Never (0)
Rarely (once or twice a year)
Often (50% of trips)
Always (50-100%)
Difficult to answer. Several times a year we catch our limit and more of Barra, Fingermark and occasionally Black Jew. But to be honest we do this on less than 5% of fishing trips. But we have never kept out limit and rarely keep more than 2 Barra (limit is 5 per person, so 10 in total) 3 or 4 Fingermark (same limit as Barra) and 1 Jew (limit 2 per person).
We are fortunate to fish in an area of NT where it is possible to 'bag out' at times. Also fortunate enough to fish often enough to be able to release more than we keep on good days.
So my honest answer (and vote) is never.
Only thing I'm skiting about here is our good fortune in where we fish and how often we can do it.
Norm C
Only bagged out on Barra in the gulf and then bagged out on fingermark twice from port alma. Just to say that some people see bagging out as killing our sport but the way I see it being from central QLD is that we get about 6 trips a year in if we are lucky so our soul purpose is to try and bring a feed home to get us to the next trip....
Fishing can be defined as "A jerk on one end of the rod, waiting for a jerk on the other".
"Fishing was around along time before you darling"
I think this just goes to show that bag limits are a pretty ineffective method for preserving fish stocks. They may curb illegal shamatuer mongrels but would do little overall to improve fisheries
A Proud Member of
"The Rebel Alliance"
I voted for the third option,
I dont really fish less than 60mtrs, so C and R doesnt really happen.
NSW bag limit for pearlies is 5, easily done in two drops when you find them,
snapper 10, not that hard either,
when the leatherjackets turn up you can catch your limit in 7-10 drops, not even a challenge..................
This doesnt mean that it is always that easy, we often come home with a very mixed bag,
but there are plenty of times when we need to count whats in the box and stay or move to a new spot accordingly.
Muzz
Your definition of always (50% or more) reminds me of a conversation I had with someone once during an internal audit at a former workplace. He thought he should get a rating of always if he did the job right about 80% of the time.
Anyway I have never bagged out on any species and rarely catch more than 2-3 fish to take home.
Cheers
Chris
I said around 50% but in saying that it is usually only for one species not coral reef fin fish limit. For me a fishing trip these days is always at least 36 hours, often 60hrs in duration and most of that is spent fishing and travelling anywhere up to 300kms a trip. Usually only fish based on the almanac, moons and tides also and generally target cetrain species at certain times of the year in certain locations.
Having said this I have done many a trip where the esky looks very very lean, especially when chasing those red bastards!
Just as happy taking the tinny out in Hervey bay for a few hours for one trout and a coral bream, its not about bagging out, its about relaxation and enjoyment not filling the esky.
All fish caught is shared amoungst our extended family and close friends and we would only typically do one trip a month, so nothing goes to waste.
Anthony
Bagged out on largemouth about 5 times in the last 5 years and had the whole crew (4 fisherman) bag out together in 1 hour on largemouth Nannygai just once. Wives wondered what went wrong to be home so early.
bagged out on coral trout occasionally over the years (personally) but only once in twenty yrs for a crew of 4.
In real terms, I don't seek to bag out as a value in my fishing.
Cheers
John
Quite often I will give away fillets and it's great to get the response that they are the best fillets they have ever had. I also tend to give them away to random customers as a treat for any reason. I normally give my fillets away to older people who are past the fishin charter thing or even never fished.
Cheers
Chris
Its tragic that even rubbish fish costs about $9 KG
Even the shite fish they import at the gig grocery stores costs heaps.
ANGLA youre right about the comment "best fish weve ever tasted" It makes for more joy in fishing to be able to share.
I was posting in a thread in Freshwater some time ago and talking about giving fish away when you catch a good bag and I got ripped into for abusing fish stocks, but I think sharing good fish with others really counts and I hope I always
can do so.
John
Every time I go Barra fishing in the closed season (on the dams) and pull one in, I'm bagged out. If I'm real lucky happens four or 5 times on a trip!
Bass Similar, I'll often troll one lure slowly, while casting at snags I'm going past, a double hookup is ya bag limit! I sometimes been embarassed by being over my bag limit when tagging (fish in the live tank) and not able to get fish back in the water quick enough before I get another hit.
Shark fishing also, every time you pull one in your bagged out.
Its not hard.
I sometimes bag out on sand flatties (bag limit of 5) and always bag out on Shark over summer (which is now bag limit of 1)![]()
only bagged out once in the last 5 years. pulled up at spot x cape cap and bagged out in an hr on nanagi. mate and i tried for the next 2 hrs to catch another species and only caught nanagi.moved twice and caught nothing for the next 2 hrs.
every other trip to the same area we have caught maybe 2 nanagi and a few parrot. normal catch is about 10 mixed reafies of a size worth bringing home.
still blowing every weekend i get off![]()