Tagging snapper in the Brisbane River during January

[Short Fuse]

Hi all.

Offshore fishing was pretty much a non event for me in January. Getting offshore in the very few gaps between the almost constant wind stopped when I sold my Shark Cat and watched it head off to its new home in Batemans Bay in NSW.

To get my fishing fix, I put in a few evening trips targetting snapper in the Brisbane River during January. I managed to hit the river 5 times in the month, averaging around 3 - 4 hours fishing per trip, tagging all the snapper caught, and just releasing all the by catch that came along. For all trips, we concentrated on using bait, mainly using peeled banana prawn tails fished either unweighted, or with the smallest sinker we could use to assist getting the baits close to structure but not ending up snagged in the bottom.

We managed to tag 36 snapper, with the biggest measuring 60cms. 22 of those fish were of legal length or bigger. Bycatch also tagged included gold spot cod and speckled javelin. During the same time we also caught and released over 40 bream, and there were a few other unwanted species as well, including the ever present forktail catties, shovel nose rays and the odd small shark. For those fishing the river, keep an eye out for tags in any fish you might catch. Please report the details of any recaptured fish to the number on the tag. One snapper I tagged in the Brisbane River last year was recaptured 90 days later on the ledge at Poverty Creek up in the Pumicestone Passage. Another interesting statistic from tagging of snapper is that one fish tagged at Green Island in the southern bay was recaptured some time later on the inside of Fraser Island.

Here are a couple of photos from our January trips.
http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s25/Short_Fuse1/90181de4-ed14-4290-94b8-bc5c03fcab77_zps4a791007.jpg (http://s148.photobucket.com/user/Short_Fuse1/media/90181de4-ed14-4290-94b8-bc5c03fcab77_zps4a791007.jpg.html)

http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s25/Short_Fuse1/d4e0b9cc-c27a-492b-b86a-3c52a70271db_zps61a32b3a.jpg (http://s148.photobucket.com/user/Short_Fuse1/media/d4e0b9cc-c27a-492b-b86a-3c52a70271db_zps61a32b3a.jpg.html)

http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s25/Short_Fuse1/Justlegalsnapper_zps3a838fba.jpg (http://s148.photobucket.com/user/Short_Fuse1/media/Justlegalsnapper_zps3a838fba.jpg.html)

cheers

Jeff

[lbger]

Very good, your a better man than me, they would have been Panko crumbed. and served with a nice salad or something ;)

[chris69]

Thanks for the info SF very interesting ,they seem to be happy wonders as your tagging efforts has shown.

[pegasus]

SF,

Thank you for the report. Very interesting info/stats on sizes. Certainly eye opener on those fish travelling so far.

[Triple]

You better let me know exactly where you caught those ones so if I catch them somewhere else I know where they came from..




And so i can send them back home...




Home with me...

[Richo1]

Well done some great results. Well done on the tagging efforts as well👍

[SCREAMER]

Excellent work! It's great to see someone doing something positive for fishing. More power to you.

[Moonlighter]

Ok Jeff, time to spill your guts!

Give us your tally of each different species you have tagged and released!

Each Species name, and approx number tagged please!

And can you tell us a little bit about the tagging database, who runs it, how it gets used and by whom, and where people can go to get more info if they want to get involved.

thanks,

Grant

[Short Fuse]

Grant.

Not sure of exact numbers of fish that I have tagged, but probably close to 4000 by now. I know that I had tagged close to 2000 yellowfin bream up till when i stopped tagging them a couple of years ago. Would be close to 800 dusky flathead by now. Other species include barramundi, mangrove jack, gold spot cod, mulloway, red throats, red emperor (juvenile), pearl perch and of course snapper. My snapper tally is around 250 at the moment, and is the species I will be concentrating on this year, as well as pearl perch when we are offshore.

Of course, my tallies dont even come close to those of Mick Dohnt who has tagged over 23000 fish on his own so far.

Sportfish Tagging in Queensland is done by members of the Australian National Sportfishing Association (Queensland Branch) and the program is called Suntag. It is run by Infofish Services on behalf of ANSA Qld. Bill and Shirley Sawynok run the program and maintain the tagging database from Rockhampton. Other than just tagging fish, we also keep catch effort records and hooking locations, together with a whole lot of other data.

On an average trip we record the time we depart the ramp, and all fish caught till we get back to the ramp including unwanted species whether they be of legal size of not. The areas being fished are recorded in kilometre grid squares. On an average trip sheet, I would record things like depth fished, style of fishing (bait, lure etc) whether fish caught are kept, tagged and released, or just released without tagging. We also guage the health of the fish released, hooking location (lip, mouth, throat, outside etc) line class and type of line used, type of bait or lure, hook size and type, and can record any other relevant details that we notice.

For instance, last year I caught a 57cm snapper at Clara Rocks in the Brisbane River. On capture, I saw that it had a circle hook from a previous encounter still hanging in the side of its jaw. I recorded that information on the catch effort sheet, together with the fact that the fish appeared to be in very good condition, and not unduly affected by that previous encounter. I removed the hook, tagged the fish and then released it.

