estuary cod keep or release

[vbfosters]

A fellow fisher has told me that you should not take estuary cod from the water system as other fish disapear. Is this true or not? I live in Brisbane and caught 3 cod over 45cm and kept them.

[matt__hill]

go for it mate nothing wrong with it at all. better off releasing jacks than cod but if u wanna eat it then keep it. as long as there is no rules broken mate then people cant hold anything against u.


cheers matt
ps. cod taste great too

[kingtin]

Dunno why or how his thought processes arrived at this. If it was fish at the bottom end of the food chain that were being removed, well yes, other fish may disappear owing to lack of food but as cod are a voracious predator, then I think other fish stock may actually increase.

It's/we are all part of a food chain mate, and as long as we don't create too much inbalance, then go for it.

kev

[Feral]

Congrats on your catch.

As fishermen all we can do is trust the Authorities have it right with the fisheries management rules, and stick within them.

If you choose to be "greener" than the rules well good on yer, but it is not necessary, and people should not be criticised for following the rules.

Listening to grand theories with no scientific backup is unlikely to do all that much good!

[choppa]

all said and done though,,,, the passage hasn't been firing as well as it normally does for quite a while,,,, coochin creek is the same,,,, and i haven't seen to many over the top reports coming outta the pine river for a while,,,,

maybe if he only kept one,,, instead of all 3?????????????

choppa

[SgBFish]

Caught 2 larger specimens on the weekend.
Lost 2 others once hooked to rub offs on coffee rock. Different fish as they were different weights and lost a heap of live baits to others. These estuary cod are plentiful in certain spots.
Take a couple for a feed is our motto. the little ones we let go as they are all head.
The last time I was up at the Maroochy River I threw a tank on and was amazed by how many juvenile fish i saw. Every pipe old crab pot ledge had one in it. Even the littel fish will stand their ground and take you on.
They were everywhere.
Taking a few of the large ones now and then probably helps the system as they literally eat their one.
Scott

[sambos]

i pesonally don,t keep them . only because i troll the estuary system &the majority of these fish are juviniles .it,s all fine if there legal size , but i still release them as they provide entertainment in between higher quailty fish.

[shaman]

Good Chewin' !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Outdoor Guy]

all in moderation aye

[J2DAG83]

I was once told the same thing by an avid offshore fisherman....and then to confirm what he said seen something about it on tv at a later date... what they appeared to be alluding to was that you should let larger cod go that have been caught on a reef system (8 - 10 kg plus) it appears that after some sort of study that was carried out it showed that larger cod tend to be the keeper of a reef system.... can't remember the exact details but the study did show that when large cod were removed from a reef system most other fish that were previously abundant weren't anymore?????... apparently they keep the system clean???... anyway just thought i'd pass that on.... for the record i'm all for keeping cod that are under the 6 - 7kg mark, great chewn'....

[vbfosters]

Point taken mate. But as there was 2 of us we made sure to "limit our catch and not catch our limit" cheers,

[vbfosters]

Thanks mate, that has cleared my guilty feeling. Cheers

[jackextracter]

I would let em go mate, keep a flathead if you want a feed, cod are like garbage trucks they clean up the rivers and bays from the shit on the bottom, that might have something to do with wat the other guy was telling you its a pitty seeing the small dead ones on here, considering how big they can get it seems like a waste.

[Livey]

Hi,

i often catch cod when fishing reefs deeper than 45m most of the time their eyes are popping out and stomachs have exploded. My question is what will happen to a cod that has suffered from the bends (pressure change).

I did throw one back once it was about 20kg, only to see it float away belly up. This made me feel worse than if i had have kept it. It was a total waste.

opposite to popular belief large cod still tast pretty good especially when the fillets are cut into steaks.

Cheers

[geoff72]

i dont keep them but if its over legal size and you like chewing on them,eat it, but i think if you get 3,maybe let the smaller of the 2 go,just keep one.same goes for jacks,if you get a few of them,just keep the best one,let the others go and multilpy and restock your favourite spot x.