~alan~

Cheers guys. Glad you enjoyed it.

I have caught all my largest fish approx. 5 hours north and south of Sydney when I go on holidays and I can definitely see the impact fishing can have on some species. I have probably caught 1000+ flathead out the Hawkesbury and it's tributaries with the biggest going 69cm. To put it in perspective, I have probably caught 50-100 flathead on holidays with 3 bigger specimens 70.5cm, 73.5cm (Narooma) and 82cm (South West Rocks) being caught. I do like to keep the occassional flathead but aim for the 40-55cm size range. One thing I would worry about is reviving a jew for long periods at night in bull shark infested waters. Using grips can help alleviate some of the danger. Hey mate. The area I was fishing is Narooma.

The recent change to the minimum legal length of Jewfish in NSW from 45cm to 70cm has motivated me to share my experience with catching and releasing a larger jewfish earlier last year. With this increased size limit it means a lot more Jewfish will be released. Well the story goes I was heading away for a 2 week holiday to the South Coast. One of the days a high tide coincided with a low-light period (about 7:30am) so I decided to get up a bit earlier and fish a Jackall Transam 90 through the slack tide. I was using a 3000 series Stradic reel loaded with 15lb braid and 20lb leader when the strike came. I small tap through the line had me load up the rod of what didn’t feel like a significant fish. As I put more pressure on the fish I would get a series of surging short runs, but no headshakes so I was assuming I was connected to a monster flathead. I took my time with the fish (around 15-20 minutes) when I began to see colour and it was indeed a Jew (93cm). The fish was spent after the fight, I supported it’s belly and took some photos quickly wanting to get it back into the water. For the following 5-10 minutes I swum the fish next to the boat feeling no life from it. Believing I could not revive it I began regretting having such a long-drawn out fight. I thought I would give it one last effort and rigorously ‘thrashed’ the fish back and forth in the water trying to shock it back to life with oxygen across its gills. All of a sudden there was a big kick, I released the grips and it swam off like a bullet to the depths! Surprised and relieved at the same time I almost felt like crying tears of joy (but didn’t because that would be very un-manly). So my main encouragement is to keep trying to revive a Jewfish destined for release as they can come back from the dead. I hope this post has been informative and ultimately helps us release Jewfish in a more healthy state that aren’t destined for the table. Thanks Al

Hi Krill - the bit of info that I attached is an extract from a scientific peer-reviewed journal. I just posted the abstract for ease of reading. There is definitely science to back it up. That is all.

If it means more fish I'm all for the changes. Sure in some situations commercial fishing has major impacts etc etc, but I think as rec. fisherman we could take the higher ground and say "the fish don't care who is killing them so we will do our part at least in maintaining stocks". Also, I don't think there is a monotype of impacts from commercial fishing/recreational fishing across every system e.g. Granted this research is a little bit old (1994), but with rec. fishing on the rise and commercial fishing getting license buyouts you would expect similar trends today if not greater. Still that is not to say just because there are less commercial fisherman that there are less fish being taken by them. Quantity may actually be higher per commercial fisher person and/or boat for all I know.

Lures sent today for those that included their addy...still many left if you do the survey!

Hello all, My name is Alan Midgley, I have been catch and release bass fishing in the Hawkesbury-Nepean River and its tributaries since I was 13. Currently I am over half way through my PhD at the University of Western Sydney looking at the ecology of the Australian bass in creeks that run into the Hawkesbury River. To compliment other aspects of my project (e.g. looking at contribution of land-derived food items to bass diet – so far there have been birds, lizards and even wasps found in the stomach contents of bass!) I have included a recreational fisherman questionnaire with a focus on bass fisherman in rivers and creeks. Shown below is a short anonymous/confidential questionnaire, which should only take 2 minutes to fill out. I ask that you as a bass fisherman of natural streams please consider filling out this questionnaire and return it via private message or email (16340217@student.uws.edu.au). We currently have Bass Sydney Fishing Club involved and would love to get more like-minded bass addicts involved. FREE Betts spin with slider grub/jighead to each person who fills out the questionnaire and returns it. Just include your addy. Thank you for your time and feel free to PM me any other questions. Sincerely, Alan Midgley Questionnaire.doc

Hi all, Like most of you I am trying to gain some petty understanding of Jewfish habits! Last night I tried flicking big plastics in Wisemans Ferry at the mouth of the Macdonald River from my kayak. Had no interest at all unsurprisingly. Question I raise is what do people think jewfish do when extra freshwater from all the rain has entered the Hawkesbury. I have read a couple of conflicting reports, however, most seem to say that they move with the flowing freshwater to the mouths of rivers and can be difficult to catch further upstream at these times. From my few experiences I tend to agree with this. Your opinion?