Cobden

Bringing in the barrels

WARRNAMBOOL Mark Gercovich

mgercovich@hotmail.com

A few weeks ago on the way in after a fun session on the school tuna, I lamented in that it would be nice if the big tuna would just turn up in closer proximity to all the local ramps rather than miles down the coast like the last few seasons.

Well, it looks like that wish was granted. The next week my son Luke was taking good mate Gage Wright of Spinwright Lures out to exactly the same area that had been full of smaller bait and school tuna in the 8-12kg range, in the hope of getting him his first tuna. Next thing Luke was sending me a video of his workmate Jananka Kandage back at the Port Fairy ramp with a 90kg tuna across the back deck that he and his son Max had just caught. I looked at the heavy rods still in the rack on the wall of the shed and wondered what would happen if they also came across tuna of the larger variety.

Well come across bigger fish they did. After managing a 30kg fish initially the boys were soon tight to a bigger fish that had also eaten a cast Jackfin Lara stickbait. The

Ducking out straight after footy, Xavier Ellul and Luke managed this 99.5kg fish that had a friendly bite taken out of it by a great white.

The cost of a tragedy

COBDEN

Rod

Shepherd The recent situation regarding the fish kill in the Curdies River and lake has unfortunately worsened over time, which comes at no great surprise.

Adding to the mix of literally countless dead fish are cattle carcasses (I’ve been told 24 to date) floating and rotting down the river. On a normal day sometimes a cow will fall in trying to have a drink and quickly become a meal for many eels. However, this many bovine deaths are a sign of mass poisoning by ingesting river water.

Much of this river is surrounded by farmland. Many farmers do the right thing when it comes to protecting the river banks from cattle erosion and fertilizer and animal dung run-off into the river. However, other farmers seem not to care at all.

Recently Fisheries and volunteers have been down working on the river in an attempt to clean up the carnage to prevent further poisoning of the water. Unfortunately, the big problem is that when these dead, bloated cattle are roped and attempted to be towed back to the boat ramp, the carcass breaks up due to being so rotten. So stabbing and sinking the carcasses has been the go. Out of sight out of mind? Maybe, but ongoing poisoning of the water will keep building.

The really sad thing is that it was obvious this would happen sooner or later, but decision makers have done little about it. In recent years we have had smaller but still devastating fish kills occur, pointing to that fact that one day, a major event would occur. Unless we act now, the river might reach a point of no return.

And that’s what’s happening right now. No one really knows the full extent of the kill, but we can assume that the majority of fish including large, trophy bream and estuary perch have succumbed. Based on that thought, if the river and lake fully recovered overnight, it would still take one to two human generations (up to 40 years) for the fish to not only fully recover but regain the size and weights that they achieved up until recently. A 45cm+ bream approaching 4lb in weight takes almost as long in human years to achieve this size and weight. It’s a similar story with a 50cm perch.

So now this onceviable fishing waterway is no more. For bream and perch anglers, this will put more fishing pressure on nearby estuaries such as the Hopkins, Yambuk Lake, Fitzroy River and even the Glenelg. To the east, the focus will be on the Gellibrand and Aire Rivers, and those smaller rivers and creeks that flow from the Otways into the ocean might also see more attention.

A certain amount of property value that exists in and around Peterborough will no doubt fall. This is due to the A bream boat barrel – the boys with their big tuna on the cast.

12-year-old Saltiga held up well, and soon enough a 75kg fish was on the deck. The next day Adrian Lieuter caught one in an even smaller (420) boat. Dan Hoey of Salty Dog Charters put his clients onto some massive fish. His daughter Ashby and the Cauchi boys also began racking up some big fish, and it was game on! Many tuna between 60-120kg were taken, with the biggest locally weighed being a 141kg beast which was the lucky angler’s first tuna.

The big fish then switched on over at Point Mac, and soon enough barrels began coming from the Portland area as well. Many hours and litres of fuel are being put in by a lot of boats, but these determined individuals are being rewarded with the best season on bigger tuna for many a year.

If the run of big tuna is the awesome news locally, the bad news has been the massive fish kill in the Curdies River. It wasn’t just dead fish either – dead cows were also found floating in the putrid, green water. Whatever the cause for such an unfortunate situation, it’s going to be off the fishing radar for quite some time.

Hopefully some good winter rains will clear things up a bit, but there needs to be a good look at rivers management before it returns to being an estuary fishing destination.

Countless fish have perished in the toxic water.