Fishin Sunday

[Guest fishrunner]

Went fishing on sunday with Jewel, also meeting brettoes out there, some kings and bream were caught and a good day was had.

Except what are the legalities(if any) upon scuba dive charters that anchor their boat and proceed to unleash a doz divers within 60 mtrs of where you are anchored and fishing .

The fishing went quiet, then for about 1/2 hr we had bubbles coming up everywhere,- at the anchor, 15 mtrs behind boat(in my burley trail ), out from under brettoes boat and mine.

There were 4 other boats out there with some hurling of abuse on their return for a 2nd go just after things had gone back to how they were and fish starting to be caught again Same thing fish went off again and we left , (bubbles under and round the boat again),as we had 3 legal kings and had released a few.

A very frutrating day was had,

Is it just down to ettiquite or are there any regulations re: distances from already anchored boats when actually under the water???

here's a couple of pics of Brettoes fish

and a kingy from me

thanks

Edited February 7, 2006 by fishrunner

[Mondo Rock]

I doubt there is any legal protection for the boats already there.

The dive-boat operators are also unlikely to care about rec fishos anchored over their dive sites as they would see the reef as a necessary resource to their livelihood. To be honest, given the green credentials of most scuba-divers, they probaby disapprove of people catching fish from their reefs anyway.

I can understand your frustration though, particularly when the fishing was good in-between their visits.

This must happen quite often as the same things that attracts scuba divers (i.e. structure and aquatic life) are likely to attract fishermen.

Mondo

[Blackfish]

Maybe take the Boat details and speak to WaterWays as his could be Dangerous to their customers ...Hooks, anchors falling around, plus general boat traffic. With enough enquiries someone might ask questions ........

How Stupid can someone be .

B.F.

[neilm]

I read somewhere about using the tactic of creating a big slick of tuna oil and blood berley when they arrive.

Whilst you're at it you may wish to change to a nice heavy wire trace if you get my drift.

[Gibbofisho]

i'm with neil.

[Muddy4x4]

I agree, regardless of the legalities, it's pretty rude. I don't know about bombing them with sinkers or blooding the waters or taking their boat for a tow, but surely there are other spots on the reef, or other spots altogether to dive if someone's there. If I were on the dive boat, I wouldn't want to dive around lines.

[Guest madsmc]

Nice one Chris.

Shane

[brettoes]

and just a little something else for everyone to think about,fishrunner and myself both lost our anchors from what looks like sabotage as the rope was half cut though.if you started drirting all of a sudden you would now who to blame but cut the rope half way and you cant really tell what went on.i didnt realise until jewel informed me yesterday that brad lost his anchor as well and on closer inspection of the rope we both noticed that it was half frayed and half cut.

if i see the same dive boat out there again there will a blood slick in the water and it wont be coming from my berly bucket.

[Guest]

and just a little something else for everyone to think about,fishrunner and myself both lost our anchors from what looks like sabotage as the rope was half cut though.if you started drirting all of a sudden you would now who to blame but cut the rope half way and you cant really tell what went on.i didnt realise until jewel informed me yesterday that brad lost his anchor as well and on closer inspection of the rope we both noticed that it was half frayed and half cut.

if i see the same dive boat out there again there will a blood slick in the water and it wont be coming from my berly bucket.

They should be reported to the Waterways Authorities for the breach of water safety laws as you could have drifted into the rocks and had a major disaster on your hands

Cheers Swordfisherman

[Guest fishrunner]

It was very bad manners, , We were very annoyed plus another couple of boats within 100mtrs of us, all these people had been there for over 2hrs before this diving boat appeared. When I say bubbles I meant 2-3mtr eddies everywhere , it was that clear you could look over the side and see them.

We were fishing a 35 to 50 ft drop-off, Myself and a few others found this very rude/ignorant.

The anchor and 3mtrs of heavy chain were just the icing on the cake.

Couldn't find anything in the regulations reguarding divers actually underwater only boat to boat distances.

Tleast a few fish were still had

cheers

Edited February 8, 2006 by fishrunner

[Guest Jewel]

Even my my evil scowl couldnt keep the b@$^#&%$ away, shows you the hide of them.

We also had spearfishermen swim up the burley trail at one stage....... my charming smile and Brads accurate casting (only at the dudes float....... you wouldnt want to hit someone with a jig, being a little pissed off doesnt quit justify maiming someone) put paid to that fairlyquickly.

