SuperHans

Flood water does wash out fish less tolerant of freshwater. Had a walk along the beach today and decided against fishing-the water was chocolate brown out to the horizon. In the past fishing has been poor, in these conditions, I think because the huge swells also ripped a lot of kelp off the rocks and the water was littered with the stuff. Maybe I was doing something wrong but I assumed that fish that habitually live in clear salty water dislike the muddy particles going into the gills -just like I hate smoggy days :). Unfortunately there are no edges in sight (from land anyway where I am).
I'm near the mouth of the Hawkesbury river and was itching to wet a line too 😞 
Hope you all have better luck.
btw I guess species adapted to murky water like threadfin wouldn't be much affected?????

Flood water does wash out fish less tolerant of freshwater. Had a walk along the beach today and decided against fishing-the water was chocolate brown out to the horizon. In the past fishing has been poor, in these conditions, I think because the huge swells also ripped a lot of kelp off the rocks and the water was littered with the stuff. Maybe I was doing something wrong but I assumed that fish that habitually live in clear salty water dislike the muddy particles going into the gills -just like I hate smoggy days :). Unfortunately there are no edges in sight (from land anyway where I am).
I'm near the mouth of the Hawkesbury river and was itching to wet a line too 😞 
Hope you all have better luck.
btw I guess species adapted to murky water like threadfin wouldn't be much affected?????

PS you didn't give an example of an opposition political party in this workers' paradise. Cant wait.

Hi TJ,
no, I haven't been to Communist China, and I don't plan to. I WOULD like to visit Taiwan however to see how mainland China could have been without a police state since 1949.
I'm not a propaganda machine, and I support my position with diverse sources and examples. Try reading some pre revolutionary Chinese history, its fascinating (and predates any perceived plot by the USA).
The Soviet Union WAS a threat to the west, especially to western Europe. Mutually Assured Destruction was the reason that the Cold War never heated up, not the belated realisation that the USSR was a benevolent fluffy force for good.
Communist China IS a threat to the West and a sight-seeing tour does not prove otherwise. A pre-war sight seeing tour of Nazi Germany would likewise be pleasant- they put up a great show of harmony during the 1936 Olympics (anti-semitism was toned down temporarily and concentration camps were operating then but were off limits). It has a long track record of aggression-from attacking United Nations troops in the Korean War because the north was getting its arse kicked and the CCP didn't like the prospect of a democratic neighbour, to their current activities including coercing the diaspora, cyber attacks, bribing our politicians, occupying the  Spratley Islands and so on. 
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-03-22/philippines-chinese-boats-south-china-sea/100020278
"If you are a fan of history as you say then you would be aware that China has been attacked many times by many countries, always being unable to defend themselves because they are not a warlike people."
Lol. So untrue. It has attacked Japan (Kublai Khan), Korea, Manchuria, and for hundreds of years held south east asian nations such as Viet Nam as vassal states that were required to give tribute to China. The alternative......war.
Internally there was even a time know as the "Warring States" period. In fact the Chinese made such an art of warfare that they literally wrote the book on it ("The Art of War" by Sun Tzu which is still referenced in military academies today).
Just tell the Tibetans, and the Uighers that their genocide is a figment of their imagination and that peace loving Communist Chinese are there to help. Just be grateful that you don't have to live as one of them.
Communist China.xlsx

Flood water does wash out fish less tolerant of freshwater. Had a walk along the beach today and decided against fishing-the water was chocolate brown out to the horizon. In the past fishing has been poor, in these conditions, I think because the huge swells also ripped a lot of kelp off the rocks and the water was littered with the stuff. Maybe I was doing something wrong but I assumed that fish that habitually live in clear salty water dislike the muddy particles going into the gills -just like I hate smoggy days :). Unfortunately there are no edges in sight (from land anyway where I am).
I'm near the mouth of the Hawkesbury river and was itching to wet a line too 😞 
Hope you all have better luck.
btw I guess species adapted to murky water like threadfin wouldn't be much affected?????

PS you didn't give an example of an opposition political party in this workers' paradise. Cant wait.

