qnut Posted November 10, 2014 Share Posted November 10, 2014 (edited) Over the past two weeks I have encountered more & more of what seems to look like 'red scum' covering my weedless rigged plastics fished over the flats of chittaway point. I have had fellow anglers report to me that they have also encountered the same substance around pelican island & the channels leading to and around it. The 'weed' Is actually an algae that is toxic and in full bloom in the lakes at the moment and NOT ENOUGH is being done to warn anglers. This tiny article in the back of the local paper was all that was done to stop anglers from sitting on the toilet with their heads in a bucket for 48-72 hours:This algae seems to be blooming quite prolifically, It Sinks so you will not see it on the surface and it is advised not to come in contact (i.e swim , drink water , Consume seafood including prawns & crabs ) in areas where the algae is found (everywhere it seems)IF your fishing gear, Lures, sinkers,Traps,Hooks Come up with a substance that looks like this:Map 11/11/14:I would highly advise you remove it - throw back into the water (as not to contaminate your boat or other waterways) and wash your hands with FRESH water, Do not touch your lips or rub your eyes after handling. The Algae smells of sulphur and egg gas depending on its state of decay. Just a heads up for the moment as it seems nothing is really being done and SOME friends have been getting crook from it. FISH, PRAWNS,CRABS are all affected by the toxin and gutting them will not remove it as it migrates into the fish/crustaceans flesh. You can still practice catch & release.Please try to keep this post at the top of the page for others safety.UPDATED MAP 18/11/14:Tight Lines guys & stay safe Edited November 17, 2014 by Qnut Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jamestown Posted November 10, 2014 Share Posted November 10, 2014 Yeah cheers mate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Belligero Posted November 10, 2014 Share Posted November 10, 2014 Well looks like I'm not fishing Tuggerah lakes anytime soon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
qnut Posted November 10, 2014 Author Share Posted November 10, 2014 Just went to bcf to get some gamagatzu hooks and mentioned that their billboard out the front advertising 'gr8 spots to fish the lake today' should heed a warning.... 'Nah mate Ive seen that stuff before' then I went to get my products and bumped into the fishing expert who happens to live down my road... showed him a pic which im spreading to mates at the entrance on facebook.His reply?'Oh no, its back...'Apparently when he used to water ski around budgiwoi and canton area, if you fell off your skis in the red weed areas you WOULD get sick. Now I dont usually give spots away but for the sake of keen anglers trying to get a feed in our lake I suggest traveling down either Ourimbah or Wyong Creeks about 800m+ into the creek or more. There is no weed present there yet (I have been dragging old blades with rusty hooks along the bottom looking for evidence) & bream,garfish,Luderick even the odd flathead are found almost all the way upto the freshwater weirs. Hope this helps & keep this post bumped (sorry admins if this is concidered spam) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest no one Posted November 10, 2014 Share Posted November 10, 2014 Not spam bro. Well done on keeping us informed of the situation! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest no one Posted November 10, 2014 Share Posted November 10, 2014 Pinned it for a few days until it passes - let us know when it does! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
qnut Posted November 11, 2014 Author Share Posted November 11, 2014 (edited) Thanks Tef1on, Problem is where the current bloom is there is almost no tidal flow and since this algae does not float its hard to tell when it will pass. All we can do is hope boaties wash off their anchors & double check bilges so that this problem doesnt spread to other water ways. Its taken 2 weeks to spread roughly 1km to my usual flats from pelican island. I will draw a guestimate map of the current bloom zone based on my observations & other anglers ive spoken with. This is by no means official or 100% accurate - it is based on my observations and that of fellow friends & anglers.EDIT: Link for larger Image: http://i.imgur.com/3mDULao.jpgIf I get the opportunity on the weekend ill take my gopro and film a mud crab or ray moving through the red carpet. already seen 2 juvinile muddies scurrying along covered in it (on the flats) Edited November 11, 2014 by Qnut Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
golf_fish Posted November 11, 2014 Share Posted November 11, 2014 Thanks for the note mate....... I haven't seen any of it in the creeks yet, so hopefully it stays away. I wonder if the 'professional fishers' in there are taking heed of this warning or not?? Cause I'm sure their nets would come up with that algae all over it too........ About time the finally opened up The Entrance and let some good water flow in there....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
qnut Posted November 11, 2014 Author Share Posted November 11, 2014 About time the finally opened up The Entrance and let some good water flow in there....... its not going to happen untill they install the proper 'tidal footings' under the bridge pylons, speaking of pro's I actually havent seen any around the point at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eastwood1980 Posted November 12, 2014 Share Posted November 12, 2014 Is this effecting the whole entrance lake? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
