Big Catch

[Juzza]

Had a night session at pittwater off a boat with dad and sister, decided to find a nice secluded bay away from all the wind and waves. Had pumped some nippers and had a few poddies to soak in the water. Just on dusk, we landed 3 whiting to 35cm and a bream which are going to dinner sometime soon =] Around 8pm, it was quiet and we decided to move spots to the flats on palm beach...bad move

Set out the anchor and dropped 1 line into the water, dad hooks onto something MASSIVE and heavy...with minimal movement! It was directly under the boat. Anyway, we snapped off and decided to move the boat a bit further out, started both engines...and when we put them into gear the left one seized and shut down. Pulled the pin and tried to quickly find the problem, we couldnt see anything much on the inboard motors..so we winched up the anchor and set off with 1 engine about 50m.

Ok well...we found out what was causing the problem! A GILL NET attached to the anchor and the left prop, It was the massive and heavy thing that we had hooked onto at the start. We realised when there seemed to be weight on the bow of the boat: ie when your anchor gets stuck and you try to drive. Spent a great deal of time trying to cut the ropes around the anchor, additionally we found heaps of fish, live and caught up in the nets. Managed to release a few big ones but the net was too heavy to drag up so we cut it off =[. Cant imagine the damage it would do to the system :ranting2:Drove back with 1 engine, glad that this boat was a time share thing or else the session would of given me a headache.

That must of been the biggest catch of all nights we've been on pittwater..

[plankton]

It would be illegal to set the gill net in this location. But it might have drifted from elsewhere.

[adjustedpete]

What does one do in this situation. Do we call someone and report it. Im sure you wont be the last one to tangle with the net and what about the fish being caught for god knows how long after. Did it look like a commercial net.

[Captain Spanner]

Could be an idea to let fisheries or at least waterway know where it was so it can be removed as it could be a potential hazard for fish, boats, swimmers, divers etc.

[leonardgid]

Hi there, im new at this but if i might add , i also agree that you should report the nets where abouts to the fisheries , did it look like the net had been there for a long time? eg where the dead fish really starting to stink. if so it should be removed because it will continue catching fish , let us know what the fisheries had to say about it.

[Yeeros]

Yeah mate call up fisheries and let them know about it. Something like that is a pretty big deal as it will keep killing and killing and it needs to be removed / investigated.

Call them up mate its 100% the right thing to do.

[joshagius]

hey mate i fish reguarly in pittwater and i am a local if you could give me a acurate location i would love to go check it out so i could pass on some information to fisharies or some other authorities things like this need to be reported !

[dogtooth]

Hi Juzza ,

To me this net looks as if it were a commercial net , and you were probably unlucky to snag it on your anchor and motor .You were quite within your rights to get your boat of this net using the best avalible methods. These nets can be used in this waterway . The easiest way to see if it was a commercial net was to follow it along to either end and see if it has a LFB number on it . If it doesn't it should be reported straight away . Just remeber not to play with or tamper .

Have a look at the link below

http://www.legislation.nsw.gov.au/fragview/inforce/subordleg+626+2002+pt.5-div.2+0+N

Cheers Dogtooth..... John.....

[Juzza]

Thanks guys, ill give the fisheries a call and let them know the approximate location. Is the net meant to be attached to a buoy and is it meant to be visible or under the water? Im asking this because it wasnt actually visible to the naked eye at night while we were looking for a place to anchor.

There were live fish in the nets.

hey mate i fish reguarly in pittwater and i am a local if you could give me a acurate location i would love to go check it out so i could pass on some information to fisharies or some other authorities things like this need to be reported !

The Net was about 50m from the moorings about where the weed meets the sand (2.3m of water on a falling tide), however we drifted about 100m towards the port marker along the flats while we getting the net off the anchor+prop.