Hi TJ,
no, I haven't been to Communist China, and I don't plan to. I WOULD like to visit Taiwan however to see how mainland China could have been without a police state since 1949.
I'm not a propaganda machine, and I support my position with diverse sources and examples. Try reading some pre revolutionary Chinese history, its fascinating (and predates any perceived plot by the USA).
The Soviet Union WAS a threat to the west, especially to western Europe. Mutually Assured Destruction was the reason that the Cold War never heated up, not the belated realisation that the USSR was a benevolent fluffy force for good.
Communist China IS a threat to the West and a sight-seeing tour does not prove otherwise. A pre-war sight seeing tour of Nazi Germany would likewise be pleasant- they put up a great show of harmony during the 1936 Olympics (anti-semitism was toned down temporarily and concentration camps were operating then but were off limits). It has a long track record of aggression-from attacking United Nations troops in the Korean War because the north was getting its arse kicked and the CCP didn't like the prospect of a democratic neighbour, to their current activities including coercing the diaspora, cyber attacks, bribing our politicians, occupying the  Spratley Islands and so on. 
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-03-22/philippines-chinese-boats-south-china-sea/100020278
"If you are a fan of history as you say then you would be aware that China has been attacked many times by many countries, always being unable to defend themselves because they are not a warlike people."
Lol. So untrue. It has attacked Japan (Kublai Khan), Korea, Manchuria, and for hundreds of years held south east asian nations such as Viet Nam as vassal states that were required to give tribute to China. The alternative......war.
Internally there was even a time know as the "Warring States" period. In fact the Chinese made such an art of warfare that they literally wrote the book on it ("The Art of War" by Sun Tzu which is still referenced in military academies today).
Just tell the Tibetans, and the Uighers that their genocide is a figment of their imagination and that peace loving Communist Chinese are there to help. Just be grateful that you don't have to live as one of them.
Communist China.xlsx

Communist China.xlsxHi Tackle Junkie,
I have not reacted merely to media reports; I love reading history (from Ancient Rome to the 20th Century) and I have seen this coming a long time ago.  Its not a matter of being influenced by the US, but I AM glad that they have woken up to the threat. So, no I am not a "Running dog of the imperialists" 🙂
I am not surprised that you couldn't find someone who would publicly criticise the government or the state police to a foreigner. Anyone  who criticises this totalitarian police state risks a 9mm lead injection behind the ear.
Yes, Communist Chinese manufacturing in now an integral part of many production lines. That doesn't mean we cannot try to limit it, nor support an alternative where possible. 
"China does not have a political system run by an out of control communist dictator as we are led to believe, they have a Democratic Republic". You cant be serious. Can you name one, JUST ONE, opposing political party????????
The Dutch MAY own a lot of land here, but they aren't an economic, political or military threat western democracies. This is not about race, its about a powerful belligerent neighbour run by a totalitarian regime that has demonstrated many times for over 70 years the number of corpses it will walk over to retain control of its people. 
 Not too long ago Communist China made an abrupt change in direction from the spread of world socialism to state directed capitalism. This was designed to prevent hungry desperate chinese from tossing the Communist party out via revolution. (Ancient Romans knew that Bread and Circuses were the way to keep the proles quiet) Yes, the peasants' standard of living has improved, but at what cost to their rights, to the environment and to other countries? Along with permission for limited economic freedom, the regime focussed on chinese nationalism/racism/pride. It emphasised, and still does, the wrongs done to China by foreign devils in the Imperial (lol) period. It is a useful and very effective tool because China WAS weak and vulnerable to invasion in the past (opium wars, rape of nanking etc), but also because it taps into the very powerful nationalism of the chinese. (They DO have a lot to be proud of btw, a 5k year old history with many innovations. In contrast 2k years ago the british were running around half naked and painting themselves blue). Nothing unites a people, even under unpopular leaders, like Us V THEM. eg Thatcher gained a massive boost due to the Falkland War. 
Communist Chinese aggression (internal and external) has a long history.
As someone a lot smarter than I said "If we don't learn the lessons of  history we are doomed to repeat the same mistakes".
The list on the spread sheet is not exhaustive, nor are the examples given.
 
 
 
