Are there any fish worth while taking close inshore???????

I have fished most of my life in New Zealand and made the move over to
Australia earlier this year. Now that we are here we have found that to our
dismay, the fishing is bad on a good day and even worse on a bad day. Most
of our fishing is from our tinnie or surfcasting. We do not venture more
than a couple of km off shore as the tinnie is too small.

Our standards of what is good/bad are based on our New Zealand experience so
maybe we have to refine what our standards are.

In New Zealand, we could go 5 minutes from home and catch snapper, trevally,
etc and home was near the Waitemata Harbour in Auckland, a city of 1.1
million people. We caught a 5kg+ snapper 2 minutes from the Auckland
Harbour bridge after work one evening. We could most days go out and bring
home up to 15 good sized fish - all 1kg or over with no problems at all and
using our old heavy hand lines with 40lb line or old fashioned broom stick
rods. Everywhere we fished in the upper half of the North Island was
productive and it was a real bad day if we came home with nothing and was a
rarity. Now it is a rarity to being home a fish and we have never bought
home enough for a decent feed.

However now we live on Bribie Island and have fished all around Bribie, Tin
Can Bay, Yamba, Byron Bay. Port Phillip bay in Melbourne, off the beaches in
WA and at Prot Douglas (caught a good sized trevally here). We do catch fish
but in general they are baby fish. We have caught Tailor, Dart, Flatties,
Whiting, Snapper, Bream, Trevally, etc but are lucky to get a legal sized
fish. We are now using light as lines from new high tech rods or hand lines,
various baits incl worms, mullet, squid, WA white bait, lures, jigs, etc.

When out fishing, we watch the other fishers and they are all having the
same luck (or lack of luck) as we get. We actually seem to do better than
most but as I said earlier, we only catch baby fish.

I believe that the problem is over fishing by the commercial guys and lack
of quotas by the government. I am surprised to see such small fish in the
fish shops, well and truly under size but being sold in the shops anyway.
That is no way to conserve stocks. The fishermen are all moaning about
loosing jobs when fishing regulations are tightened - well it all happened
in New Zealand 20 years ago, no-one died, they found new jobs and now there
is plenty of fish for everyone including snapper for me from New Zealand in
our local Woolies on Bribie Is.

I spoke to a crayfisherman in WA recently and he said that there are 500
cray boats between Freemantle and Geraldton. The cray season is 7 months
long (from memory) and the average catch per day is around 500kg - work that
one out - approx 50,000 tones of cray per annum from a small part of the
coastline. The crays they are selling cheap as over there are smaller than
some prawns that I have seem in Asia and are definitely too small to be
legal in New Zealand.

In other words, it seems to me that the fishermen are raping and pillaging
the seas of everything including the breeding stocks and juveniles - end
result - no fish.

That is my moan for this year and we love Australia, it is a great place to
live and the fishing is the only disappointment. Any comments??

Anyone know where to catch real fish not too far off shore or from a beach
within 4 hours drive of Brisbane and are willing to share the secret????



Steve Subritzky
Bribie Island
Queensland
Australia

Sorry to hear the fishing is not good up north as I am heading that way in 5
weeks to drop a line or two into the water in your area.
Lushy
Rye Victoria
"Steve" wrote in message
...
I have fished most of my life in New Zealand and made the move over to
Australia earlier this year. Now that we are here we have found that to
our
dismay, the fishing is bad on a good day and even worse on a bad day. Most
of our fishing is from our tinnie or surfcasting. We do not venture more
than a couple of km off shore as the tinnie is too small.

Our standards of what is good/bad are based on our New Zealand experience
so
maybe we have to refine what our standards are.

In New Zealand, we could go 5 minutes from home and catch snapper,
trevally,
etc and home was near the Waitemata Harbour in Auckland, a city of 1.1
million people. We caught a 5kg+ snapper 2 minutes from the Auckland
Harbour bridge after work one evening. We could most days go out and bring
home up to 15 good sized fish - all 1kg or over with no problems at all
and
using our old heavy hand lines with 40lb line or old fashioned broom stick
rods. Everywhere we fished in the upper half of the North Island was
productive and it was a real bad day if we came home with nothing and was
a
rarity. Now it is a rarity to being home a fish and we have never bought
home enough for a decent feed.

However now we live on Bribie Island and have fished all around Bribie,
Tin
Can Bay, Yamba, Byron Bay. Port Phillip bay in Melbourne, off the beaches
in
WA and at Prot Douglas (caught a good sized trevally here). We do catch
fish
but in general they are baby fish. We have caught Tailor, Dart, Flatties,
Whiting, Snapper, Bream, Trevally, etc but are lucky to get a legal sized
fish. We are now using light as lines from new high tech rods or hand
lines,
various baits incl worms, mullet, squid, WA white bait, lures, jigs, etc.

