Far away from Boxing Day Sales

[cuzzamundi]

What's the reason for the recent decline in Snapper numbers?

Cuzza

[PROS]

I don't fish for snapper but there are plague of small snapper around followed by whiptails currently.
Harder to catch yakka/herring/pike than a small snapper.
Hopefully these will grow bigger and stay in the bay for the coming years

[Scalem]

What's the reason for the recent decline in Snapper numbers?

Cuzza

That's a loaded question. To answer you would have to be as objective as possible, although I will go as far as to say I have my spies out who spend a lot of time on the water and have pretty accurate understanding of what goes on.
1. More boats out there
2. Environmental impact- water quality etc due to pollution and run off.
3. Seems to be a lack of food for them, could be less bait but I stand corrected.
4. Related to 1 but all sectors of fishermen slam them hard when schools are found. They can be netted commercially or as a result of social media rec fishermen post up, so immediately mates and everyone connected to them hit them hard. It's a lesson I am humble enough to admit I have been guilty of in the past, I am careful to say anything specific about location these days because too many eyes are trolling websites and bam, popular fishing areas are pillaged. Look at wello, exhibit a.
5. Fishing techniques have broadened. There was a day the only way I knew how to fish is with the freshest bait I could find. As soon as I started using plastics and jigs my catch rate improved awesomely. And I don't even use hard bodies, I just found snapper can't resist a well presented plastic. I am sure many out there are just like me in that regard, even better than I am when using plastics.
6. Technology - side scan sounders put you right in the hot zone, the guess work is reduced to practically nothing and with a quiet electric motor, you can position yourself perfectly beside a school.

The list is endless, we really have to think about sustainability every time we get out to enjoy a day on the water. And I'm not necessarily talking bag limits and legal take home catch, I'm not always c&r but never greedy. This includes our every day attitudes to using chemicals for example, and stub out a cigarette on the sidewalk which washes down the drain and eventually in our waterways. I'm not a green, just trying to adopt common sense approach to looking after the bay and our fishery.

Sent from my HTC_0P6B6 using Ausfish mobile app

[alleycat]

I personally think the water quality in the bay is fine, and to give an example of what may be happening I will mention my recent trip to South West Rocks just after xmas , I have been going to the region since I was born in 61 and the fishing was always great but on this trip I was talking to an old family friend who is as good a fisherman as you could find and lives there , he was saying he has barely caught a snapper over the previous year, his reason was that there is now 2 charter boats operating from South West Rocks and they go out every day in nearly all conditions all putting heaps of baited hooks down, add this to a much larger amateur fleet and then the pros and as he says even in a place like South West Rocks catching snapper has become a real challenge..

[Aquarius]

I would say the soft plastic revolution has had an impact on fish stocks in the bay.
Over the years I have caught tagged fish and investigation showed that fish was a local.
The bay water quality was a D last time I heard so wonder if that's changed recently.
I to enjoy being out on the water and I guess if you catch a feed that's a bonus.
I posted many fishing reports on here years ago regarding soft plastic methods so maybe we all took to many local fish species.
Wellington Point was a favourite hot spot of mine but these days it's a desert.
I wish I knew the reason for fish decline in the bay.
Let's hope winter 2017 brings a few big snapper in from offshore to breed.
Brent><>


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[bluefin59]

I agree with a lot of what Scalem and others have said in regards to the Bay being a bit hard to get a decent snapper ,I think new tech in sounders and gps mapping being the norm and the soft plastic revolution has certainly changed things for the worse for some of us who used to put up regular catch posts .

But having said that areas of fishing and time available have changed a bit also and the places I go now I use different techniques and am enjoying my fishing again ,tight lines . Matt

[chris69]

The population explosion into southeast queensland has had a devastating affect just look at the highways these days just like the boat ramps,there over flowing.

[T1]

Well well the Old Firm is here! HNY to you all & may 17 be your best year yet in all aspects!!

I too am struggling to get a Snap, but not because i can't find them, it's because i've lost my way to the Boat Ramp... such is life these days! I only seem to be able to get the boat out over XNY & these days as time is precious, I target the Tings in the Nerang. Interesting side note to the scarcity Snap's due to 'over-fishing' theories though - the Nerang cops an absolute flogging yet it still produces whiting like there's no tomorrow... so is it that the Bay is over-fished, or are there more scientific reasons for the scarcity...? Just a thought...

Anyway, my 2 mins on a fishing website for the Month is over! Take care all!! T

[drpete]

Plus one here for technology. When I used to fish the bay for snapper with dad, you'd be the only boat at Harries, because it could only be found with land marks and very few people could find it. Then after a good storm, if a mark tree came down you had to start looking for it all over again. Now it's a parking lot 24/7. Offshore was the same, you'd get 17kms past the bar, looking for your marks, and fog comes in, or a haze, and that's it, you'd literally have to turn round and come home. Unless it was getting dark, coz with no GPS there's no travelling at night let alone crossing the bar.