Communist China.xlsx

Communist China.xlsxHi Tackle Junkie,
I have not reacted merely to media reports; I love reading history (from Ancient Rome to the 20th Century) and I have seen this coming a long time ago.  Its not a matter of being influenced by the US, but I AM glad that they have woken up to the threat. So, no I am not a "Running dog of the imperialists" 🙂
I am not surprised that you couldn't find someone who would publicly criticise the government or the state police to a foreigner. Anyone  who criticises this totalitarian police state risks a 9mm lead injection behind the ear.
Yes, Communist Chinese manufacturing in now an integral part of many production lines. That doesn't mean we cannot try to limit it, nor support an alternative where possible. 
"China does not have a political system run by an out of control communist dictator as we are led to believe, they have a Democratic Republic". You cant be serious. Can you name one, JUST ONE, opposing political party????????
The Dutch MAY own a lot of land here, but they aren't an economic, political or military threat western democracies. This is not about race, its about a powerful belligerent neighbour run by a totalitarian regime that has demonstrated many times for over 70 years the number of corpses it will walk over to retain control of its people. 
 Not too long ago Communist China made an abrupt change in direction from the spread of world socialism to state directed capitalism. This was designed to prevent hungry desperate chinese from tossing the Communist party out via revolution. (Ancient Romans knew that Bread and Circuses were the way to keep the proles quiet) Yes, the peasants' standard of living has improved, but at what cost to their rights, to the environment and to other countries? Along with permission for limited economic freedom, the regime focussed on chinese nationalism/racism/pride. It emphasised, and still does, the wrongs done to China by foreign devils in the Imperial (lol) period. It is a useful and very effective tool because China WAS weak and vulnerable to invasion in the past (opium wars, rape of nanking etc), but also because it taps into the very powerful nationalism of the chinese. (They DO have a lot to be proud of btw, a 5k year old history with many innovations. In contrast 2k years ago the british were running around half naked and painting themselves blue). Nothing unites a people, even under unpopular leaders, like Us V THEM. eg Thatcher gained a massive boost due to the Falkland War. 
Communist Chinese aggression (internal and external) has a long history.
As someone a lot smarter than I said "If we don't learn the lessons of  history we are doomed to repeat the same mistakes".
The list on the spread sheet is not exhaustive, nor are the examples given.
 
 
 
Communist China.xlsx

Its a small start but as the chinese proverb goes,  "a journey of 1000 miles starts with one step".
I was recently helping my daughter look for a new car and we chose not to consider anything from mainland china. (Chery, Saic, Great Wall, etc)
Asked the Shaver Shop owner to show me only hair clippers not made in china. I paid a bit more for a product made in the US, and while they have their social problems, I'm not financially supporting a police state.
Glad to see that I'm not alone 🙂. 
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9008177/Australian-businesses-BOYCOTT-China-refuse-use-products.html

Its a small start but as the chinese proverb goes,  "a journey of 1000 miles starts with one step".
I was recently helping my daughter look for a new car and we chose not to consider anything from mainland china. (Chery, Saic, Great Wall, etc)
Asked the Shaver Shop owner to show me only hair clippers not made in china. I paid a bit more for a product made in the US, and while they have their social problems, I'm not financially supporting a police state.
Glad to see that I'm not alone 🙂. 
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9008177/Australian-businesses-BOYCOTT-China-refuse-use-products.html

Not a fan of rec fishing licences. Feeling a bit jaded so I'm going to have a spray.
Rec licences deny most of us a birth right to harvest common property. (in NSW aborigines are exempt from licences but that's another story). No compensation is offered for denying rec fishers this right. Compare that with commercial fishers who have to have their licences bought out as compensation.
Funds raised don't always go towards rec fishery improvement. eg in NSW they were used for mulloway re-stocking. The funny thing about fish is that swim. Now this may have been an OK idea in a freshwater impoundment, but there's nothing stopping a rec-funded mulloway swimming in to a pro fisherman's net.
I would insist that all funds raised be used only for the buy out of commercial fishing licences.
Operational costs of Fisheries operations, education as well as compliance and admin should never be funded by rec licences. 
Fisheries departments don't have a great track record in fisheries management. In NSW Fisheries Dept research vessels sought and identified new fisheries for commercial fishermen to exploit, which they did enthusiastically! Not really management is it?
One eye opening experience for me was when training (mid 1990s) a senior NSW Fisheries bureaucrat was asked by one of us about the (then) fish kills in the Menindee Lakes that were a  result of low water levels. It was suggested to him that perhaps the Fisheries Dept (which was trying to limit fish  deaths)should liaise with the NSW dept of  Land & Water to increase the flows so that they survived. The reply was that this had been suggested but that the head of Dept of Land & Water advised his opposite number in Fisheries that he "didnt care about fish as fish occupy space that could be filled by water". 
No wonder the joke at the time was "What do you get when you Land to Water"/ Answer "Mud"!
NSW Fisheries role is to manage our fisheries, yet when a fishery struggles or collapses, no minister or official stands up to say that they are responsible for the failure and offer their resignation.
The science for minimum sizes is rubbery.
eg abalone. These grow at different rates in different places according to the nutrient content of their environment, so a small specimen in a nutrient-poor location may be older and have reproduced before a larger specimen elsewhere in a nutrient-rich location. Yet, it is an offence to take that smaller (but mature) specimen.
Similarly a study of (I think it was tailor) found that commercial harvesting in WA resulted in populations that were mature at earlier ages. (Specimens that were genetically prone to mature at a smaller size were favoured because they were returned on capture while others were not).
As an ex-NSW Fisheries Officer I could not reconcile the need to issue infringement notices to someone possessing an undersize fish (because they should be allowed to grow and spawn, right?) while allowing commercial fishermen to target and harvest entire spawning migrations.
Commercial fishermen's lobby groups had more influence than the rec and the role of the Department seemed to be maintaining the status quo.
A fellow officer told me about a beach haul operation that harvested migrating schools of mullet, removed the roes for export and bulldozed the remains into the beach.
One ineffective knee jerk response to appear to be 'managing' fish stocks was to decrease the bag limit. A joke really because so few people actually reach the limit and the effect is negligible.  
Qld (and belatedly NSW) finally adopted sensible management policies such as closed seasons (eg to allow barra to spawn), and limits on taking larger fish that have managed to survive to maturity and spawn. (fish produce so many eggs because so few of them will manage to get to maturity, so the rationale for returning undersized fish while taking the bigger ones was always crazy).
 