When out fishing, we watch the other fishers and they are all having the
same luck (or lack of luck) as we get. We actually seem to do better than
most but as I said earlier, we only catch baby fish.

I believe that the problem is over fishing by the commercial guys and lack
of quotas by the government. I am surprised to see such small fish in the
fish shops, well and truly under size but being sold in the shops anyway.
That is no way to conserve stocks. The fishermen are all moaning about
loosing jobs when fishing regulations are tightened - well it all happened
in New Zealand 20 years ago, no-one died, they found new jobs and now
there
is plenty of fish for everyone including snapper for me from New Zealand
in
our local Woolies on Bribie Is.

I spoke to a crayfisherman in WA recently and he said that there are 500
cray boats between Freemantle and Geraldton. The cray season is 7 months
long (from memory) and the average catch per day is around 500kg - work
that
one out - approx 50,000 tones of cray per annum from a small part of the
coastline. The crays they are selling cheap as over there are smaller than
some prawns that I have seem in Asia and are definitely too small to be
legal in New Zealand.

In other words, it seems to me that the fishermen are raping and pillaging
the seas of everything including the breeding stocks and juveniles - end
result - no fish.

That is my moan for this year and we love Australia, it is a great place
to
live and the fishing is the only disappointment. Any comments??

Anyone know where to catch real fish not too far off shore or from a beach
within 4 hours drive of Brisbane and are willing to share the secret????



Steve Subritzky
Bribie Island
Queensland
Australia

"Steve" wrote in message
...
I have fished most of my life in New Zealand and made the move over to
Australia earlier this year. Now that we are here we have found that to
our
dismay, the fishing is bad on a good day and even worse on a bad day.
Most
of our fishing is from our tinnie or surfcasting. We do not venture more
than a couple of km off shore as the tinnie is too small.

Our standards of what is good/bad are based on our New Zealand
experience
so
maybe we have to refine what our standards are.


G'day Steve. Unfortunately it's the same scenario up here in and around
Cairns Nth Queensland. The joint has simply had the guts netted out of it
over the years, and now all you catch are very small fish if any at all.
There are also way to many pro fishing guides and reef charter fishing
boats, not to mention the bloody live coral trout trade that is here. But at
last I think the DPI have finally seen the light and are doing something
about it. Things might be looking better for us little fishoe's in a few
years time.

--
Steve Paris L/S
Tropical Cairns Nth Queensland
Australia.

Just joined Sunfish who look after the interests of recreational anglers in
QLD. Apparently for Bribie Is and Pumicestone passage, the commercial guys
are taking just about any fish entering or leaving the passage but worse
still, they have raped and pillaged the breeding grounds at the entrance to
the passage. All the breeding stock and baby fish have been tzaken by the
commercial guys so there is not much left.

The commercial guys admit that 75% of the fish that they take now in their
nets are mullet which has little commercial value when compared with other
fish because that is all that is left. They are getting worried.

This seems to be same all over QLD. Sunfish had a meeting on Bribie Is last
week and over a 100 locals turned up which shows the concern that the locals
have. A local commercial guy was lucky to get out of the meeting alive.
Anyway Sunfish is onto to it and if they can convince government to close
some areas to commercial guys (the breeding areas), we should see fish
coming back.

The dollars bought into the economy by recreational fishers far outweigh the
dollars bought by commercial fishers. There are Huge industries in boats,
tackle, bait, accommodation, etc that are all affected by no fish.

Following is Sunfish's web site but it is a bit light on detail. However
their magazine is great.

http://www.sunfishqueensland.org/

Steve Subritzky
Bribie Island
Queensland
Australia




"Steve" wrote in message
...
I have fished most of my life in New Zealand and made the move over to
Australia earlier this year. Now that we are here we have found that to
our
dismay, the fishing is bad on a good day and even worse on a bad day. Most
of our fishing is from our tinnie or surfcasting. We do not venture more
than a couple of km off shore as the tinnie is too small.

Our standards of what is good/bad are based on our New Zealand experience
so
maybe we have to refine what our standards are.

In New Zealand, we could go 5 minutes from home and catch snapper,
trevally,
etc and home was near the Waitemata Harbour in Auckland, a city of 1.1
million people. We caught a 5kg+ snapper 2 minutes from the Auckland
Harbour bridge after work one evening. We could most days go out and bring
home up to 15 good sized fish - all 1kg or over with no problems at all
and
using our old heavy hand lines with 40lb line or old fashioned broom stick
rods. Everywhere we fished in the upper half of the North Island was
productive and it was a real bad day if we came home with nothing and was
a
rarity. Now it is a rarity to being home a fish and we have never bought
home enough for a decent feed.

