The banks phenomena

[620sf]

We've fished offshore for many years from south Deep tempest to Noosa and have found good fish right the way along. Like Mark (Seasaw) i would have to agree to say that this season has been the best by far for good catches. The banks is a large reef area which gets fished and has for sometime pretty heavily. I think what is needed is the fisheries to police the ramps more, because theres still plenty of people going out there and over loading with Snapper and Pearlies and all other kinds of fish.


Luke

[Billo]

Wish i had the nuts too take my rig out ther Rob ...i suppose i have pushed relatively close hitting the 18 mile , but haven't done the extra leg .

I can't really say on what or why ,..only fished it a few times ...but yeh , just amazing how many bag outs are coming from there ...just hardly having an off day this season .

Many possibilities....Current ? heavy inshore fishing ? Water quality inshore ?

[-spiro-]

Rob you might want to fish the Banks one day instead of Murphies. It's a great place to fish.
I agree with Luke that i would like to see the fisheries at the boat ramp stinging these people that over bag out on fish....you see it a fair bit while there cleaning there catch!

[MarshMan]

Yeah I would agree that if the fisheries hit the boat ramps harder then those fools who keep more than they should would very quickly learn.

Bag limits aren't in place just to protect the species, but also the very thing that we all love so much - catching fish!!

[Heath]

I don't reckon the Goldy is all that bad. This winter was exceptional for Snapper and the last 2 summers have been great for pelagics.

If there was a single underlying factor though, I would have to say accessability. The shear distance you have to travel to get to the place limits its pressure on resources. For those who do travel the distance, they reap the benifits.

[vertico]

what chart is that from heath ?

[dan099]

hi guys dont take this the wrong way but i think that most fisherman thease days cant find fish so thay go to places like the banks because of the size and distance from mooloolaba you can always find a feed but if the same people spent the same time looking in close as thay do burning petrol thay would come home with fish i very rarely go more than 5 km from shore and it has been a long time since i came home with out my bag

[vertico]

look forward to seeing some of your reports dan

[dan099]

just go into reports noosa mooloolaba

[Heath]

Vertico,

It is the Aus RAN chart for Cape Moreton to Sandy Cape.

[reef_king]

Over the last 2yrs there has been a increasing no. of boats fishing the banks. I Think that unless the fisheries dept. ups the size limits on most Quality reef fish (snapper,pearlies,cods ect) that the fish stocks are going to have a hard time keeping up with us fisherman.For example I reguarly fish the banks and further north and with 5 POB geting their bag limts of pearlis and snapper (50) fish plus other assorted reef fish, if you time this no. by 30 boats fishing for each day say just the weekends (2 days) thats 3000 fish gone at least a week. now snapper being a slow growing species if they up the size limit just 5cm it will give many more years of spawning. Over fishing is happening every where thats why I think so many are now starting to head to the banks 20 yrs ago you could catch snapper off double island rocks.

[pittymick]

hey fellas have only just found this site, i,ve only just started fishing(as a prefer to spear) but have found a lost love of the old lip stretching. i,ve been to the banks 3 times now and have got a nice feed all three times, gone out the cal wide 3 times and just small reefez . my mate assures me its not the spot its the lack of talent(haa haa) but since hes starting to teach me how to hunt with a line instead of a spear we,ll see. sorry got side tracked i love the banks and can anyone give me the goss on the couple reefs just past the banks( got marks for 4km east of the banks and marks for 8 km north east do they tend to hold larger fish due to less use? cheers mick

[dfox]

Mick- welcome to ausfish, the reef system your refering to out from the banks does fish well at times, i refer to this area as the plato, it runs east of the banks north and east of the hards.but compared to the banks its much deeper (80 meters to over 100meters)and therefore it requires a different approach to fish. Current becomes more of an issue and more fishing skill is required, the majority of fish in this deeper water consist of snapper, pearlies, trag, AJ's and kings. Once again like the banks the reef is vast and alot of searching maybe required to find fish, it can be rewarding but also fustrating as well. Ive caught alot of quality fish in this region but i would be lying if i said that the quality was any better then what the banks produces.
We,re fortunate that we live on the door step of such a productive fishery with so many options...foxy

[pittymick]

yep cool, it all comes down to fishing skill(i think) spoke to my mate tonight, were hitting it weds. they are all his marks and the story go,s i,m bloody lucky cause they are all pin or d,offs and since he,s been on the water doing the job for 15yrs we,ll see come doomes day. hopfully i can ad to the top pictures i,ve seen so far, the word on the street is we,ll bag out in 2 hours, might beat get,n in the water with the tax department after all(sharks)

[Big_Ren]

I think there are a couple of factors that make the Banks such a worthwhile proposition and most have been touched on in previous posts, but for what it's worth I'll throw my two bobs worth in. As Mark said, there are seasonal variations at play that make any area fire on its given day, and the Banks are reaping the benefits of that atm. Secondly, and obviously, it is an accessability issue, given the price of fuel and the distances to travel - not everyone can afford to get out there every day of the week. Thirdly, it is a vast expansive reef system where perhaps there are still some fish populations that can spawn with some protection from us fishos because we haven't found their hidey holes yet (only a wild theory but food for thought anyway). Because it it such a large area, the concentration of boats per sq km is not as great as say off Moreton or Straddie, even though the Sunny Coast ramps might seem chockers with offshore trailers. It also might be that because we are not that far south of southern Barrier Reef waters, we enjoy a greater diversity of bottom species to target.

Hope this contributes in some way to this thread.

Cheers
Paul