do pro fishermen rule the waves

[wayneoro]

guys you know how i hate to winge but ,fishing in gregory river [o/nighter] had my pots in , all 4 in line of sight up pops a pro boat and drops his within couple feet of mine [all 4] this in a massive mangrove lined area guess i looked smarter then him [except there is only wife and i we have a 4 crab limit ] so i put pots in easy access spots .next trip same place just got back this morning . this time another pro boat lines up with pots and gill nets and a crew of 4 . now there is a well known fishing hole there called the honeycombs [unique rock formation plus a deep hole] so the pros anchored the net on the shore then ran the net out ok but part of the net is couple feet above the water level [tinnies run right agains the bank there] next net they put in further along the honeycombs basically cutting off this area next net they put across a channel that everyone has to use to go further up river this channel is about 10ft and 3ft to go round there seems to be a total disregard for anyone elses use of the river

[roz]

Wayneoro,

They do themselves no favours behaving in that way, and yes, they seem to think they have more rights.

I remember posting a whinge ages ago about something that happened to me, I might as well repeat it.

I used to fish the Tweed for my towing baits.

I would do this by anchoring up in my canoe in a quiet spot, out of the main channel, get a burley trail going.

It would take about an hour, but then I would usually get a good number of gar and the occasional chopper tailor.

One afternoon a couple of pro's turned up, they could see what I was doing, so they decided to run their net right my canoe and caught all the fish I had spent all that time and effort to burley up.

I had to paddle over their net to leave. I didn't realise at the time, but I could have reported them. I think it could have cost them more than a rap over the knuckles.

I've got little or no respect for pro fishermen these days, because you never forget the bone heads.

Roz.

[Rod Fishing]

Just tell me that episode on the Tweed didnt involve one or more of the Higgin's. When I used to live down there I had a run in with them, I think I won the round though as they idint catch much that evening as I made a few phone cals and got about 9 boats into the area and we just did circle work around them.

[roz]

Were they the mob at Tumbulgum.

[wayneoro]

i have also had the misfortune to meet the gouldings pro fishers from tweed heads now in bundy one of them just recently finally got caught with a load of jennies gee roz maybe we are better off with imported sea food then having some of these people loose on the water but i also know some salt of the earth pro fishers so i guess i always have a camera sometimes i have felt mad enough to take pics and report the incident but what stops me is that these guys are young probably with young families at home and they are just battling along to make a payday unless i saw mass slaughter that would be different

[finga]

i have also had the misfortune to meet the gouldings pro fishers from tweed heads now in bundy one of them just recently finally got caught with a load of jennies gee roz maybe we are better off with imported sea food then having some of these people loose on the water but i also know some salt of the earth pro fishers so i guess i always have a camera sometimes i have felt mad enough to take pics and report the incident but what stops me is that these guys are young probably with young families at home and they are just battling along to make a payday unless i saw mass slaughter that would be different

Young families shouldn't any difference what-so-ever matey.
My way of thinking is if you have to break the law to scrape a living then it must be time to change your trade.
Plenty of other jobs around. They just have to go a bit further north and pick banana's if they need the work bad enough.
Laws are laws.

[disorderly]

It really seems as though most of the concerns and anger from rec fishers is centred on pro crabbing and netting in the estuaries.
Lets hope its not to long before the powers that be offer to buy out these licences and reduce or even eliminate this crazy practise. By my way of thinking most consumers can either go and catch there own river fish and crabs,substitute for something else(ie basa) or go without.
I have to agree with finga.If they are not able to legally make a living from it then something has to change.

cheers Scott

I wish all the live trout guys up here would p!ss of as well.

[fisher28]

as a commercial fisherman i hate to see this sort of thing happen,i believe that most of us try and do the right thing but there will always be a couple of twits that spoil it.my friends and myself work long and hard trying to improve our image but stuff like this sets us back years,all i can recommend is to take down their symbols and report them to the fishos,with a follow up call if you think neccessary.

[nigelr]

Great post, Wayne, IMO.
One year not too long ago, we had a mob of travelling Qld pros arrive here ostensibly hunting sea mullet.
They had an unreg jet boat setting nets, an unreg ultra-lite complete with unlicensed pilot, an unreg freezer truck, the lot of them camped at the local rivermouth (large sign at access track - NO CAMPING) and would use spotlights AT NIGHT to locate their prey!
They didn't take much seamullet, but did take approx 2 tonne of mulloway, to 60lb, which had the local amatuers suitably incensed!
Fortunately, the Council ranger, with help from the locals, was able to prosecute them, and we have not seen their likes hereabouts again, touch wood.
The locals paid them a lot of attention, which they certainly didn't like, one chap took a home video which the local tv station aired.
They were particularly aggresive, offering to fight anyone who took umbrage with their methodology. Included in their midst was an Indonesian lad who would produce a knife to back up his bosses' words.
Their sheer audacity is mind boggling, certainly doesn't help those within the industry that are fair dinkum, IMHO.
Personally I find this issue a very hard one, definitely a lifestyle issue here, these guys were true outlaws in their own minds, I think.
As I love fishing, I can see the attraction of this lifestyle, (well, the LEGAL aspects of it!) no I can TASTE it, as I'm sure many of you can as well.
But at the end of the day, if you are genuinely concerned about the quality of life of your young family, perhaps you need to look at your career options.
A pro from Ulladulla who lived and worked as a pro here for several years, without much success, returned to Ulladulla, left the industry and now is very much in demand as a successful fishing guide. Other members of his family have done the same, with great success.
In NSW, the license buy back does have some positive results!
Cheers.

