very interesting conversation, feedback wanted.

[Daintreeboy]

I believe that a chat page such as this is a valid means of education, and challenging people's values and ideas. A big barra has had several years invested in it to get to trophy size. To catch such a fish only once seems a waste of the resource. I have no problem with people taking a fish of a lifetime for mounting etc, but I think catch and release should be encouraged as much as possible. Another thing for the deep trollers to consider is, believe it or not, Barotrauma. (not Barratrauma!!) A mate of mine recently caught a big barra which came from deep water and was bloated. They tried to vent the fish the correct way, but even though it was vented, it didn't recover. A fish hooked on the troll in deep water could be dealt with a bit more steadily as they approach the surface to give them a better chance to adjust. Anyone heard of this in impoundments before?
Ray

I think you would be hard pressed to get anyone to raise a Barra slowly from the depths when it's hooked. Also, what if it swims up and jumps?

[1337]

Hmm interesting. So barramundi are suceptible to barotrauma? I know bass are and I suppose there is no reason as to why barra should not experience this. Never heard of that problem mentioned before but ... would be keen to hear the thoughts of others and the sucess of venting on these fish. Do fish hooked from the deep still have the energy to jump?

[A_DIFF_PERSPECTIVE]

i trolled a 22kg barra using a lure that dived 25 feet. the hooked fish stayed deep and dived over an edge into deeper water and spent a lot of time around 50 feet. i'd pull it upwards, and it would then dive back down there to roughly that same depth. On release after about 30 seconds on board, the barra floated and could not swim back down very far or for very long. We eventually aired the fish, and it did swim back down and away. We stayed in the same area for about an hour and we never saw the fish again.
I have also hooked many barra from 6 to 10 metres below the surface while trolling in deep water and had the fish jump within seconds of being hooked. I have only seen that 1 case of barotrauma before. I am believing it is not that common.

# My main reason for this thread is to understand the general trends and thoughts of other fellow ausfishers, and as a whole to bring us together to find a happy medium. The whole management of these new impounded fisheries is interesting to say the least. I am interested to see what happens in the coming years if stockings come close to saturation points in lakes. I was wondering what the stocking groups and hatcheries had in there plans as a management strategy for these impoundments. Are there studies, apart from visual (like my own) , that is monitoring how the larger fish may or may not be harming the fishery, and if any harm is noticeable, is it big fish or is it all barra that in some way may be responsible for any reduced numbers. Just food for thought!!
Tinaroo is about a 20 yr old fishery, and Awoonga and Faust is about half that. It seems that we are all learning together on this one, and that no hard pressed rules have been 'set in stone' for all impoundments as yet.
I could be wrong, but i feel it would be a major swing around if things at Awoonga change that much in the next 5 or 10 years! We are all learning, but i see learning as accepting facts and proof, not as accepting the 'words' that float freely around towns and caravan parks and newspapers etc. If i am wrong, i will accept it. I'm all in for propper management. You have to put your head on the 'chopping block' at some stage.
johnny M

[Smithy]

Don't hold your breath on getting anything scientific out of the DPI. I believe Alex Hamyln is about to retire and don't be surprised if he isn't replaced. Fisheries are way down the list as far a DPI is concerned and freshwater is further down the list yet again. DPI is like a corporation now so they really only invest in science if they get a commercial return on it. There is something to that effect in their mission statement or whatever. Anyway with the government razor gang out to find more money for Beattie's health system don't hold your breath for much science regarding impoundments. We could really take a leaf out of the Yanks book. They know their Bass inside out and have done for years. It would be great to know a heap more about our impoundment species and do stuff like radio tracking and stuff.

I think a lot of the public type fundraising fishing competitions have gilled and gutted sections more for cheating aspects rather than looking after the catch. There is a perception out there that every second person will fill a fish up with sinkers if they didn't.

Just another thing to throw into the mix. Max Garth was always on about exposing Barra to light and sun because of the composition of their eyes. I agree with him in that we should minimise all risk to the fish with light being one of them but Max is right at one end of the spectrum and would probably have you not fish at all and if you did to keep every fish you catch for the humane sake of it because any handling whatsoever will probably kill it in the future. I am a realist in that you enjoy fishing so you have to catch them and handling them is byproduct of that so you have to help them out the best you can. I do a lot of tagging so I know mortality is not 100% or anywhere near it because a lot of my fish keep turning up. That is more Bass and Golden Perch but I will give you a Barra example.

This time last year some mates and I fished Teemburra. It took us a couple of days to work it out that trip but once we cracked it we were catching 10-20 each per night over a couple of nights. Between us we would have caught over a 100 for a few days with that many again dropped. Now a few of these had pictures taken of them and we were aware that flashes were no good for them - they were even no good for us for a few minutes but we released everything. Now the rest did recieve the C&R treatment which in most cases would have involved the use of Petzel lamps, torches and spotties. Therefore over those few days 80-100 Barra were released by us that would have had some exposure to light at night yet we did not see one dead fish at all floating the whole time we were there. A few other crews cracked them as well so for those few days it was quite concievable that around 300 fish were released with some light exposure and not one floater. You be the judge.

[peterr]

You blokes up there have to go catch & release with those big competitions. Anglers need to be educated on C&R practises. Wouldn't be hard for the committees to have flag boats on the water during comps for measuring & helping to revive fish.
Our Inverell Festival has gone C&R for the first time this year, as a result we have gained more generous sponsorship & more sponsors for the event. You can still have the heroes there, but they will only have a photo for their efforts. These types will come around to the different rules if the cash &prizes are still there.
You blokes are sitting on a world class inland fishery up there and it needs to be looked after and properly managed. Tourist dollars alone would be pretty substantial not to mention the money spent in the surrounding towns.
Anyway thats my view . I'm for Catch & Release! Let him fight again another day.