Over fished

[NoBananas]

When ever I come back from a fishing session with no keepers there is always someone to tell me the bay is over fished.
This is a theory shared by many. This might be true, however, I strongly believe there are plenty of fish out there.

[gr hilly]

there is a lot of people who try to catch fish ,and there are a lot of people who do catch fish, the diff being you need to fish at the right time with the right bait the right gear helps and the most important thing LUCK that helps to but bait (local) and fresh these couple of pointers should result in a feed.

cheers Hilly

[TimiBoy]

The Bay is chockers. You only have to read the reports.

The fish, imo, are becoming educated.

Cheers,

Tim

[Dezzer]

Some areas of the bay and estuarys have improved significantly in my opinion. Pumicestone Passage is getting better and better, surely a direct result of the Tripcony no go zone and the netting bans implemented some years ago. Flathead in particular can be in almost plague proportions this time of year. The close in reefs in my area have fished better for me in recent years than ever before (in my time anyway). If somebody told me 10 years ago that they bagged on Snapper at Redcliffe I would have laughed. I think the stand out example is the Brisbane River. Water quality has a direct relationship with the river ecosystem and this is shown by the many reports on here of trophy salmon and the diverse range of species being caught.

[wags on the water]

It's the 90/10 theory. 90% of the fish will be caught by 10% of the fisherman.....

[FNQCairns]

I don't very well understand the bays green zone setup but if it does exclude prawn trawlers from a healthy proportion of the places they would historically trawl then this will have a positive fisherys impact.

I am not dumb ignorant nor fundamentalist regarding these green zones because i know that even if the above is happening the zones that would allow for this juvenile and sea floor protection do not need to be Green...they could be blue but with simple conditions against trawlers to achieve not less than the current green zones ever will.

Suspect too the fish in the bay would be smarter (educated like Tim says) it's the one solid and pretty much only finding to come out of many years of anti angler fisherys research on the GBR.

Interestingly they all but gave up trying to find true scientific evidence surrounding "fished out" on the GBR and just decided to lock up (out anglers) better than 70% of the Angler amenity because quite simply they had the power to do it.

[STUIE63]

Jesse have you read Charlies thread there are a lot of very simple but effective hints http://www.ausfish.com.au/vforum/showthread.php?t=162997

I don't fish the bay but Hinchinbrook channel and you would be surprised the amount of people that talk to me at the ramp saying they got nothing all of them are going out when I am coming home or coming in when I am going out .I reckon most people want to fish bankers hours but nobody told the fish
Stuie

[Mad-One]

It's like the Gold Coast Seaway not that many fish caught but a mate who dives there reckons there is crap loads of good size fish there swimming in and out between all the lines dangling there. They have just got smart

Mad

[FTW]

I have been bait fishing with local fresh caught baits for the last few years in the GC seaway and Broadwater. Last Sunday resulted in a PB Bream, some nice Flathead and several large whiting all for a couple of hours. All caught from tourist fishing spots, I think it is all in technique, local knowledge and good bait, emphasis on good bait. Commercial baits are in poor condition and often chemically treated to preserve them. Small prawns from a service station bait freezer are rubbish bait compared to a fresh prawn, even a salted fresh caught prawn is better bait. Fishing my caught baits results in larger numbers of bigger fish compared to the toads and catties that frequent the line with frozen commercial baits. Just my theory but works for me Kev

[Flex]

Every single place within a days drive of a town is "overfished" in Australia. Well not precisely overfished, but definitely "depleted" beyond full regeneration within our lifetime. This means from cooktown all they way south to Melboune on the east coast and even out to some parts of the barrier reef. Although we are lucky to have the best and most sustainable fishery in the world. So we shouldn't be complaining really.

Thats not to say there is no fish around and the current levels are not sustainable, they are just sustainable at a lower level.

This is evident to anyone who has been to an extremely remote location like cape york or similar areas in the NT/WA. You have got to witness estuary/bay systems to appreciate the sheer number of fish that can potentially live in an area.

Also the impact of farms/industry run off is greatly underestimated I feel. Once again this effect is only negated once you go north of cooktown.

[TheFishRaider]

someone should organise a date when every one goes and BURNS the stupid trawlers.

[SeaHunt]

The Bay is chockers. You only have to read the reports.

The fish, imo, are becoming educated.

Cheers,

Tim

Yes Tim they have been trained by all the catch and release guys out there to recognise a trap when they see it.

Catch and release seems very popular on the TV fishing shows too, but to my way of thinking it is "lets go out and torture some poor animal for fun and then let it go when it is nearly dead".
If you don't want it, why annoy it?
If I am lucky enough to get a couple for dinner I stop and go home, I release all undersize and vermin unharmed if possible, yes including grinners, BUT my intention when I go is to catch fish for dinner.

[Dezzer]

someone should organise a date when every one goes and BURNS the stupid trawlers.

Another person who's never bought seafood or bait