Hi Idan,
Maybe the other bloke had lighter line and/or lighter sinkers/fluorocarbon leader? 
I am guessing that the fish the other bloke was catching (and pinching your bait) were bream? Was he also using pilchards? Pilchards have advantages like being oily but also have drawbacks like being soft and easier to strip. Frozen baits will do when its the only option but you could consider others like fresh or even better, live bait. I think this is more important in heavily fished areas like Sydney where the fish may be a bit more educated.  Nippers, worms or my favourite poddy mullet. Any fish that fancies a whole pilchard will crawl all aver a live poddy, they don't break up because they are soft, and give out the visual and vibration signals of a fish in distress. Poddies are probs too big for bream but are brilliant for bigger fish like flathead. 
If using fresh bait like squid, small whole fish or fish flesh, I buy the squid,  small whole or a fish fillet from the local fish shop- if its fresh enough for humans to eat its fresh enough for your target fish, and its not that expensive. Only thing that tops this is 'screaming live bait' (sorry to all of the lure enthusiasts out there, but the real thing generally beats a pale imitation 🙂 ).
Research the fish you want to target (season,
tides, terrain, feeding etc). See if there is a fishing club you can you can join and ask the locals where and how to fish. Local pubs often have social fishing clubs.
 
Good Luck
 
 

Hi Idan,
Maybe the other bloke had lighter line and/or lighter sinkers/fluorocarbon leader? 
I am guessing that the fish the other bloke was catching (and pinching your bait) were bream? Was he also using pilchards? Pilchards have advantages like being oily but also have drawbacks like being soft and easier to strip. Frozen baits will do when its the only option but you could consider others like fresh or even better, live bait. I think this is more important in heavily fished areas like Sydney where the fish may be a bit more educated.  Nippers, worms or my favourite poddy mullet. Any fish that fancies a whole pilchard will crawl all aver a live poddy, they don't break up because they are soft, and give out the visual and vibration signals of a fish in distress. Poddies are probs too big for bream but are brilliant for bigger fish like flathead. 
If using fresh bait like squid, small whole fish or fish flesh, I buy the squid,  small whole or a fish fillet from the local fish shop- if its fresh enough for humans to eat its fresh enough for your target fish, and its not that expensive. Only thing that tops this is 'screaming live bait' (sorry to all of the lure enthusiasts out there, but the real thing generally beats a pale imitation 🙂 ).
Research the fish you want to target (season,
tides, terrain, feeding etc). See if there is a fishing club you can you can join and ask the locals where and how to fish. Local pubs often have social fishing clubs.
 
