Innholdsfortegnelse for August 2017 i Fishing World

“When you crunch the numbers, this equates to about 70 per cent of commercial mulloway catch from estuary General Fishery being undersized.” THERE’S no doubt mulloway are one of Australia’s most popular sport fish. Together with bream, flatties and snapper, these iconic fish are the focus of many angler’s fishing pursuits each weekend across our country. However, unlike the other bread & butter species mentioned, mulloway can be bastards to catch! Even the best mulloway fishos have their tough days and newbies can often go fishless for a considerable time before finally cracking the code. Which leads me to a recent review conducted by NSW DPI. If the findings are anything to go by, it’s hardly surprising mulloway are hard to catch! With only about 10 per cent of jewie…

AFTER an hour of steaming over a clean ocean, a group of islands came into view through the early morning mist. Sheer-walled granite, these islands rose dramatically from the Southern Ocean with white water surging around their exposed perimeter. Even though we had prime conditions for an offshore mission, there was still residual swell pushing from the south. Most of South Australia’s western islands are quite exposed and foreboding. Open to the elements and relatively remote, they’re certainly not the best place to run into trouble. During bluefin season there’s normally other recreational boats on the water, but don’t always count on it. It’s pretty wild water, but the fishing can be as equally wild. As we neared the cluster of islands we started scouting the horizon for signs of…

“As often happens in a prolonged wet season, late season rainfall saw the river rise and dirty up a bit just prior to the event.” The wet season this year in the Northern Territory was the first proper deluge in four years and the Daly River had a prolonged period of run off, with much improved fishing in comparison to the previous three seasons. The Barra Nationals, hosted by the Palmerston Game Fishing Club, is one of the biggest tournaments in the country and was held in mid-April. This event rewards big fish, and all barramundi over 40cm are scored on a points per length basis. Small fish are worth few points, big barra can score you many hundreds of points. This event is a fantastic week on the water,…

Each month we will select a Pic of the Month Major Prize Winner as well as FIVE other lucky winners for our Grin & Win section. Pic of the Month winners receive ALL of the great prizes you see here, while Grin & Win kids will each receive a cool Shimano cap and Squidgy DVD (right)! E-mail your entry and contact details to: pictures@fisho.com.au or post it to: Shimano Pic of the Month, Fishing World, GPO Box 606 Sydney NSW, 2001 Please include your name and age and details of your catch. Send a stamped, self addressed envelope if you want your photo back! Good luck! KIDS! Send us a digital photo or print of your catch and you could be in the running for some great monthly prizes! Visit the…

“Most predatory fish feed on small baitfish and that’s exactly what metal lures imitate.” IMAGINE you’re stranded on a desert island; a very fishy desert island, and you’re allowed to take only one lure. What would it be? The first thing that pops into my head is a metal casting lure. Why? Because these seemingly simple lures are built to catch fish. They’re incredibly versatile with a long list of species willing to take them. They’re also versatile when it comes to techniques and retrieves and territory where they’re fished. And finally, they’re bullet proof! As an “all-rounder” the good old metal lure ticks a few boxes and they’re here to stay. History While no one quite knows where they came from, well before modern sportfishing, Pacific Islanders worked out…

VARIOUS inquiries are now underway into the recent incursion of white spot disease in Moreton Bay. Federal bureaucrats and politicians are dodging and weaving the inevitable questions regarding how this dreaded exotic virus got into the country. Meanwhile, Fishing World has found something even more disturbing in a submission to the white spot parliamentary inquiry. Researchers in NSW have uncovered a pathway that represents an unprecedented risk of introduction of an even deadlier disease – crayfish plague. A submission to the inquiry from the NSW Aquaculture Association uncovered evidence of illegal importation of live mexican dwarf crayfish. These illegally imported crayfish can carry not only the whitespot virus, but also a much worse disease, namely crayfish plague caused by an exotic fungus (Aphanomyces astaci). A quick internet search found the…

REDMAP, or the Range Extension Database and Mapping project run out of Tasmania’s Institute of Marine and Antarctic Studies, has involved more than 800 citizen scientists in identifying how marine species are changing where they live and extending their range. Unusual observations so far have included a manta ray off the coast of Tasmania and whale sharks much further south than expected. Bag limits have been introduced for fish not previously seen in Tasmanian waters partly as a result of Redmap information. Boaters, fishers, divers and other members of the public can report unusual or strange marine species sightings at www.redmap.org.au.…

“The reason, usually, is that it doesn’t ‘feel’ quite as sweet as your old favourite ... it could be handle length, grip material and comfort.” A question I often hear is why would you bother to custom build your own estuary sport fishing rods, especially when there are so many great rods on the market. I guess these days that's a fair enough question and deserves a thoughtful reply. With so many top rods available to purchase, one would think you could find the perfect rod for your desired application. However, how many of us reach for a certain rod in the locker when there are half a dozen others laying around to choose from. The reason, usually, is that it doesn’t “feel” quite as sweet as your old favourite…