What the lads didnt mention was that the water police were about 300m away trolling for a floater and on Brettoes depature called him over to have words with him for being too close to the dive boat! They didnt seem too concerned by the dive boats antics

I think next time we will loudly tell them that diving in the area is not wise as we are shark fishing..... even if we werent it should put the wind up at least a couple of the divers and hopefully they wont want to hit the water.

Failing that I think that most divers could be landed on 15kg....... I suppose the question is would you gaff them or tag and release?

We also had a 2nd boat of spearos lob up and anchor 30m off the front of the boat, they however had manners and swam away from all those fishing not through them! Which is what its all about, like em or not spearing and fishing can be done in the same area with a little manners as neither party owns the water.

[jewnut]

very diplomatic words there Jewel as annoying as it is its not worth ending up in strife over. ive gone out to the valiant wreck off the hawkesbury a few times and either had the dive boat there or pull up while weve been fishing and spoilt everything although i believe the buoy there belongs to the dive operator.

Having said that, if the cut my anchor rope then id be back with a longline of 10/0s

[phild]

Ive had exactly the same experince with the same dive opertator (from Manly I suspect?) they are assholes and it one of the reasons I dont fish that section of Nth Head any more. As for speros comming up the trail a good dose of tuna oil will sort them out, gets into the wetsuit. If I were you and these d--- heads tried to muscle you oput again Id be doing some deep water jigging with large treble tailed jigs. I treble will sting a bit but wont do too much damage and the dive operators need for saftey should see them preventing the practice of camping under fishing boats. IMO they are fully aware of their actions turning the fish off and contuine to do so out of a warped ulturistic notion.

[brettoes]

sounds good swordfisherman,im eager to hear what rights we have as it seems that the divers have the law on there side.

[Guest Jewel]

Phil, the boat in question is about a 35' plate with a 3/4 bimini, unpainted and has a few cords? running between the small mast and the back of the bimini (presumably to keep birds off). The skipper appeared to have a medditerainian accent (not that thats a bad thing). It did appear to be heading back to Manly..... do you have a name of the operater, I would be interested to find it out.

Stu, I will be very interested to hear what you find from waterways, unfortunately I am not expecting good news.

As annoying as these unsavoury characters may be guys, do keep in mind that any jig related or other action you take at the time may leave you in the $#!^ and on the wrong side of the law .

Most of us here are big enough to make our own calls on this, Its up to you which way you go with it.

[Gibbofisho]

Ive had exactly the same experince with the same dive opertator (from Manly I suspect?) they are assholes and it one of the reasons I dont fish that section of Nth Head any more. As for speros comming up the trail a good dose of tuna oil will sort them out, gets into the wetsuit. If I were you and these d--- heads tried to muscle you oput again Id be doing some deep water jigging with large treble tailed jigs. I treble will sting a bit but wont do too much damage and the dive operators need for saftey should see them preventing the practice of camping under fishing boats. IMO they are fully aware of their actions turning the fish off and contuine to do so out of a warped ulturistic notion.

Mate any extra tuna in the water would leave any spearo pretty happy, they probably burley more than your average line fisho, as for smell, they piss in their wetsuit all day long, a bit of tuna oil woul dbe a welcome change to the smell of a trough.

I think it comes down to who was their first, regardless of what recreation they are partaking, be curteous to people already in the area, i'ved quite often dived spots with an anchored boat with dive flag and had boats nearly drive over top of me, there are dickheads in any recreation, together divers, both scuba and free combined with rec fisho's and spearo's would be a formidable force, so be mindful about generalising.

[phild]

Sorry guys but its just my opinon, Ive had enough of these guys muscling in when Im fishing so with that in mind I cant honstley retract my comments it has happended on at least 4 -5 occasions now. If you purposfully lodge under a boat where you know people are fishing (which they do) you assume the risk of that choice and of being accidentally hooked. i dont beleive the responsibility falls on the fisherperson already at anchor to avoid an incident with you. If Im wrong I apoligise, to also clarify I spear and dive so I do not mean to victimise all divers and speros, respect would be nice though. jewel i will refrain from publicly ousting them but lets just say the name has something to do with the diving and the new millinea.

Edited February 9, 2006 by phild