TASMANIAN FISHING

Big Snapper Tips

Bream on Cranka Crabs

Bent Minnows - What are they?

Lake Dulverton - is it worth it?

Are Mayflies Disappearing?

Little Pine

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All Tasmanian will be aware of the dire straits fishery managers and scientists say our sand flathead fishery is in. This does not aplly to tiger flathead, which are generally found in deeper water.

We will look at the flathead fishery in detail in the next issue. Interestingly I recently sat in a meeting where a senior fishery manager said he was embarrased our marine fishery had been allowed to deteriorate to such a low level. He was talking about abalone, rock lobster, calamari and now flathead. Some of these resources are predominately commercial fisheries, some mainly recreational fisheries.

However let’s look at that cover shot for a momentand celebrate some fisheries that are doing quite well: snapper, King George whiting, Southern Bluefin tuna, kingfish and gurnard. What? ‘gurnard’ I am hearing you laugh. More on that shortly, but let’s look at snapper first.

The North Coast of Tasmania seems to be going through a pretty hot time and snapper have gone from an occasional catch, to a targeted catch with the bigger models very keenly caught. I have never chased the bigger fish, but have started to catch some small to medium version around the Tamar River.

Damon Sherriff has been turning up the big ones for years now and the cover shot is another of many he has caught. There are a few tips to follow in his story, and certainly as fish finder/sonar has improved and reduced in price it has become easy to find good snapper ground, mark it and revisit any time.

The North Coast has been on fire though as we go to press with this issue, with Southern Bluefin tuna, being caught by most who put in a little effort from - especially between Wynyard and Low Head. Burnie and Devonport fishers have had a bonanza and they must be overjoyed.

St Helens was once the Game Fishing Capital of Tasmania, but we could bestow that title on a few towns now. The NW coast has very keen game fishers and now instead of towing a big boat to the East Coast it has become an afternoon ‘after work’ session to catch a Jumbo. And add the kingfish into the mix and some bottom bashing for snapper and KGW and Bass Strait is looking pretty wonderful.

Gurnard though - what is that about? It seems from my observations we will be encouraged by fishery managers to start looking at other species to target and keep to eat easily caught fish other than sand flathead. Flathead have been the staple fish caught by holiday makers, and I suspect many people’s first ever fish caught would be a sandy.

Gurnard is possibly the most discarded/returned fish and many see it as a blight of a good day, but a few fishery scientists have told me of the boom in gurnard as the size of flathead diminish. They are easy to catch - which we all know, but despite me tackling them only a few times to eat I am unconvinced.

I don’t think they have ever been a commercial species and the recover rate of flesh is pretty low. If you do take and eat gurnard I would love to hear from you. Shoot me an email to the address below.

In recent times for me though I do not go flathead fishing and if I do catch a few they go back. Mostly I just keep a feed of fresh fish and these have been King George whiting in the main. The Tamar has been a revelation and has become a great fishery for KGW. It is pretty common too to now bag a few small pinkie snapper as well, but I don’t keep these.

Did you know an average 350mm KGW weighs 278 grams, but at 450mm it is more than double at 628 grams and 550mm almost double again at 1200 grams. So if you are looking to maximise your return think about that. I love whiting and tried to eat two large fillets recently. They nearly beat me so I had to forgoe the salad.

I well remember recreational marine fishery manager, John Smith’ constantly saying ‘put the little ones back, so we have fish for the future’.

Mike Stevens