously. I go anyway and just keep an eye on the clouds, the horizon and Ch88 on the radio. As for the crab baits, I just use the fish frames of the fish I fillet - whiting and bream (the bream between 27cm and 30cm I will fillet and use the frames for crab bait). I do not have a strategy for where to deploy the traps - I'm still learning that one, but if I get a few in a pot, I'll ping it on the GPS ! Apart from that, the only spot I know where there's lots of crabs is 454 nautical miles off Dutch harbour in the Bering sea - the deadliest catch - I need a bigger boat and be lobotomised before I go out there !

G'day Spence, I haven't fished for blackies for a few years now (divers at La Perouse were hell-bent on making life impossible for us) but I had fished for them for quite a few years before that. When I first started to eat them, I was a bit ho-hum about the taste, even after preparing them like the old-timers around me. I was there more for the fun of flaot fishing amongst some really good mates. We got into this unusual exchange of information program with a couple of the asian fishos around us who were regular fishos [but struggled to catch the blackies] and we became friends. They turned out to be really good people. We showed them how to catch the fish (even all our little secrets) and they would show us some asian methods for preparing the fish. Once I tried the first recipe they showed me, I didn't even try the other methods... Once the fish are bled, skinned, filleted, deboned, cut them into bitesized piece. It's a simple matter of frying the piececs in tom-yum paste (it is bought in a jar for $2 or so). First, you chop up some garlic and heat in a pan (to get the garlic oil I suppose), then stir in a table-spoon of the tom-yum paste and a bit of soy sauce. Finely chop up some onion and place on top of the fish while it's cooking, cover the pan with a lid (or another pan) and reduce the heat. Check the fish every minute or so to ensure it doesn't overcook. Serve it on a bed of steamed rice. The beauty of this recipe is that the paste has the ability to mask some of the fish's flavour that may not be appealing, and add the intense asian flavour instead. I use the same recipe for fish like sweep that have no real taste. Anyway, I hope you get a chance to try it....

Mate that's an awesome fish. Nice close-up pics too of the fish's mouth. You know, I reckon that jewie was zeroed-in on the garfish on the surface, and when you plonked that SP in front of it's face, it took it rather than the fresh baits down deeper. This has opened up a new fishing strategy in my mind: 1. Do as you did and put a burley net over the side, maybe only 1 metre down to get livies around 2. fish livies on the bottom and midwater 3. fish a slab on the bottom 4. chuck a squidgie around the burley trail That way, you have a your bases covered. I haven't chased jewies much over the years, but I think this year I'll give it a serious go so I'm trying to pick up whatever info I can, so I can work out my game plan. Thanks for a very informative report - and watch out for your boat drifing away !

Wobbegongs in traps? Mate - I never thought they would do it - still - why wouldn't they ? Hmmm, gotta find me some crabs. Badly in need of a nice crab entree before the bream main course.... Anyway, I'll think I'll take the advice and chuck the traps in when I go fishing and watch them with the binoculars for suspicious activity...If I see a float go zapping under the surface, I'll know its a wobby !

Hey Raiders, The intention was to fish saturday on the 12 mile reef for jackets (and maybe kingies) but the swell was way above my tolerance, so the bay got another bream session on Saturday. I got out to the grounds at around 6:00am only to find the water temp had dropped to 17.2 and the water was slightly cloudy due to the rains we had earlier last week. The fishing was a bit slow but I was too busy freezing my tail off. The weather predicted a balmy 25 degrees but the fact that it was about 12 degrees in the morning was overlooked. Anyway, I finished up with about 9 bream (30 - 38cm) and 3 whiting (32 - 35cm). One thing I noticed was that with the rising tide, came a body of water that had a slightly tan-colour about it. As soon as it came in, no more fish were caught. Perhaps it was silt from the disturbed seabed around the desal-plant excavation? Anyway, I up-anchored and went a fair way upstream to cleaner water and caught some more fish before going home. A friend of mine fished sunday morning and we were able to compare results. We both have a good idea of what's happening so it's good to see how different conditions produce. The water temp on sunday was 19 degrees and he managed 15 bream, 6 sand whiting, 1 nice flattie and a 45cm blackfish. Pretty surprised about nailing a blackie amongst the bream. We are both bait fishermen and we like to fish skinny water for the bread'n'butter species. On the way home I noticed that the crab traps are being deployed around towra. Does anyone know if they're getting any ? What's the best tide, time and moonphase to get them?

I'm very impressed with that whiting catch. Were they all sand whiting? I've never been able to get more than 8 so you got one on me there! Were you drifting or anchored? Did you find patches of weed/sand or was it all sand you were fishing on? In any case, I take my hat off to you...

Sorry Kruzenvax - I did actually mean you. I got my lines crossed there. Sometimes you're so keen to ask them questions that you don't take little details like that into account! Yes - just curious to see what didn't go to plan for you - often there are heaps of shows on the sounder but they are non baitfish or jellyfish or some other stuff that's not fish. If your sounder is colour, then red colours usually mean bigger individual fish (like kingies) whereas yellows may be any sort of small fish, etc..

So what happened Johnno? The fish you saw on the sounder - were they mid water or near bottom? What was the water depth and temp? How where you fishing? Amongst the shows on the sounder or somewhere else? Where were you trying to get your livies ? could you see them at the transom or sounder but no bites or were there none showing on the sounder? Still, we all need to be on the water to re-establish our summer fishing routine after the winter - it was a nice day to do it anyway...

Hey Bill, looks like we both have something in common - fish for bream /whiting in the bay. Just curious, were those whiting you got red spot or sand whiting and what size? I was out Sunday as well - I only got a couple of bream and 3 or 4 banjo sharks (which go back of course). I use bait only - how about yourself? The going was very tough. A fish here, one there kind of thing. I had 17.5 degrees on the sounder - just to cross check with you, what did you register for temp? Were you on the northern side of the bay or the southern side? I agree that light line is the best, but when you're on any weed or rocks, light line will get busted up very regularly on the bottom. One small nick in the trace or main line and the fish will break free. I use 10lb main and 8lb fluorocarbon trace. It gives me pretty good insurance. Do you find the small bream hooks don't hold, or do they hold OK? The most popular sizes I've always seen is size 1 or 1/0. Anyway I'm happy to compare notes from time to time

Here is my opinion. Just wait until they dig up the Penrhyn estuary to expand the port. The toxicity of the sediments that will be released into the bay will mean that I will do my fishing on the open ocean in future. They can have as many car parking spaces and fishing platforms as they want. What ever happened to the report(s) that were done to determine the feasibility of the port expansion ? The reports that stated the port expansion was not a good idea ? Ignored as per usual. Then the desalination plant will go ahead. Where do you think the byproduct (brine) will be dumped ? Bright future for the bay. Sickens me... ...and people are more interested in car parking spaces.... I don't even want to think about where they are going to build the first nuclear reactor.....

The magazine is "trailerboat" magazine, and it's bigger brother "Trade-a-boat". Stuff from all over Oz. I'm actually selling a boat - Wouldn't be interested in a 7.5m Platey hardtop, twin 115hp Yammie outboards on a Mcay top-of-the-line trailer would you ?