Front Cover: Matthew Short’s Shortwave heads south during the 2009 Rolex Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race. Photo by Howard Wright/IMAGE Professional Photography.
As we have started the new decade with a bang, sending fish scurrying for cover amid our flailing lines, it’s time to reflect on the decade that was and, moreover, what lays ahead for the recreational angler. After all, the Noughties were a period of profound change for those who are wont to wet a line.
The big issue, marine parks saw many fishers locked out of their favourite fishing spots – for good and apparently for their own good – though Professor Bob Kearney contests these parks were created on spurious science at best. And who’s to argue with Kearney?
Kearney boasts two doctorates in marine science, was Director of Research at NSW Fisheries for nine years, Professor of Environmental Sciences and Head of the School of Resource Environmental and Heritage Sciences at the University of Canberra, and Chairman of the Board of the WorldFish Center. He has also been awarded the Order of Australia for services to Australian and international fisheries research and management.
Concurrently, bag and size limits have been constantly tweaked to better reflect the state of our fisheries. At the same time, anglers continue to adopt the practice of catch-and-release fishing. But as some fisheries managers now reckon we derive as much enjoyment from letting them go as keeping them for the table, there’s a push to make recreational fishing catch-and-release only in some parts of the world. Now imagine not being able to keep a few fish for the table?
Fishing by Proxy
If we follow trends in America, as we tend to do, then we’re in for a period of reel upheaval in the next decade. So act now if you want your kids to enjoy fishing in the future and to be able to tuck into the wild catch rather than just flabby farmed varieties fed a diet of antibiotics among other stuff.
According to the final report from the Marine Fishery Advisory Committee (MFAC) for a paper titled “Vision 2020: The Future of U.S. Marine Fisheries,” continued growth in recreational angling will require us to “focus more on the fishing experience and less on the number of fish landed.”
By 2020, the committee predicts the global supply of seafood from wild-caught stocks will have hit a plateau, while demand continues to increase worldwide. Aquaculture will provide 43 percent of the world’s seafood, driven partly by nutritionists encouraging us to double our present consumption of seafood to benefit our health.
At the same time, if the rate of recreational anglers continues to increase at three per cent per annum in the US then by 2020 their number will rise by 7.3 million to a projected level of 18.5 million. The committee says the resulting increase in fishing effort and subsequent catch mortality will need to be addressed.
The MFAC is now advising the leaders of the recreational fishing community in the US to promote “the total recreational fishing experience, instil a conservation ethic, and de-emphasise landings.” Just sit there with a smile on your face and hope. How much fun is that? Or, I suppose, we’ll be pointed to stocked ponds full of flabby fish.
Meantime, you can do your bit by fishing by size and bag limits. But do keep a few for the table. There’s a real joy to be had from tucking into the catch of the day and fish kept on ice in top condition, prepared well, and cooked lovingly are the reason many of us wet a line. If that joy is taken from me then I, for one, will hang up my rods. Let them know you like to eat the fish you catch.
Waiting for the Action
Maybe it was the gloomy weather, the high price of fuel, or perhaps it’s a result of the aftershocks of the Global Financial Crisis that have led to more conservative views? Then again, we are getting older and less inclined to contend with hours of fruitless fishing these days.
I’m betting it’s a combination of all these things that made offshore fishers a rare breed during the holiday high season. Trailerable sports-fishing boats, big white game boats, and charter boats were noticeable by their absence on the deep blue sea in January.
I travelled from Sydney to Jervis Bay by water and back again and was virtually alone out there. Chatter on the marine radio was hard to find, bluewater reports were thin on the ground in the coastal towns, as anglers seemed more likely to wet a line inshore. Who can blame them?
The rewards on the inshore and estuary fishing scene have far and away outweighed those on the ocean this summer. Thanks to a stellar run of big kingfish, even the big boats were seen heading to the headlands, the near-shore reefs, and the harbours and bays to hook up.
Whether this represents a permanent shift in thinking, I’m not sure. But the pioneering spirit that previously saw fishing crews search for fish out wide seems to be a thing of the past. We are more inclined to react to reports than do the hard yards ourselves these days.
Thing is, those of us who have been venturing offshore are finding plenty to celebrate. It’s just that we are playing too close to our chest, with the dolphin fish or mahi mahi, big kingfish and marlin encounters remaining whispers in a tight-knit clique.
Head wide and see what you’re missing out on in February, the peak month for big game fish.
David Lockwood’s Guide to Fishing – February
By any measure 2009 was an exceptionally fishy year, but 2010 is shaping up as the Year of the Big Kingfish. Following the banning of floating traps in 1996, the prized kingfish has staged a Lazarus-like comeback both in size and numbers. And since the cessation of commercial fishing in Sydney Harbour in 2006, especially the prawn and bait netting, many other predators have bounced back.
Kingfish reign supreme on our waterways and around the headlands this month, with plenty of fish over the metre-long mark, but with water temperatures steadily increasing expect more by way of sub-tropical fish. Proving as much, charter skipper Scott Thorrington from Terrigal says this is the best summer ever for big pearl perch, but I wouldn’t be surprised to hear that spotted and Spanish mackerel join the mix this summer.
Meantime, mahi mahi or dolphin fish are taking up station around the fish aggregation devices or FADs www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/fisheries/recreational/saltwater/fads/map. The fish were small but much bigger specimens are swimming south and bound to call those FADs home.
If the 26th Golden Lure tournament at Port Macquarie is any indicator, the game fish are surely on the way this month. There were more than 20 blue marlin, 18 striped marlin, and 100-plus mahi mahi encountered, including plenty of big bulls to 20kg, plus a couple of 70kg-plus yellowfin tuna weighed during the tournament.
