At what size do you reckon you should release a flathead? 60cm, 70cm...
At what size do you reckon you should release a flathead? 60cm, 70cm...
I guess it all comes down to state regs, and your own views on what you want to keep to eat and what you don't
Just my opinion but I let anything go from 70cm up. If I have some fish I let go any in the 60's too. Read a report that a shiteload where caught for scientific purposes and they sexed and aged the fish. The largest male fish was 68cms if I recall and prolly about 14yrs old so chances are the big ones are females.
Once again my opinion only
Big ones go flaky and taste like crap anyway. The ones closer to the smaller slot size are the best eating by far.
nil carborundum illegitimi
P release flathead outside of my window of 55 to 70cm. It is all about getting a decent yeild per fish to me. I can not see the point in bagging out on just legals and killing 4 times the number of fish for the same result. I generally only keep one or two per trip.
Jack.
I don't keep anything over 60 anymore. Had too many in the earlier days that were over 60 and roed up, so placed a self imposed max of 60.
most female fish are not sexually mature until mid to high fifities. quite often those 40's and low 50's female fish we take for home for a beautiful dinner have not had a chance to breed at least once in their life....yet we have a good tendancy to let the larger fish go who most have had a chance to breed. This may offset the loss of not sexually mature fish. something to think about anyway.
Ill only take Flathead between 45-55cm ill never keep the bigger fish as i enjoy watching them swim down the the depths way to much.And knowing there back in the water for you to try and catch again dosent hurt either.
1 out of every 10 Flathead i catch I may keep.
cheers Bron
I have kept a few just on 70cm and it's true they are not as palatable.
On the other hand I did catch a nice 70cm off the surf beach down south once and it was one of the best I had eaten.
between 50cm - 60cm are a good table fish.
Dan
So a question for you ? What do you do if you catch a monster say a meter and he has taken a large live bait that you set out for say a jewy and once you get the big girl in its well and truly dying from the livie lodged in it throat . Do you send it back to where it come from to float away in the current dying or dead or do you risk taking it to at least not see it wasted , me personally I put it back no matter what but it does seem a waste for some who would eat it ...Matt
A bad days fishing has got to be better than any day at work......
I caught a small tarwhine one time and hooked it right in the main vein in the gill and it was dead before I got the hook free pretty much. Would have been a just legal one (around 21cm) so not much of a feed at all. I threw it in a rock pool and kept fishing, intending to take it home and eat it for lunch (better than just tossing it in the water to float away dead) and even a small fish is okay for a small meal so meh. A big noter wandered up and had a go at me for keeping an undersized bream. I politely informed him that it was in fact a legal sized tarwhine and it was dead. He insisted it was a bream and share a few choice words with me, so I picked it up and tossed it into the river nonchalantly and we both watched on as this stone dead fish floated off on top of the water.
Moral to the story, that is an absolutely stupid thing to do. If the fish is dead you might as well take it. It may be against the law but morally, throwing a dead metre flathead back into the water is just wrong. At least if you take it, you get a hit or miss feed and to be able to show it to people. Better than watching the majestic creature float upside down down the river to become sharkbait. One of those laws that were meant to be broken imo.
What a stupid Question. When its not in the allowed slot to keep.
I actually think its a very good question (The thread starters question). Minimum and/or maximum sizes dont always protect a fish and allow it to spawn at least once in its lifetime because in the females flatheads case it doesnt. It also doesnt for the mangrove jack as most estuarine jacks are not mature. A discussion on the merits of the size limits vs length at sexual maturity is always a good one in my book. Other factors are at play and influence size limits not just biology. Sometimes this is needed, other times its questionable.Originally Posted by Feral
It's no different to the snapper bag limit I know there Are people upgrading by throwing smaller ones overboard and the only one that wins out of that is the dolphines and sharks . As far as a stupid question goes Feral I suggest you don't get yourself involved in things that obviously don't sit right with you , I am only adding to the existing thread😃😃Matt.
Last edited by bluefin59; 07-09-2012 at 01:48 PM. Reason: Directed at wrong member
A bad days fishing has got to be better than any day at work......
I assumed jonboy was asking about releasing fish within the size limit.
Like I said I like between 50cm and 60cm.
Flathead appear quite hardy, I have caught more than one healthy flathead with a big prop gash in it and never had one look sick on release, they seem to take off pretty good.
Dan
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