Live bait off the Gold Coast

[Nabba1]

I heard recently that divers found some dead spotties on the bottom at Palmy. 1 theory was that long liners net live bait over night before heading out and any by-catch such as spotties get thrown back dead.

Also heard that it happens at the 10 to 12 fath reefs off the seaway, allegedly.

I don't know if any truth to this but what i do know is that i haven't been able to get livies at the bait grounds off the seaway for about 10 years now. Some mornings are worse than others with it being like a ghost town sometimes. Also the spotties are very hit and miss lately. They always have been but in my opinion the last 10 years have been much more hit and miss than they used to be.

I know there are many factors which could explain this but i would be interested to get everyone's opinion on if this happens and the effect of it on the local bait/mackerel stocks. Also if it does go on should it be allowed?

I'm not sure as I understand that long liners need bait just like every fisherman and livies would obviously be the best and cheapest for them. Be great to hear from a long liner too...

[PixieAU]

How long would a dead fish last in the ocean before being eaten?

[Nabba1]

not long i would imagine but I think they do the netting overnight and would be first up in the morning when the divers see them...

[jackson4300]

I was out there 2-3 weeks ago and there was miles of bait. Baby yakkas up to big yakkas with slimies and pike in between. As you can see by the photo of the sounder, there was bait from the bottom all the way to boiling on the surface, bait 23m thick!.
Just depends when you are there, some days there is none, other days there is plenty.
I doubt a few dead fish on the bottom would affect bait fish or any other fish.
The sharklines aren't far away from those areas and that is big pieces of bait in the water and plenty of fish hang around them.


Photo 11-1-18, 6 50 17 am.jpg

[OcciferNick]

I’ve just moved up from Sydney and after researching the bait grounds headed to the right out the front of the seaway and joined the 20 other boats gathering bait. I managed to get bait every time so far but it’s like manoeuvring in a car park haha.

I got frustrated pretty quickly so moved to the other side of the seaway and found a spot where the yakkas hang on an actual GPS mark. Been there three times and it appears to be some structure with bait always there.

If if you want the spot pm me and I’ll give it to you.

[SandStorm]

My mate caught a longtail off Hervey Bay jetty, he tied it to the jetty and the knot broke, the fish went into the drink. The next day somebody hooked the tuna and hauled it up 36 hours in the drink and it hadn't been touched

[SandStorm]

not long i would imagine but I think they do the netting overnight and would be first up in the morning when the divers see them...

My mate caught a longtail off Hervey Bay jetty, he tied it to the jetty and the knot broke, the fish went into the drink. The next day somebody hooked the tuna and hauled it up 36 hours in the drink and it hadn't been touched

[rickmarlin62]

I worked on 71ft longliner out of port stephens a few years ago..we fished up as far as mooloolaba..never seen or heard of a spottie getn caught in the purse seine nets used for bait..they are twenty mtrs round normally used of a night and we only kept yakkas..slimies die too easy and pollute your tank ..a temp change of four or five degres on way out and every slimy dies..you then need to scoop them out or get in and dive to bottom of tank with scoop to get rid of them..the argument has raged for years between gamefisherman whinging the liners take all the slimies when in fact we don't want the bloody things..yakkas will stay alive on hook for 8hrs...as for pelagic fish being caught the only thing ive ever seen is some tailer...I have no idea where the spotties are comin from.unless people are upgrading catches in size once limit has been caught..my only theory..lots of small blacks were found on the big gibber reef after the interclub comp a couple of years in a row.fotod by divers...brought to boat too quik too hard on 24kg line tagged then busted or cut off then died..another anomaly...rick