[Obi _ Wan]

About 20 years ago around a dozen of us were fishing the beach on Nth, Straddie, in a beaut gutter, we were all pulling greenbacks every throw, about 4 to 5 pound a fish.
A mob of pro's rocked up with their boats, nets and associated gear and promptly run the net out around the school of tailor we were all catching.
We all just kept fishing although we were all very bloody annoyed at what was happening.
Then the pro's said ok boys thats enough your catching our fish!!!!!!!! rack off!

A few of us go a bit loud about who was there first and so on until one of the guys fishing with us said quietly, By law we are not allowed to get in the way of pro fisherman!!!!

We all then just stood back as i guess we all had a good dozen or so of fish each and watched this b*****s haul out a couple of tons of tailor.

I can tell you that none of us liked it but were all unsure of the exact law and these blokes were very aggressive.

Cheers,
Obi_Wan

[Rod Fishing]

Were they the mob at Tumbulgum.

Yes Roz they were. We use to give them heaps of stick.

[marty+jojo]

Wayneoro.... I know the gregory river and the honeycombs (awesome spot throw the net on the bank opposite for whiting or mullet and then turn them into a jack,cod,grunter or a barra if you are lucky.) Any way last time i was up there 2004 there was hardly any channel upstream between honeycombs and the next left hander.
Man i would have been pissed off! I have a mate who lives on the river further up about 4 kms and he has had numerous run ins over the years with pro's and other people running gill nets right across the river. He is on a first name basis with the local fisheries.... The next time he takes an illegally set net and hands it in will not be the first!
Cheers mate Marty.

[roz]

Yes Roz they were. We use to give them heaps of stick.

Well you're right, I think it's the estuary and beach netters that are likely to clash with amatures.... I've said that in my shamatures post.

The pro that line fishes IMO, does not do any harm to the environment, he/she can target particular species, and will likely throw back unwanted or undersized fish.

Netting, on the other hand doesn't discriminate, everything that swims into it is caught.

I have lived & fished on the NSW north coast for a long time, it was always interesting to speak with older generations of fishers.

I would hear comments like "the waves at Kingscliff used to be black with mullet", or my old mate Slip Togo, would tell me he used to be able to catch all the good sized Jewies he wanted in the Tweed River at Murwillumbah, unheard of now days.

Now I can't pile all the blame on netters, amatures of course contributed to what has happened to the Tweed, but taking away a vital part of the food chain, in this case prawns, must have a flow on effect.

As for the sea mullet, netting is the only way I know of catching those fish, or perhaps jagging, which may not be legal...not sure. Anyway, the waves are not black with thick schools of sea mullet nowdays.

Am I wrong to draw the conclusion that beach netters have to bare a lot of the blame there? My thought's anyway.

cheers r.

[lock]

Obi_wan I had an uncle and a mob of his mates who had a similar encounter to yours a while back. And they tried to do the same thing , the only thing was my uncle amd his mates talk exception to being told to move on and it got a bit ugly. I dont think it was the best result but the pros got the idea not to be so rude and pushy. I think though as long as they stick to the rules and dont endanger anyone there is not much you can do.

[Red_Nut]

Roz - I used to live in Murwillumbah, and fished at Kingscliff a bit.

This is our worst pro story:
Over the space of a week (fishing each night) my brother and I got the jew figured out at the bottom end of Kingy beach. The one night that was perfect for a good long session we had a big run-in with some pros. We could see the fish in the moonlight, and they were starting to come into our strike zone. A beach netting pro drove down for a look, and within 10 minutes there were 2 more 4x4s on the beach with the nets and tinny. They ran the net within a couple of metres of the rock wall we were fishing from, close enough that he actually drove under our lines. They netted the whole end of the beach.

The end result was the 3 cruiser utes and wagons couldn't drag the net out of the water because it was too full. They first couple of attempts didn't work, so they radioed their mates to come ond help drag the net in, but that didn't work either. In the end they waited until the tide went out to access the net. They had fish piled up in the net thigh high. I reported the event to the fisho's, but I don't know how effective this was.

Between that and some of the pro crabbers in the CQ area I don't have much time for the pros. I'm sure they are not all bad, and there are bad amatures out there too.

Does anyone have a story when they reported a pro and had a good outcome?

Cheers.

Ed.