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QLD govt Spanish Mackeral Fishery working group = Closures and lockouts


davostephens
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5 minutes ago, samsteele115 said:

It seems strange that mackerel are a potential target for lockout or closures. I would have thought many other species would be higher up on that list. 

Unpopular opinion, but I don't mind the idea of tighter restrictions and take limits in general if it means more fish out there swimming around

Hey mate.

3 per person is fair already. 6 per boat cap is also fair enough. Up my way there are only so many days you can get out with the trade winds. (60-80 days a year small boat) so you wanna come home with your 3 fish. ATM with weather, Wife n Kids and work I am lucky to get out 6 times a year and aim to supply my household with fish for the year with those trips. There are alot of miles to cover to make a trip and expenses. I am not a catch and release guy. I target and catch what i need and go home. I dont put fish thru any unnecessary stress by sport fishing and catch and release.(as much as possible- i do hook and release bycatch the best I can). Mackeral are prolific from cairns to broome and untouched in many remote areas. They migrate as a transient fish. Its not as though they are being scooped up out of existence like the poor old Orange Roughy.

anyway thats my 2 bob. 

I encourage all to get ahead of this as best you can. Or what is a Forum for?

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1 hour ago, Drop Bear said:

Interesting thanks for posting.

The rec fish representatives are

Ryan Tully, Gary Powis, William Bowtell

Anyone know who they are? 

A quick google search tells us they are all fishing guides/writers/identities from CQ or FNQ so should have something to contribute. Like @samsteele115and @Drop Bear I like to trust the science and err on the side of caution. Maybe if there is a change to be introduced it might be similar to the black jew closure that only cuts in when a certain quota has been caught? Wait and see I guess.

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1 hour ago, Drop Bear said:

Interesting thanks for posting.

The rec fish representatives are

Ryan Tully, Gary Powis, William Bowtell

Anyone know who they are? 

William Bowtell ( Bill) is a fishing commentator and author in several publications. He specialises in Spanish Mackerel, active in ANSA and is a wise old cookie and been around a long time. I've chatted to him a couple times about tips on finding a spano, decent bloke.

https://fishandboat.com.au/black-macks-bill-bowtell-2017/

 

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Only just got around to (skim) reading the link and will get back to it (busy with work right now). Sounds like they are already considering the shark predation problem - in an ideal world they'd then consider the need to reduce shark numbers and it is commonly mentioned as a problem out there. @Neil Stratfordraises the point well that they need to consider not only those caught but also those hooked but lost to sharks. Be interested to follow the progress of this - hopefully any decision is based on solid research/science.

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15 hours ago, GregN70 said:

William Bowtell ( Bill) is a fishing commentator and author in several publications. He specialises in Spanish Mackerel, active in ANSA and is a wise old cookie and been around a long time. I've chatted to him a couple times about tips on finding a spano, decent bloke.

https://fishandboat.com.au/black-macks-bill-bowtell-2017/

 

Sounds like the right man for the job. 

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11 hours ago, GregN70 said:

Hopefully I’ll manage to get one over the next few years. Pretty elusive 

If you can float out a live slimy mackerel around the group of Straddie you are in with a good chance. They also like Whip Tails (I still call them hairy tails haha) and Small Trevallies like silver trevallies. 

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Well I don't exactly fish for mackerel, or Black jewfish at all. 

I do have a bit of an opinion on it all.

Mackerel seem to be in huge schools and it seems there is a (decently) sustainable fishery going on for them around the place. So maybe they don't need a bag limit cut. If it does mean more around though, I'm all for it.

I am no scientist but I reckon the Fisheries people who determine bag limits do a pretty good job. I look at it this way.

Even if you see someone keeping a big Threadfin Salmon, for instance, people still catch them.

Even if someone keeps some mackerel, for example, people can still catch them time and time again.

Maybe maximum size limits could be moved up for some species which have to high of a bag limit (In my opinion, 30 Bream is a bit crazy! But I guess it must be correct if people still catch bream after bream).

I reckon River Perch should have a smaller bag limit on them, maybe ten, opposed to twenty.

But providing there is suitable research backing up any changes that will be made, I think it's OK.

Cheers Hamish

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1 hour ago, GregN70 said:

Wow so many up there. But in qld they seem to be very rare these days.  Maybe if I’m going to ever tick off a Spano on my bucket list I should head up to the NT one time. 

come to cairns.. couple km off coast in 15 mtr of water.. I can get you one quick as... Theres shitloads honestly mate.

Thats why I am so pissed. I havent seen an ounce of change in numbers in 10 yrs in cairns.

I go out once every 8 weeks , get my 3 spanish , a few schoolies etc. Come home... Feed family.

 

I dont know why your not getting them Yepoon. I got a mate there and Mackay. They are Getting Plenty.. Said was better than Cairns.

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Maybe just bad luck.

ive done everything including.

trolling lures 

trolling rigged swimming baits

trolling live baits including off a downrigger

Live baits unweighted, under balloons

jigging and using flashers

floating out pillies 

but never seen a mackerel yet. Even a Spotties or a schoolie be good but now luck so far in about 30 trips and 3 charters 

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Capture.PNG.0f22ad0e24dbce709d37dc48c433a4cd.PNG853035729_Capture2.PNG.fca0591c518a86ba842e3ad7cf9a75e8.PNG2043280928_Capture3.PNG.0e737e49a99bc55bd12cfff7c944bf7a.PNG

 

 

I am working with the Commercial and Reco Anglers on this. Along with STOP THE LOCKOUT

It is a divide and conquer tactic. Get the recos to turn on the Commercial sector. Recos will get minimal disruption and agree. Once commercial is out then the Recos will be punted. Same as what they did with the Black Jew.