There are many ways to increase your chances on the water and a sure fire method is by using berley. For those that don’t know, berley is essentially minced, mashed or cut pieces of bait and other concoctions of anything that a fish might find appealing to eat. The point of berley is to draw fish in with a tiny morsel or hint of a meal and get them hungry for more. Think about being at a mates place with a barbecue going - whenever I smell those freshly cooked snags and steaks I tend to gravitate over to the action and find myself trying to pinch something off the grill! That scent of a sizzling barbecue whets the appetite in the same way that the judicious use of berley…

THERE are ups and downs in the new small pelagic total allowable catch limits released by AFMA. From 2016/17 to 2017/18, tonnages for Australian sardines go up a lot (from 1880 to 9550 tonnes), blue mackerel go up a lot in the eastern sub-area (2630 to 12090) but down in the western (6200 to 3230), jack mackerel stay much the same in the eastern (18670 to 18880) but go down a lot in the western (3600 to 920), redbait go up a bit in the eastern (3310 to 3410) but down a lot in the western (2880 to 820). The AFMA harvest strategy uses Daily Egg Production Method (DEPM) surveys to provide an estimated biomass for each of the small pelagic fishery stocks, and limits are set after consideration of…

FISHINGWORLD.COM.AU ➀ ENVIRONMENT: MORE TUNA DRAMAS BY JOHN NEWBERY Back in mid-2010 we ran a piece looking at the results of Greenpeace Australia’s initial rating of 10 brands canned tuna based on fishing methods, sustainability, labelling and support for marine reserves. Greenseas and Coles came first and second, largely because they used skipjack (striped) tuna rather than bluefin... ➁ FISH FACTS: TAILOR BY DR BEN DIGGLES Sometimes referred to as the “poor man’s gamefish”, tailor (Pomatomus saltatrix) are an iconic target species for surf fishers along the east and west coasts of Australia. They can be caught from the northern tip of Fraser Island in Queensland south to Onslow in WA, but are rare in the waters off western Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania.…

THERE have been increasing numbers of opinion pieces written lately referencing social licence versus scientific arguments used when considering proposals to open up new fisheries or expand old ones. The classic example is with Japanese whaling. Taking 333 minke whales per season is probably sustainable but is no longer considered to be acceptable by most of the rest of the world, despite what the science says. Similar heated debates have occurred around the operation of supertrawlers, both in international and Australian waters. The journal Marine Policy (volume 81, July 2017) contains an article examining social licence issues as they apply to the marine sector; one of its authors is the project chair and founder of the Redmap species identification project, Associate Professor Gretta Pecl.…

“Rules have been updated... it will open the door to the use of GSP lines as backing on reels and the vast range of opportunities that this will present to switched-on offshore anglers.” As we’ve alluded to in previous issues of Fisho the International Game Fish Association (IGFA) has for a number of years been grappling with the tremendous rise in the popularity of gel spun polyethylene (GSP) lines and how to incorporate the use of these new generation wonder lines into their line class based rules & regulations. Over the past decade or more the use of GSP lines has exploded worldwide as savvy offshore anglers have grasped the new opportunities offered by these low-stretch wonder lines. To be honest for a generation of offshore anglers specialising in deep…

TROLLING DISTANCE Q When I’m trolling for marlin should I have the lures close to the boat or as far away as possible? Brendan James, Via email. A The short answer is both. Most experienced marlin trollers run a range of lures from in close to out long. The standard pattern is a short and long corner which run from the back corner rod holders. These can be as close 10 metres out to 15 or 20 metres and in the prop wash. The next two lures are run back farther and wider from outriggers and are called the short and long ‘rigger. These can be 30 to 50 metres back. The longest lure is the shotgun which is right down the middle from up high and can be…

1 Olivia, aged five, with a bream she caught all by herself. She kissed it and threw it back! 2 Eljin Cordeiro caught this baby shovel nose shark. 3 Finny Culmer, aged seven, with a yellow fin bream caught at Noosa River on Noosa River charters. 4 Ten-year-old Jaiden caught this 31cm trevally and a tarwhine (24cm) at Huskisson Wharf, Jervis Bay, NSW.…

I’ve just been sitting by the fire and pondering what I’ve put myself through fishing wise in the past week and I’m thinking that I’ve probably got a screw loose in the upstairs room. Worst of all is that I wouldn’t change a thing. I was recalling some of the adventures my mate, The Pale Whale shared from quite a few years ago. For example, walks of over two hours through bush and along life-threatening ledges to get to his favourite snapper rock. We’d walk forever carrying bags of bread into isolated areas in search of big rock blackfish. No walk was too far, no rocks too slippery and no winter’s dawn too cold! Another was being in his 4.3m tinny when a massive southerly buster came through. The only…