Good Luck
 
 

Hi Idan,
Maybe the other bloke had lighter line and/or lighter sinkers/fluorocarbon leader? 
I am guessing that the fish the other bloke was catching (and pinching your bait) were bream? Was he also using pilchards? Pilchards have advantages like being oily but also have drawbacks like being soft and easier to strip. Frozen baits will do when its the only option but you could consider others like fresh or even better, live bait. I think this is more important in heavily fished areas like Sydney where the fish may be a bit more educated.  Nippers, worms or my favourite poddy mullet. Any fish that fancies a whole pilchard will crawl all aver a live poddy, they don't break up because they are soft, and give out the visual and vibration signals of a fish in distress. Poddies are probs too big for bream but are brilliant for bigger fish like flathead. 
If using fresh bait like squid, small whole fish or fish flesh, I buy the squid,  small whole or a fish fillet from the local fish shop- if its fresh enough for humans to eat its fresh enough for your target fish, and its not that expensive. Only thing that tops this is 'screaming live bait' (sorry to all of the lure enthusiasts out there, but the real thing generally beats a pale imitation 🙂 ).
Research the fish you want to target (season,
tides, terrain, feeding etc). See if there is a fishing club you can you can join and ask the locals where and how to fish. Local pubs often have social fishing clubs.
 
Good Luck
 
 

Hi Idan,
Maybe the other bloke had lighter line and/or lighter sinkers/fluorocarbon leader? 
I am guessing that the fish the other bloke was catching (and pinching your bait) were bream? Was he also using pilchards? Pilchards have advantages like being oily but also have drawbacks like being soft and easier to strip. Frozen baits will do when its the only option but you could consider others like fresh or even better, live bait. I think this is more important in heavily fished areas like Sydney where the fish may be a bit more educated.  Nippers, worms or my favourite poddy mullet. Any fish that fancies a whole pilchard will crawl all aver a live poddy, they don't break up because they are soft, and give out the visual and vibration signals of a fish in distress. Poddies are probs too big for bream but are brilliant for bigger fish like flathead. 
If using fresh bait like squid, small whole fish or fish flesh, I buy the squid,  small whole or a fish fillet from the local fish shop- if its fresh enough for humans to eat its fresh enough for your target fish, and its not that expensive. Only thing that tops this is 'screaming live bait' (sorry to all of the lure enthusiasts out there, but the real thing generally beats a pale imitation 🙂 ).
Research the fish you want to target (season,
tides, terrain, feeding etc). See if there is a fishing club you can you can join and ask the locals where and how to fish. Local pubs often have social fishing clubs.
 
Good Luck
 
 

Hi Idan,
Maybe the other bloke had lighter line and/or lighter sinkers/fluorocarbon leader? 
I am guessing that the fish the other bloke was catching (and pinching your bait) were bream? Was he also using pilchards? Pilchards have advantages like being oily but also have drawbacks like being soft and easier to strip. Frozen baits will do when its the only option but you could consider others like fresh or even better, live bait. I think this is more important in heavily fished areas like Sydney where the fish may be a bit more educated.  Nippers, worms or my favourite poddy mullet. Any fish that fancies a whole pilchard will crawl all aver a live poddy, they don't break up because they are soft, and give out the visual and vibration signals of a fish in distress. Poddies are probs too big for bream but are brilliant for bigger fish like flathead. 
If using fresh bait like squid, small whole fish or fish flesh, I buy the squid,  small whole or a fish fillet from the local fish shop- if its fresh enough for humans to eat its fresh enough for your target fish, and its not that expensive. Only thing that tops this is 'screaming live bait' (sorry to all of the lure enthusiasts out there, but the real thing generally beats a pale imitation 🙂 ).
Research the fish you want to target (season,
tides, terrain, feeding etc). See if there is a fishing club you can you can join and ask the locals where and how to fish. Local pubs often have social fishing clubs.
 
Good Luck
 
 