However now we live on Bribie Island and have fished all around Bribie,
Tin
Can Bay, Yamba, Byron Bay. Port Phillip bay in Melbourne, off the beaches
in
WA and at Prot Douglas (caught a good sized trevally here). We do catch
fish
but in general they are baby fish. We have caught Tailor, Dart, Flatties,
Whiting, Snapper, Bream, Trevally, etc but are lucky to get a legal sized
fish. We are now using light as lines from new high tech rods or hand
lines,
various baits incl worms, mullet, squid, WA white bait, lures, jigs, etc.

When out fishing, we watch the other fishers and they are all having the
same luck (or lack of luck) as we get. We actually seem to do better than
most but as I said earlier, we only catch baby fish.

I believe that the problem is over fishing by the commercial guys and lack
of quotas by the government. I am surprised to see such small fish in the
fish shops, well and truly under size but being sold in the shops anyway.
That is no way to conserve stocks. The fishermen are all moaning about
loosing jobs when fishing regulations are tightened - well it all happened
in New Zealand 20 years ago, no-one died, they found new jobs and now
there
is plenty of fish for everyone including snapper for me from New Zealand
in
our local Woolies on Bribie Is.

I spoke to a crayfisherman in WA recently and he said that there are 500
cray boats between Freemantle and Geraldton. The cray season is 7 months
long (from memory) and the average catch per day is around 500kg - work
that
one out - approx 50,000 tones of cray per annum from a small part of the
coastline. The crays they are selling cheap as over there are smaller than
some prawns that I have seem in Asia and are definitely too small to be
legal in New Zealand.

In other words, it seems to me that the fishermen are raping and pillaging
the seas of everything including the breeding stocks and juveniles - end
result - no fish.

That is my moan for this year and we love Australia, it is a great place
to
live and the fishing is the only disappointment. Any comments??

Anyone know where to catch real fish not too far off shore or from a beach
within 4 hours drive of Brisbane and are willing to share the secret????



Steve Subritzky
Bribie Island
Queensland
Australia

the only fish you catch here are the ones that can get through the nets.
John
"Steve" wrote in message
...
I have fished most of my life in New Zealand and made the move over to
Australia earlier this year. Now that we are here we have found that to
our
dismay, the fishing is bad on a good day and even worse on a bad day. Most
of our fishing is from our tinnie or surfcasting. We do not venture more
than a couple of km off shore as the tinnie is too small.

Our standards of what is good/bad are based on our New Zealand experience
so
maybe we have to refine what our standards are.

In New Zealand, we could go 5 minutes from home and catch snapper,
trevally,
etc and home was near the Waitemata Harbour in Auckland, a city of 1.1
million people. We caught a 5kg+ snapper 2 minutes from the Auckland
Harbour bridge after work one evening. We could most days go out and bring
home up to 15 good sized fish - all 1kg or over with no problems at all
and
using our old heavy hand lines with 40lb line or old fashioned broom stick
rods. Everywhere we fished in the upper half of the North Island was
productive and it was a real bad day if we came home with nothing and was
a
rarity. Now it is a rarity to being home a fish and we have never bought
home enough for a decent feed.

However now we live on Bribie Island and have fished all around Bribie,
Tin
Can Bay, Yamba, Byron Bay. Port Phillip bay in Melbourne, off the beaches
in
WA and at Prot Douglas (caught a good sized trevally here). We do catch
fish
but in general they are baby fish. We have caught Tailor, Dart, Flatties,
Whiting, Snapper, Bream, Trevally, etc but are lucky to get a legal sized
fish. We are now using light as lines from new high tech rods or hand
lines,
various baits incl worms, mullet, squid, WA white bait, lures, jigs, etc.

When out fishing, we watch the other fishers and they are all having the
same luck (or lack of luck) as we get. We actually seem to do better than
most but as I said earlier, we only catch baby fish.

I believe that the problem is over fishing by the commercial guys and lack
of quotas by the government. I am surprised to see such small fish in the
fish shops, well and truly under size but being sold in the shops anyway.
That is no way to conserve stocks. The fishermen are all moaning about
loosing jobs when fishing regulations are tightened - well it all happened
in New Zealand 20 years ago, no-one died, they found new jobs and now
there
is plenty of fish for everyone including snapper for me from New Zealand
in
our local Woolies on Bribie Is.

I spoke to a crayfisherman in WA recently and he said that there are 500
cray boats between Freemantle and Geraldton. The cray season is 7 months
long (from memory) and the average catch per day is around 500kg - work
that
one out - approx 50,000 tones of cray per annum from a small part of the
coastline. The crays they are selling cheap as over there are smaller than
some prawns that I have seem in Asia and are definitely too small to be
legal in New Zealand.

In other words, it seems to me that the fishermen are raping and pillaging
the seas of everything including the breeding stocks and juveniles - end
result - no fish.

That is my moan for this year and we love Australia, it is a great place
to
live and the fishing is the only disappointment. Any comments??

Anyone know where to catch real fish not too far off shore or from a beach
within 4 hours drive of Brisbane and are willing to share the secret????



Steve Subritzky
Bribie Island
Queensland
Australia