qnut Posted November 12, 2014 Author Share Posted November 12, 2014 (edited) Is this effecting the whole entrance lake? as far as I know, east is the bridge is fine esp on an incomming tide. West of the bridge weedbeds in the entrance main channel towards pelican island and the weedbeds there abouts have it. I cant comment on budgiwoi and canton areas, Im assuming the afternoon noreasters may be blowing some of it off the flats in a south west direction (the map I posted is ^ North)... I havent had time to travel around dragging broken old blades & vibes on the bottom to check whether its present all around the lake. Edited November 12, 2014 by Qnut Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eastwood1980 Posted November 12, 2014 Share Posted November 12, 2014 as far as I know, east is the bridge is fine esp on an incomming tide. West of the bridge weedbeds in the entrance main channel towards pelican island and the weedbeds there abouts have it. I cant comment on budgiwoi and canton areas, Im assuming the afternoon noreasters may be blowing some of it off the flats in a south west direction (the map I posted is ^ North)... I havent had time to travel around dragging broken old blades & vibes on the bottom to check whether its present all around the lake. Thank you for the info Good on you for helping everyone Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spaners Posted November 12, 2014 Share Posted November 12, 2014 I bet the fish co-op wont be telling their clientele about the algae bloom. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
qnut Posted November 12, 2014 Author Share Posted November 12, 2014 guys, if you are fishing the tuggerah lake area, you could help alot by taking a copy of the map I have posted in this thread and adding a red circle to places you have encountered it... This will help everybody that uses the lake to atleast have some knowledge of the safer areas to have a fish. heaven help us if the algae gets over the weirs into the fresh though.Tried multiple places along geoffrey road on ourimbah creek this arvo and only encountered weed at the end of geoffrey road.. rest of the creek was clear Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
qnut Posted November 14, 2014 Author Share Posted November 14, 2014 No words for this... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest stephanb79 Posted November 14, 2014 Share Posted November 14, 2014 (edited) I seen that some stuff in botany bay today ?? And when I touched it it stung wherw I had a cut ??? Edited November 14, 2014 by stephanb79 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
qnut Posted November 14, 2014 Author Share Posted November 14, 2014 I seen that some stuff in botany bay today ?? And when I touched it it stung wherw I had a cut ??? Never had it sting cuts on me i had a decent gash on the foot when I went to take photos of it to post on here... but it smells bad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yakin Posted November 16, 2014 Share Posted November 16, 2014 Hi all I put the traps out near Tuggerawong this weekend and they were covered in the red algea. I first noticed the algea about 5 weeks ago when i waded out for a quick flick, it was definatley not here last summer. Glad i stumbled across this forum when i googled red weed in Tuggerah Lake, otherwise may have fed the kids some poisened fish. i tried to add Tuggerawong to the map but couldnt work out how to do it. Good work everyone keep it up. As per someone elses post I too would like to know what the pro's are doing about their catches?????? Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
qnut Posted November 16, 2014 Author Share Posted November 16, 2014 Supposedly the co-op has had no complaints & a mate went prawning near the entrance bridge with no ill effects.... I went out this morning and the blooms were now so big they were on the surface Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eastwood1980 Posted November 16, 2014 Share Posted November 16, 2014 Is it ok to eat the prawns near the bridge ??? As you know next week is new moon, there's going to be heaps of people out there prawning Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest no one Posted November 16, 2014 Share Posted November 16, 2014 Silly question... Has anyone reported this to anyone? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eastwood1980 Posted November 16, 2014 Share Posted November 16, 2014 Silly question... Has anyone reported this to anyone? If you have a look at Qnut's first post was on newspaper as well but not much as been done enough and now apparently the algae is on the surface as well. So obviously the council knows about it but nothing done much about it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest no one Posted November 16, 2014 Share Posted November 16, 2014 Aye I know it was in the paper, however if maritime or the fisheries know of it surely there should be signage at boat ramps. If they are aware of a small issue then it's not important, however a large scale issue is something to worry about if they don't know how large it is. I think what I was getting at is "the more people who report it, the more will get done" If this is a really big problem for the area then it should be made more public. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eastwood1980 Posted November 17, 2014 Share Posted November 17, 2014 Aye I know it was in the paper, however if maritime or the fisheries know of it surely there should be signage at boat ramps. If they are aware of a small issue then it's not important, however a large scale issue is something to worry about if they don't know how large it is. I think what I was getting at is "the more people who report it, the more will get done" If this is a really big problem for the area then it should be made more public. I think your right, they are waiting for everyone to start complaining, because they don't wanna spend the money. Till we create this situation into something big of an issue nothing's going to happen but the question is what is big enough for the council to start doing something about it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eastwood1980 Posted November 17, 2014 Share Posted November 17, 2014 At the end of the day it's all about the cost. Maybe their hoping the algae will just disappear or something. That way they don't have to spend any money at all...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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