Not a fan of rec fishing licences. Feeling a bit jaded so I'm going to have a spray.
Rec licences deny most of us a birth right to harvest common property. (in NSW aborigines are exempt from licences but that's another story). No compensation is offered for denying rec fishers this right. Compare that with commercial fishers who have to have their licences bought out as compensation.
Funds raised don't always go towards rec fishery improvement. eg in NSW they were used for mulloway re-stocking. The funny thing about fish is that swim. Now this may have been an OK idea in a freshwater impoundment, but there's nothing stopping a rec-funded mulloway swimming in to a pro fisherman's net.
I would insist that all funds raised be used only for the buy out of commercial fishing licences.
Operational costs of Fisheries operations, education as well as compliance and admin should never be funded by rec licences. 
Fisheries departments don't have a great track record in fisheries management. In NSW Fisheries Dept research vessels sought and identified new fisheries for commercial fishermen to exploit, which they did enthusiastically! Not really management is it?
One eye opening experience for me was when training (mid 1990s) a senior NSW Fisheries bureaucrat was asked by one of us about the (then) fish kills in the Menindee Lakes that were a  result of low water levels. It was suggested to him that perhaps the Fisheries Dept (which was trying to limit fish  deaths)should liaise with the NSW dept of  Land & Water to increase the flows so that they survived. The reply was that this had been suggested but that the head of Dept of Land & Water advised his opposite number in Fisheries that he "didnt care about fish as fish occupy space that could be filled by water". 
No wonder the joke at the time was "What do you get when you Land to Water"/ Answer "Mud"!
NSW Fisheries role is to manage our fisheries, yet when a fishery struggles or collapses, no minister or official stands up to say that they are responsible for the failure and offer their resignation.
The science for minimum sizes is rubbery.
eg abalone. These grow at different rates in different places according to the nutrient content of their environment, so a small specimen in a nutrient-poor location may be older and have reproduced before a larger specimen elsewhere in a nutrient-rich location. Yet, it is an offence to take that smaller (but mature) specimen.
Similarly a study of (I think it was tailor) found that commercial harvesting in WA resulted in populations that were mature at earlier ages. (Specimens that were genetically prone to mature at a smaller size were favoured because they were returned on capture while others were not).
As an ex-NSW Fisheries Officer I could not reconcile the need to issue infringement notices to someone possessing an undersize fish (because they should be allowed to grow and spawn, right?) while allowing commercial fishermen to target and harvest entire spawning migrations.
Commercial fishermen's lobby groups had more influence than the rec and the role of the Department seemed to be maintaining the status quo.
A fellow officer told me about a beach haul operation that harvested migrating schools of mullet, removed the roes for export and bulldozed the remains into the beach.
One ineffective knee jerk response to appear to be 'managing' fish stocks was to decrease the bag limit. A joke really because so few people actually reach the limit and the effect is negligible.  
Qld (and belatedly NSW) finally adopted sensible management policies such as closed seasons (eg to allow barra to spawn), and limits on taking larger fish that have managed to survive to maturity and spawn. (fish produce so many eggs because so few of them will manage to get to maturity, so the rationale for returning undersized fish while taking the bigger ones was always crazy).
 

Not a fan of rec fishing licences. Feeling a bit jaded so I'm going to have a spray.
Rec licences deny most of us a birth right to harvest common property. (in NSW aborigines are exempt from licences but that's another story). No compensation is offered for denying rec fishers this right. Compare that with commercial fishers who have to have their licences bought out as compensation.
Funds raised don't always go towards rec fishery improvement. eg in NSW they were used for mulloway re-stocking. The funny thing about fish is that swim. Now this may have been an OK idea in a freshwater impoundment, but there's nothing stopping a rec-funded mulloway swimming in to a pro fisherman's net.
I would insist that all funds raised be used only for the buy out of commercial fishing licences.
Operational costs of Fisheries operations, education as well as compliance and admin should never be funded by rec licences. 
Fisheries departments don't have a great track record in fisheries management. In NSW Fisheries Dept research vessels sought and identified new fisheries for commercial fishermen to exploit, which they did enthusiastically! Not really management is it?
One eye opening experience for me was when training (mid 1990s) a senior NSW Fisheries bureaucrat was asked by one of us about the (then) fish kills in the Menindee Lakes that were a  result of low water levels. It was suggested to him that perhaps the Fisheries Dept (which was trying to limit fish  deaths)should liaise with the NSW dept of  Land & Water to increase the flows so that they survived. The reply was that this had been suggested but that the head of Dept of Land & Water advised his opposite number in Fisheries that he "didnt care about fish as fish occupy space that could be filled by water". 
No wonder the joke at the time was "What do you get when you Land to Water"/ Answer "Mud"!
NSW Fisheries role is to manage our fisheries, yet when a fishery struggles or collapses, no minister or official stands up to say that they are responsible for the failure and offer their resignation.
The science for minimum sizes is rubbery.
eg abalone. These grow at different rates in different places according to the nutrient content of their environment, so a small specimen in a nutrient-poor location may be older and have reproduced before a larger specimen elsewhere in a nutrient-rich location. Yet, it is an offence to take that smaller (but mature) specimen.
Similarly a study of (I think it was tailor) found that commercial harvesting in WA resulted in populations that were mature at earlier ages. (Specimens that were genetically prone to mature at a smaller size were favoured because they were returned on capture while others were not).
As an ex-NSW Fisheries Officer I could not reconcile the need to issue infringement notices to someone possessing an undersize fish (because they should be allowed to grow and spawn, right?) while allowing commercial fishermen to target and harvest entire spawning migrations.
Commercial fishermen's lobby groups had more influence than the rec and the role of the Department seemed to be maintaining the status quo.
A fellow officer told me about a beach haul operation that harvested migrating schools of mullet, removed the roes for export and bulldozed the remains into the beach.
One ineffective knee jerk response to appear to be 'managing' fish stocks was to decrease the bag limit. A joke really because so few people actually reach the limit and the effect is negligible.  
Qld (and belatedly NSW) finally adopted sensible management policies such as closed seasons (eg to allow barra to spawn), and limits on taking larger fish that have managed to survive to maturity and spawn. (fish produce so many eggs because so few of them will manage to get to maturity, so the rationale for returning undersized fish while taking the bigger ones was always crazy).
 

