Catch and Release Fishery - Why not?

[whichway]

Hi all

I used to fish in freshwater before there were fish in the dams, so I got use to releasing all of the bass I caught, and the habit stuck when I started fishing the dams. I think that there would be a significant percentage of fisherpeople who would also release all of what they catch.

Now I'm not saying that everyone needs to do this, but it would be nice to have just one fishery in SEQ where there is a no take rule. This is the case in a few rivers for trout in NSW, and the thought of a population with a dominant percentage of big bass is very tempting.

I don't know if any of the existing dams could be changed to this, but I can't see why an as yet unstocked dam (Lake Manchester?), or specially stocked section of river (downstream of any of the existing dams) wouldn't be a candidate.

It would seem that if there is a no take rule, then the water would not need stocking as much, and even if there were a few poachers, they would probably not have a significant effect on the overall fish population.

I'm not holding my breath, but if ever it happens, I'll be amongst the first to sign up.

Regards

Whichway

[lordy]

Manchester would be an awesome C&R dam. It's relatively close to Brisbane and there is little or no fishing so no one would be upset about losing a meat fishing spot.

It should be noted that part of the reason for stocking dams such as Somerset is so that people take the fish away. The waterboards use the fish to absorb nutrients, so when people take their fish home they are reducing the nutrient load in the dam. It probably makes a marginal difference but you won't talk the waterboard guys at "put and take" dams into pure C&R for that reason alone.

[whichway]

I hadn't realised that nutrient removal was one of the reasons for catching fish. What happens to the nutrients in dams / impoundments where there is no fishing (Les Harrison, Mt Crosby etc)?

Regards

Whichway

[Cloud_9]

i think C&R dams is a good idea.
why take a fish thats not that great to eat anyway.
ithink the smaller dams are good places to start the C&R idea.
you got my support.

Cheers Cloud 9

[Jeremy87]

The concept of stocking dams with fish to increase water quality was originally an american concept. The idea being to shift the balance in the food chain. The main problem being algal bloom. Microbes consume the algae and keep its level in check, small baitfish eat the microbes, mircobe population decreases, algae population increases, microbe population increases with increase in food shortly followed by the baitfish. The cycle results in unpredictable spikes in algal growth. By introducing an appex predator such as bass this affect is dampened.