The Suntag program is a great program to be a part of, and I would recommend all fishos take a look at the Infofish website and check out the information that you can access through it. You can register to receive regular news letters that come out detailing interesting recapture events and also get to see a lot of information and reports that have been prepared by Bill over the years. There are a number of ways that people can get involved either by joining an existing Sportfishing Club, or by become an individual member of ANSA Qld (called Queensland Sportfishers). There are clubs right around the Queensland coastline, but around Brisbane include Southern Brisbane, Ipswich, Brisbane (now called Moretag), Brisbane Valley Anglers, Redcliffe Peninsula Game and Sportfishing Club, and also Bribie Island. I am a member of both Bribie Island Sportfishing Club, and also Moretag.

I am happy to talk to anyone that wants any particular information about the tagging program, or otherwise people can find out more information by contacting Bill or Shirley at Infofish Services in Rocky.

I would certainly encourage anyone who catches a tagged fish to record the information, and contact the number on the tag to report the recapture. It is up to the individual to decide whether they wish to keep the tagged fish for eating if it is of legal length, or choose to re-release it. There is no pressure on people to put back a tagged fish if they dont want to. A couple of other interesting statistics from the program:

Snapper - The deepest tag and recapture of a snapper in Queensland. Mick Clutterbuck tagged a snapper in 100 metres at Deep Tempest. I recaptured it 8 months later in 125 metres about 10 kilometres north of the tagging point. That fish was released.

Bream - Mick Dohnt caught the same fish 4 times in one day up in Pumicestone Passage.

Mangrove Jack - the record number of times a single fish has been recaptured is 13 times for a fish up in the Hinchinbrook Passage. One angler caught that fish about 6 times from memory. He got to know the snag where the fish was residing and pretty much was sure he would recapture the fish each time he passed the snag. Eventually, the person who caught it the last time chose to keep it.

Shortest time from tagging to recapture is about 20 seconds or so for a barramundi. Members of the Captag club used to tag at the barrage at Rockhampton under a special permit. One member caught and tagged a barra and released it. It swam off across the surface, and as a joke, one of the other blokes tossed his lure in front of the fish and of course it grabbed the lure, hooked up and was landed again. Not so bright that fish.

cheers

Jeff

[Triple]

When a tagged fished you have reported and released gets recaptured and reported again are you informed by email of the newer info , like on the certificate for the newer angler?

[Short Fuse]

Hi Triple.

Yes you would get informed. The tag certificate would show the original tagger at the top with the information from that tagging. Then your recapture would be shown under that with the information you supplied, and then the information from the person who caught the fish for the third time would be listed under that again. In the case of the mangrove jack in Hinchinbrook, there would have been 13 lines of recaptures listed on the certificates going out, and everyone who had caught the fish would have received a new certificate each time it was recaptured. I have a few certificates here at home that show multiple recapture data on them.

cheers

Jeff

[SCREAMER]

Jeff if you could make a post in either the general or saltwater section on suntag it would get a lot more eyes on it. With luck it may get a few more people helping out and developing the taggin addiction themselves. Again it is really great to see someone making a positive contribution.

[Fish_gutz]

thats great info , thanks for sharing it.

[Short Fuse]

Thanks everyone for the positive comments.

Bill Sawynok has just released a report on Snapper in SEQ based on the tagging data gathered so far. I will arrange for a link to the report to be put up in the next day or so.

Tried the river again Sunday evening over the top of the tide and the first of the run out. The bream were thick and drove me nuts - fed them about a kilo of prawn tails. Managed one snapper right on 60cms just on 8pm. It went back wearing yellow plastic. Gave up counting the bream caught at 25 with the biggest going 37cms overall length.

Cheers

Jeff

[Short Fuse]

Hi all. Got notification tonight of a recapture of one of the snapper I tagged in the river back in January.

Tag No. U80278 - snapper tagged on 27 January measuring 300mm. Recaptured in the same area on 09 March measuring 315mm - a growth of 15mm in 41 days. The fish was released again so is still out there waiting for another angler to come along.

Cheers

Jeff

[Bobpen]

Hi Short Fuse:
Since you are releasing everything I was wondering if you had a preference in hook styles?

I also release most of my fish: undersize or wrong species so I would like to minimise damage. I use circle hooks as the fish don't seem to swallow them.

Another question: Do Snapper spawn offshore?

Good post. Thanks Bob

[Short Fuse]

Bob.

When bait fishing in the Brisbane River for tagging purposes, I use Dynatec Brand Wide Gape hooks usually in size 2. I find that most times the fish will be hooked in the corner of the mouth, but do still get the occasional fish that will swallow a bait. I cant convince myself to go over to full circle hooks, so I find wide gapes a good alternative. I always crush the barbs on these hooks as well so that if I have to leave a hook in a fish that has swallowed the bait, it should be easier for them to get rid of the hook after release.

Cant give a definite answer on spawning locations. From what I have seen, I believe they spawn offshore around full moons in late winter, but I am no expert on that. A friend was anchored on a shallow reef off Fraser Island one night a few years ago. Glass calm conditions and just before dawn, he had thousands of big snapper milling around the back of the boat, with tail fins and dorsal fins breaking the surface. This was before the last decrease in the bag limit, and the 3 blokes on board caught 15 snapper averaging 6 kilos each in a very short time. He said all the fish caught were full of roe. As it got light, they could see the fish very clearly in the water one minute, and almost on cue, the fish rolled over swam down and dissappeared. They fished on into the morning catching moses perch and other species, but did not catch another snapper once the sun came up. I would call that a spawning aggregation.

Cheers

Jeff