Not a fan of rec fishing licences. Feeling a bit jaded so I'm going to have a spray.
Rec licences deny most of us a birth right to harvest common property. (in NSW aborigines are exempt from licences but that's another story). No compensation is offered for denying rec fishers this right. Compare that with commercial fishers who have to have their licences bought out as compensation.
Funds raised don't always go towards rec fishery improvement. eg in NSW they were used for mulloway re-stocking. The funny thing about fish is that swim. Now this may have been an OK idea in a freshwater impoundment, but there's nothing stopping a rec-funded mulloway swimming in to a pro fisherman's net.
I would insist that all funds raised be used only for the buy out of commercial fishing licences.
Operational costs of Fisheries operations, education as well as compliance and admin should never be funded by rec licences. 
Fisheries departments don't have a great track record in fisheries management. In NSW Fisheries Dept research vessels sought and identified new fisheries for commercial fishermen to exploit, which they did enthusiastically! Not really management is it?
One eye opening experience for me was when training (mid 1990s) a senior NSW Fisheries bureaucrat was asked by one of us about the (then) fish kills in the Menindee Lakes that were a  result of low water levels. It was suggested to him that perhaps the Fisheries Dept (which was trying to limit fish  deaths)should liaise with the NSW dept of  Land & Water to increase the flows so that they survived. The reply was that this had been suggested but that the head of Dept of Land & Water advised his opposite number in Fisheries that he "didnt care about fish as fish occupy space that could be filled by water". 
No wonder the joke at the time was "What do you get when you Land to Water"/ Answer "Mud"!
NSW Fisheries role is to manage our fisheries, yet when a fishery struggles or collapses, no minister or official stands up to say that they are responsible for the failure and offer their resignation.
The science for minimum sizes is rubbery.
eg abalone. These grow at different rates in different places according to the nutrient content of their environment, so a small specimen in a nutrient-poor location may be older and have reproduced before a larger specimen elsewhere in a nutrient-rich location. Yet, it is an offence to take that smaller (but mature) specimen.
Similarly a study of (I think it was tailor) found that commercial harvesting in WA resulted in populations that were mature at earlier ages. (Specimens that were genetically prone to mature at a smaller size were favoured because they were returned on capture while others were not).
As an ex-NSW Fisheries Officer I could not reconcile the need to issue infringement notices to someone possessing an undersize fish (because they should be allowed to grow and spawn, right?) while allowing commercial fishermen to target and harvest entire spawning migrations.
Commercial fishermen's lobby groups had more influence than the rec and the role of the Department seemed to be maintaining the status quo.
A fellow officer told me about a beach haul operation that harvested migrating schools of mullet, removed the roes for export and bulldozed the remains into the beach.
One ineffective knee jerk response to appear to be 'managing' fish stocks was to decrease the bag limit. A joke really because so few people actually reach the limit and the effect is negligible.  
Qld (and belatedly NSW) finally adopted sensible management policies such as closed seasons (eg to allow barra to spawn), and limits on taking larger fish that have managed to survive to maturity and spawn. (fish produce so many eggs because so few of them will manage to get to maturity, so the rationale for returning undersized fish while taking the bigger ones was always crazy).
 