But on a united front we can fight this. If this dodgy science estimate passes it will be an inroad to shut any fishery on the East COAST GBRMNP. The dodge estimates are being peer reviewed by a group select by the science team.(wink wink). The DAF (fisheries Qld ) have been infiltrated by radical greens. The long term objective is to Lock all of out of the reef.

 

Please Join

STOP THE LOCKOUT

Facebook group of fishing members 

We had great success in stopping the Green agenda of basically locking ALL NSW fishos  of a proposed Giant multi area Marine sanctuary off NSW. a few years ago. People power marching on Sydney Parliament. Youtube it. Good Stuff

 

 

Edited by davostephens
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16 minutes ago, GregN70 said:

Maybe just bad luck.

ive done everything including.

trolling lures 

trolling rigged swimming baits

trolling live baits including off a downrigger

Live baits unweighted, under balloons

jigging and using flashers

floating out pillies 

but never seen a mackerel yet. Even a Spotties or a schoolie be good but now luck so far in about 30 trips and 3 charters 

Coastal or outer reef.?  sounds like you have had a crack.

 

Try fish bomby / Pinnacles in open water approx 20 -30 mtr with a rise up to 5-10 mtrs below surface. Fish the pressure face.. Side current hits reef as thats where Bait is... Jig up Live Fusileers. (MAC crack i call em) Live. And single strand wire only. Small swivels.. Also tow them behind Down rigger and slow on surface 2kts. around the reefs.

lures i have success .. halco 130 max yellowfin (1 pick) jig it, cast it, troll it.

Rapala x rap 20 blue sardine.

 

And coastal i nail em on ZMAN soft plastics with TT headlocks heads

4 inch Diezels or jerk shadz.. natural colors.. Smoky shad, bad shad, nuke pilchard et,

and the humble full pilly... single 8/0 in it hidden

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I’ve tried the coastal outer islands where there are bombys like you say many times.

and been out the the outer shoals up to 70-80km out over the reef drop offs n edges, current lines, pressure points, bait shows etc. but never seen a mackerel yet. I’m actually 50 and fished all my life, yet never seen a mackerel of any species caught in my boats. Which is why I though new rules would be good, cause I’d like to get just one before I get to old to fish offshore 

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Jees Greg , 50 years with out seeing a mackerel in any of your boats, living off Yeppoon LOL   I think your pulling our legs . or You could be beyond help 🙈🙈🙈🙈🙈 

A lot of people up there consider them as pests and use them for bait for more desired red fish.

The last two summers down here off Mooloolaba have been nothing less than sensational for Spanish.

Forget those pissy little baits , lures,  jigs and the like that your throwing and towing .

Put out decent baits that big Spanish eat ie big wolf herring (600mm or bigger), big Australian Bonito and big Watsons Bonito(1 to 2 kg} - bigger the baits the quicker Spanish eat them .Weight the bait on the chin with a net lead and troll them dead slow around reef drop offs in anything from 25m to 8m .Make sure the baits are swimming , a Spanish will not touch a twisting bait.  Find the bait and there’s a good chance the Spanish won’t be far away . I’ve found ,where I fish , the switch for them to feed  is the high tide ,  any time of the day .

Learn what to look for on your  sounder. Spanish mackerel stack one on top of each other around bait .see photo

Hope I didn’t catch the last 5 in existence on my last trip - 3 minutes out of Mooloolaba .Pretty sure I left them biting so all should be good going forward. 

 

 

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17 hours ago, Neil Stratford said:

Jees Greg , 50 years with out seeing a mackerel in any of your boats, living off Yeppoon LOL   I think your pulling our legs . or You could be beyond help 🙈🙈🙈🙈🙈 

+1 Even if you throw a large popper or surface stickbait around all day it's pretty unlikely to not bring up a Spanish (When casting around bait or structure at the right time of the year). I like to do it for the aerial strikes 🙂

Edited by samsteele115
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10 hours ago, GregOug said:

Mate, that’s the strangest sounder screenshot I’ve ever seen. What is it? Why is the screen filled with clutter? Why the myriad of colours? I’m confused.

Maybe sensitivity is high, but either way that's a pretty standard Spanish screenshot. To break it down: the red "squiggles" are mackerel. Sometimes when they aren't feeding they will appear a bit more horizontally if they are just cruising under the boat. 

Each sounder brand uses different colouring schemes but in this case reds are the strongest return echo (the bottom, larger fish). Dialing back towards cooler colours means the return echo isn't as solid. When bait is balled up you will get yellows and sometimes even reds (if it is small bait), and in this case it appears the bait is a little scattered and of larger size (maybe yakkas or slimeys). There are a few clumps of them in there but mostly they appear to be individual and are being harassed by the mackerel. 

If you drop a lure below your transducer you can quite often watch the fish come up to meet it (obviously you would hook up before seeing evidence of this, as once the image is displayed it is all history) but it's pretty cool. 

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20 hours ago, GregN70 said:

Wow so many up there. But in qld they seem to be very rare these days.  Maybe if I’m going to ever tick off a Spano on my bucket list I should head up to the NT one time. 

Strongly disagree. In SEQ there's every chance of having a crazy mackerel session. A mate of mine got a nice landbased moreton bay Spanish last week also. My point being they aren't rare here and it's only better the further north you go (hence being a little surprised about the potential lockouts and your lack of success at yeppoon). On a recent cape trip we nearly got cleaned up twice by flying mackerel just driving from A to B. 

It's probably a case of a missing piece somewhere, combined with extreme bad luck. Would love to see you get a SEQ mackerel. Keep trying!! 

Edited by samsteele115
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