Respected Port Stephens charterboat guide Tim Dean had taken just an odd striped marlin from his homeport at the time of writing, but reports a hot bite at Foster, with five marlin tagged by one boat. So improvements are imminent, he says, and February is the month for marlin off Port Stephens.
Thanks to winter and summer rains this is a bumper year for crustaceans. Crab and prawn catches are on the rise, flathead and jewfish aren’t far behind in the estuaries, and tailor are hard not to find. While it’s been a slow year for jewfish on our beaches, the fighting whiting are jumping on live worms. And there’s no end to stocks of bream.
Bonito are schooling around the headlands, along with frigate mackerel and the aforesaid kingfish. The beaches are yielding tailor at dusk and dawn. The fishing in the Hawkesbury has also been great for kingfish and plenty of jewfish, along with flathead in Brisbane Water. Squid fishing has been hot and cold.
Yet the not-so-ho-hum harbour is the highlight for anglers chasing metre-plus kingfish from The Colours off South Head to the inner North Head, Watsons Bay to the Rose Bay markers, from Clifton Gardens to Middle Harbour. It’s a similar story in Botany Bay where most boaties find no reason to venture further afield.
Back offshore, the big problem in February is the strength of the East Australian Current. By now, it should be flowing hard to the south and up to 2.5 knots off some ports of call. That means bottom fishers will be confined to the close grounds, as it’s otherwise nigh impossible to get a bait down to the fish.
Also, when dealing with current, try and fish just upstream of an underwater reef or structure. There’s an area of low pressure where the water first hits the object. This is a relaxed place for fish to hang out of the current while waiting to pounce.
For game fishers, troll the current lines, look for temperature breaks, and don’t be afraid to fish for marlin in close from about 50 metres of water if there’s plenty of bait about. Finding baitfish is the key to finding migratory fish in summer.
Meantime, the whiting should bite even more keenly on the beaches, along with improving numbers of jewfish hot on their tails. Prawning and crabbing will hit its straps, so get netting on these long hot summer days and nights. The omnipresent flathead is growing fat and feisty on a diet of much the same.
It might be a short month but February is long on fishing options. Gear up big for the game fish and venture onto the wide blue yonder for a real adventure. More than 1,000 anglers on 200-plus boats will be doing this very thing in the last weekend of the month during the Port Stephens Interclub game-fishing tournament. It’s an exceptional time and place for catching and releasing marlin.
Think big in February.
B Bream
Berleying with chopped pilchard and floating lightly weighted pilchard fillets back into the berley using light tackle and fine line. Suitable method from both boat and shore. Hook size No 1 to 2/0. Or try using the latest soft-plastic lures jigged around the harbour wharves, jetties and rock walls on ultra-light flick sticks and 4kg braided line with a 4kg monofilament trace.
DF Dolphin fish
Head to the fish aggregating devices (FADS) off Sydney – locations found at www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/fisheries/ recreational/saltwater-fishing/fads/locations – at dawn or fish into the dusk to beat the crowds. Cast live baits at the FADs for the biggest dolphin fish. Smaller specimens fall for pilchard baits, lures and saltwater flies. Great sport and, when kept on ice, delicious eating.
F Flathead
Drift with whitebait or frog-mouthed pilchards hooked through the eyes and bounced along the sandy bottom. Glue reflective tape to the sinker for added flash and appeal. Early morning before busy boat traffic is best. Or use rubber-tailed jigs flicked around the foreshore.
J Jewfish
The prize of the estuaries, jewfish gather in the deep holes in our harbours and bays from November through to the end of summer. The fish is most active right on dusk, especially when that coincides with the last hour of a run-in tide. Use large cut baits of mullet, slimy mackerel or tuna, or fresh squid strips, set on the bottom. Berleying with cut fish pieces can help attract the fish to your bait. Ranging from 3-8kg, though specimens to 20kg aren’t unheard of, the general run of jewfish is easily subdued with 10kg tackle and a 4/0 hook.
K Kingfish
Fish the deep, tidal shores or around the harbour channel markers with live or strips or heads from fresh-caught squid. Stagger the depth at which you fish the baits until the school is located. Berley helps keep the fish around your boat.
L Leatherjackets
Found around kelp beds and foraging off wharf pylons, retaining walls and other submerged structures. Easy to catch with a long-shanked hook topped with peeled prawn or try using the flesh from mussels gathered at the fishing grounds.
MAR Marlin
In a good season with warm water, marlin pass just a few hundred metres from shore. Troll a staggered spread of assorted small 15cm-long skirted lures at 7-8 knots from 40 metres to 120 metres of water, concentrating around the bait schools, birdlife and current lines. Striped marlin join in the party, along with dolphin fish and sometimes wahoo out wide. And the game fishing is even more fun when you can see the city clear as day.
S Snapper
Fish the inshore reefs in 30-50 metre of water with 6kg-10kg tackle. Anchor up and berley with chopped pilchards and chicken pellets. Drift a half pilchard bait on a 4/0 chemically-sharpened hook back down the berley, with a pea-sized running sinker or just enough lead for the bait to waft down to the bottom. Dawn and dusk is best.
T Tailor
An aggressive schooling fish, named for its ability to slash baitfish to ribbons, the tailor is a snap to catch. Troll or cast and retrieve lures around the schools of fish hunting around headlands and estuaries in winter. Or cast a pilchard from the shore or boat during the flood tide and at night around Sow and Pigs or The Spit.
W Whiting
Warm water heralds the whiting run along the beaches. The sweet-tasting fish are a cinch to catch, the only prerequisite being live worms for bait. Fish in the deep gutters and where there are rips and no surfers. Night sessions can be most rewarding from the harbour beaches.
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David Lockwood’s Guide to Fishing – February
Fishing Key —
