HenryNSW

Hi, is it only blue groper or all color gropers ?

Thank you

Hello apologises up front for the newbie question, I am reading guideline on what is allowed in my local Aquatic Reserve, It says I can 'Line Fish'. so am I allowed to use a fishing rod? or is it hand line only? Thanks Henry

Thanks all for the suggestion. My question is more around should i kill the fish straight away or try to keep it alive? And if I keep it in a bucket which is better (I will try to change out water more frequently)

Hi everyone, Just been to a day hiking fishing trip out in the national park. No shade. We find a lot of fish die after a long day fishing (5am-12). We try to keep the fish in a bucket but apparently this stresses the fish (similar as a keeper net) so it is bad for eating quality. I see it as a trade off between bleed/kill fish or let it sit in a bucket.... It is a long hike so we cant carry ice (too heavy) Appreciate any suggestions on best way to maintain the eating quality

easy to call these people idiots, but just remember a whole lot of people willingly go into the water everyday , swimming into rip currents, swimming while there are sharks in the water.... why are risky behaviour by swimmers and surfers tolerated but as soon as any rock fisherman gets swept in, news/media jumps in and call these people stupid and idiots? When was the last time you saw on a life guard rescuing a swimmer wearing life jackets at the beach? by the same standard we should name and shame everyone that needs rescuing swimming in the ocean and surfers that dress like seals asking for sharks to bite them.... The heart of the problem is people's inability to accurately assess risk, and not experienced enough to properly assess their ability. Until a few weeks ago I thought I was 100% safe on the rocks with my life jacket and my specialised rock fishing cleats.... had to learn the hard way but glad to be alive. Government need to start educating people that simply wearing life jacket and cleats is not enough to save your life in a dangerous spot. ps. if anyone is wondering, no, I haven't fished since that fateful day... bruises faded, cuts healed, but somehow just feel like a bit of a rest for a while.

Thank you everyone for the indepth analysis and comments... really blown away at the complexity involved.

what about a searchable map ? similar to bush fire map, or Live Traffic map, showing the safety status. It will at least be useful for people that do care about their safety. I always check https://www.willyweather.com.au/ the tide/swell chart before I go fishing.

Hi all, Just wanted to bounce some ideas with people on the forum on how to better increase awareness for people on the danger on rocks. 1. Increase/Better signs warning people of dangerous unexpected swells around dangerous spots. (Using the Port Kembla incident, the first 2 hour that we were there, there were just little splashes coming across, given it was falling tide we expected the occurrence of water coming across the top to decrease... which was proven wrong). Even though I am no racing car driver I can drive 110km/hr on a road I have never driven before because I know if road condition changes then there will be signs (e.g. sharp corners recommended speed decrease to 85km/hr). I can walk around the beach on the rocks and see signs where there are unstable cliff edges or falling rock. On popular beaches there are sometimes signs showing the location of outgoing rip currents warning people not to swim there 2. Better Education and Messaging There are a lot of videos on youtube showing people how to spot a rip current, but not that many teaching people how to read the dangers in a fishing spot (using Port Kembla's example it will be how water turns at the step that carries people off the ledge). On the Water Safety NSW website it just talks about life jackets/ cleats, and watch the surf condition (Which doesn't mean much to most people). Give more precise information to people on the limitations of Life Jackets and Cleats. 3. Provide danger grading on the various fishing spots I go skiing, and there are black/blue/green grading informing people of the difficulty of the ski pat It is very hard to know how danger a spot is. I fish sometime at Clovelly and Little Bay, and it is weird to see people walking through coming up next to where I am fishing, having a chat/selfie and not wearing life jackets (since they are just walking and not fishing. In the Port Kembla example there were 2 kids standing near the edge before the video too because the sea was so calm which is incredibly lucky that they went off to a different spot just a few minutes before the swell came over the side) Keen to hear what members here think on any other ideas or comments how to improve general beach rock safety. I am keen to write to my local MP to help drive some changes that will help both general public and beginner fisherman like myself.

I think the issue is also education and messaging. For swimming everyone knows not to swim in the rip. For rock fishing all I know is wear life jackets, cleats, and don't go fishing when the weather is rough or 'condition is bad'..... which for me just sounds like don't go fishing if you see big wave and big wind. What is missing for beginners (as many members pointed out) is learning to read the location, know how swell impacts the location.... specifically where the water will flow once it comes over the top. My local fish store told me to watch a new spot for at least 10 min before starting to fish so I actually watched the spot for 10 min when we arrived while others were setting up so that's what made yesterday's event so surprising for me.

hmmmm have to admit that the only sign that I spotted while walking down from the car park was saying that [Only collect up to 3 shell fish] from the area. would be good to put up a big sign maybe right on the platform warning of 'rogue' waves. There were also kids there walking on the platform as well. technically they were not fishing but nevertheless they had life jackets on, but would have been better to make it obvious to people that it is a high risk rouge wave area and I was looking at a lot of forums and comments that just said people fishing there are idiots that didn't look at the conditions. but what most people don't realise is that the condition was deceptively calm, so it is not an issue of people fishing in rough sea/big wind condition, but people not aware of rogue wave condition

here is the news footage of when my bags and rod was swept in. I was already up the steps from the first swell (you can see me in white wearing red life jacket far right holding white rod). this was the second swell about 5 seconds later. https://www.news.com.au/national/nsw-act/news/group-knocked-over-by-waves-one-day-after-fishermen-deaths-video/news-story/3db75889dc4d748de1764004aeca47d3 To be honest the news article is misleading because they say 'idiots' implying that we were involved in some idiotic behaviour when infact everyone was wearing life jacket and cleats and we did check the swell for the day as well, but we're not aware of the exact nature of the danger for that site. Telling people to be 'safe' in too ambiguous a term to properly educate people on exactly what they need to be careful about. can someone do a location report for this spot, and to be honest I think it would be good to have more signs warning people... because on my way walking up to the platform I did see any signs all I saw was 1 angel ring(life buoy).

just came back from fishing at Port Kembla hill 60, was stupid enough to believe my friend that that the rock platform that those fisherman drowned was different to the ones we fished.... nope same one. long story short, a couple of swells washed our whole gear into the sea. luckily a guy in fishing boat was nearby and fished out my 2 bag. but lost my light rod and most of my tackle. the swell today was around 1 meter mark so deceptively dangerous. I got knocked over by the pure force a rouge splash that dumped a huge amount of water onto the platform, and the big swell finished the job for the dozen guy on the platform. anyway a guy watching from the top captured it all on his phone so keep an eye out for it on youtube. Got a couple of cuts and bruises but I Am still alive and learnt a valuable lesson. (do your homework before hand and don't just rely on your mate's view on a location's safety).

thanks all for the advice. @paddy, thanks for the video, interestingly because i didn't want to buy a special pliers I actually ought the exact same nail punch set to try and open the hooks that way.

How do you guys open up the eyes on the hooks ? I use a side cutting to first pry open the eye and then slowly twist the eye open. keen to know any tricks that people found useful over the years that can open up eyes more easily Recently I found that Jarvis walker chemically sharpened red suicide hooks behaves very differently when you try to pry open the hooks. the ones from 'Made in Korea' are more 'bendable' but the ones from 'Made InSouth' just snaps off at the tip of the eye.