Pumicestone Lizards

[Short Fuse]

Its been a while since I chased a few flathead up in the Donnybrook area, so I decided to head up that way on Wednesday morning. Launched the boat at 11am and headed north. The water was very clear and that made trolling a bit tough. Saw quite a few flathead take off in front of the boat and only managed 3 fish by the time the tide bottomed out. They went 31, 32 and 42cms. All tagged and released. I pretty much only use either Lively Lures Micro Mullets, or Attack minnows in this area due to it being very shallow where I fish. This one fell to the Attack lure.


The wind picked up with the incoming tide, so I anchored the boat off the mouth of a small gutter and started throwing a few plastics around. In this case, a 4" Zman Curly Tailz in Motor Oil. The fish got a bit more active with the incoming tide with a 49 and 34cm fish in consecutive casts.


Got a few more over the next hour including fish of 48, 44, 42cms as well as a few underesized ones as well.



Pulled the anchor just before 3pm and headed for the ramp. Final tally was 11 flathead tagged so all in all, not a bad little session. If this wind keeps the big boat on the trailer, might have to do a few more sessions up there in the coming weeks to build the tag tally a bit more.

cheers

Jeff

[Funchy]

Good onya Jeff, thanks for the read. Havent caught any tagged flattys up my way. Whats the procedure if I do?

[Short Fuse]

Hi Funchy.

There have been a few flathead tagged around the Caloundra end of Pumicestone. After a while, the tag will get a thin covering of brown weed on it, so can be a bit hard to spot at first. The tag will clean up easily. Just scrape it with a thumbnail, or the back edge of your fishing knife to clean away the weed growth.

The tag will have an identification number at the top end of it. The clip in my tag gun at the moment carry the numbers V35551 - V35560. Also printed on the tag is: SUNTAG - Phone 1 800 077 001.

The phone number goes to Infofish Australia up in Rockhampton. Bill and Shirley Sawynok run the Suntag program on behalf of the Australian National Sportfishing Association (ANSA) Queensland who are the owners of the sportfish tagging program. What we would like you to do is record the tag number, measure the length of the fish, and take note of the condition of the fish - whether there are any obvious injuries to the fish and its general condition. Taking a photo is also a great help.

When you ring the information through to Infofish, they will ask you to provide the following information:
Tag Number.
Species.
Length overall (and fork length in the case of a bream, snapper etc)
Location of capture (locations are divided into 1 kilometre grid squares ) so you dont have to give away your best secret spots. In your area it could be Bells Creek mouth, Lighthouse reach, Blue Hole etc.
Whether you kept the fish, or released it again. If the fish is of legal length, it is entirely up to the individual whether they choose to keep the fish for a feed, or to release it after capture.

If you do take a photo, let them know and they will provide an email address for you to send them the photo so it can be added to the tagging data base. They will also ask you for an address to send the tagging recapture certificate to. This can be either an email address or your postal address. You will then receive a recapture certificate showing the details of the fish when tagged, and the recapture details. This also includes information such as days since tagged, growth and movement details. The original tagger also receives a copy of the recapture certificate so they know that one of "their" fish has been recaptured.

Happy to provide any further information on tagging, or the tagging program if required.

cheers

Jeff

[Funchy]

Hi Funchy.

There have been a few flathead tagged around the Caloundra end of Pumicestone. After a while, the tag will get a thin covering of brown weed on it, so can be a bit hard to spot at first. The tag will clean up easily. Just scrape it with a thumbnail, or the back edge of your fishing knife to clean away the weed growth.

The tag will have an identification number at the top end of it. The clip in my tag gun at the moment carry the numbers V35551 - V35560. Also printed on the tag is: SUNTAG - Phone 1 800 077 001.

The phone number goes to Infofish Australia up in Rockhampton. Bill and Shirley Sawynok run the Suntag program on behalf of the Australian National Sportfishing Association (ANSA) Queensland who are the owners of the sportfish tagging program. What we would like you to do is record the tag number, measure the length of the fish, and take note of the condition of the fish - whether there are any obvious injuries to the fish and its general condition. Taking a photo is also a great help.

When you ring the information through to Infofish, they will ask you to provide the following information:
Tag Number.
Species.
Length overall (and fork length in the case of a bream, snapper etc)
Location of capture (locations are divided into 1 kilometre grid squares ) so you dont have to give away your best secret spots. In your area it could be Bells Creek mouth, Lighthouse reach, Blue Hole etc.
Whether you kept the fish, or released it again. If the fish is of legal length, it is entirely up to the individual whether they choose to keep the fish for a feed, or to release it after capture.

If you do take a photo, let them know and they will provide an email address for you to send them the photo so it can be added to the tagging data base. They will also ask you for an address to send the tagging recapture certificate to. This can be either an email address or your postal address. You will then receive a recapture certificate showing the details of the fish when tagged, and the recapture details. This also includes information such as days since tagged, growth and movement details. The original tagger also receives a copy of the recapture certificate so they know that one of "their" fish has been recaptured.

Happy to provide any further information on tagging, or the tagging program if required.

cheers

Jeff

Cheers Jeff, great info. I am seriously considering tagging my captures but find it difficult in the kayak. I will wait till I get another tinny and start i think. Would be a great feeling to get the info back on a recaptured fish.

Well done to you on doing this mate!

[alleycat]

Gday jeff, will be looking for the tags but have not come across one yet, and yes water is so clear, last Saturday morning we could see bottom in 8 feet of water between Toorbul and donnybrook, aso saw a lot of snot weed in a few places that looks ready to come away and create a nuisance..

[Short Fuse]

Hi Alleycat. We took a couple of boats and a bunch of school kids and some parents up to Mission Point yesterday. These kids are all school friends of a mates kids and they wanted to go fishing after hearing all the fishing tales from my mates girls. The wind had stirred the water up a bit, and there was some snot weed in the water which made it a bit difficult to keep the small lures in the water for any time while trolling. We did manage to get each kid at least one flathead each, with a couple catching two so they were all very happy with their afternoon on the water, and for most of them it was the first fish they had caught. Those that got legal ones were given the option of keeping them to take home for dinner, which they all did.

We filleted the fish back at the Donnybrook ramp, then the kids got the fun of feeding the frames to the resident pelican population. Everyone had a great time, though I think all the adults were glad to get back into heated cars for the drive home.

cheers

Jeff

[Still_Dreamin]

Nice work. Interesting about the tagging as well. Thanks for the post.

[fishychrissy]

Hey Short Fuse, thanks for the report.
Would love to give the tagging program a go in the not too distant future.
Keep up the good work.
Cheers,
Chris