Not a fan of rec fishing licences. Feeling a bit jaded so I'm going to have a spray.
Rec licences deny most of us a birth right to harvest common property. (in NSW aborigines are exempt from licences but that's another story). No compensation is offered for denying rec fishers this right. Compare that with commercial fishers who have to have their licences bought out as compensation.
Funds raised don't always go towards rec fishery improvement. eg in NSW they were used for mulloway re-stocking. The funny thing about fish is that swim. Now this may have been an OK idea in a freshwater impoundment, but there's nothing stopping a rec-funded mulloway swimming in to a pro fisherman's net.
I would insist that all funds raised be used only for the buy out of commercial fishing licences.
Operational costs of Fisheries operations, education as well as compliance and admin should never be funded by rec licences. 
Fisheries departments don't have a great track record in fisheries management. In NSW Fisheries Dept research vessels sought and identified new fisheries for commercial fishermen to exploit, which they did enthusiastically! Not really management is it?
One eye opening experience for me was when training (mid 1990s) a senior NSW Fisheries bureaucrat was asked by one of us about the (then) fish kills in the Menindee Lakes that were a  result of low water levels. It was suggested to him that perhaps the Fisheries Dept (which was trying to limit fish  deaths)should liaise with the NSW dept of  Land & Water to increase the flows so that they survived. The reply was that this had been suggested but that the head of Dept of Land & Water advised his opposite number in Fisheries that he "didnt care about fish as fish occupy space that could be filled by water". 
No wonder the joke at the time was "What do you get when you Land to Water"/ Answer "Mud"!
NSW Fisheries role is to manage our fisheries, yet when a fishery struggles or collapses, no minister or official stands up to say that they are responsible for the failure and offer their resignation.
The science for minimum sizes is rubbery.
eg abalone. These grow at different rates in different places according to the nutrient content of their environment, so a small specimen in a nutrient-poor location may be older and have reproduced before a larger specimen elsewhere in a nutrient-rich location. Yet, it is an offence to take that smaller (but mature) specimen.
Similarly a study of (I think it was tailor) found that commercial harvesting in WA resulted in populations that were mature at earlier ages. (Specimens that were genetically prone to mature at a smaller size were favoured because they were returned on capture while others were not).
As an ex-NSW Fisheries Officer I could not reconcile the need to issue infringement notices to someone possessing an undersize fish (because they should be allowed to grow and spawn, right?) while allowing commercial fishermen to target and harvest entire spawning migrations.
Commercial fishermen's lobby groups had more influence than the rec and the role of the Department seemed to be maintaining the status quo.
A fellow officer told me about a beach haul operation that harvested migrating schools of mullet, removed the roes for export and bulldozed the remains into the beach.
One ineffective knee jerk response to appear to be 'managing' fish stocks was to decrease the bag limit. A joke really because so few people actually reach the limit and the effect is negligible.  
Qld (and belatedly NSW) finally adopted sensible management policies such as closed seasons (eg to allow barra to spawn), and limits on taking larger fish that have managed to survive to maturity and spawn. (fish produce so many eggs because so few of them will manage to get to maturity, so the rationale for returning undersized fish while taking the bigger ones was always crazy).
 

Not a fan of rec fishing licences. Feeling a bit jaded so I'm going to have a spray.
Rec licences deny most of us a birth right to harvest common property. (in NSW aborigines are exempt from licences but that's another story). No compensation is offered for denying rec fishers this right. Compare that with commercial fishers who have to have their licences bought out as compensation.
Funds raised don't always go towards rec fishery improvement. eg in NSW they were used for mulloway re-stocking. The funny thing about fish is that swim. Now this may have been an OK idea in a freshwater impoundment, but there's nothing stopping a rec-funded mulloway swimming in to a pro fisherman's net.
I would insist that all funds raised be used only for the buy out of commercial fishing licences.
Operational costs of Fisheries operations, education as well as compliance and admin should never be funded by rec licences. 
Fisheries departments don't have a great track record in fisheries management. In NSW Fisheries Dept research vessels sought and identified new fisheries for commercial fishermen to exploit, which they did enthusiastically! Not really management is it?
One eye opening experience for me was when training (mid 1990s) a senior NSW Fisheries bureaucrat was asked by one of us about the (then) fish kills in the Menindee Lakes that were a  result of low water levels. It was suggested to him that perhaps the Fisheries Dept (which was trying to limit fish  deaths)should liaise with the NSW dept of  Land & Water to increase the flows so that they survived. The reply was that this had been suggested but that the head of Dept of Land & Water advised his opposite number in Fisheries that he "didnt care about fish as fish occupy space that could be filled by water". 
No wonder the joke at the time was "What do you get when you Land to Water"/ Answer "Mud"!
NSW Fisheries role is to manage our fisheries, yet when a fishery struggles or collapses, no minister or official stands up to say that they are responsible for the failure and offer their resignation.
The science for minimum sizes is rubbery.
eg abalone. These grow at different rates in different places according to the nutrient content of their environment, so a small specimen in a nutrient-poor location may be older and have reproduced before a larger specimen elsewhere in a nutrient-rich location. Yet, it is an offence to take that smaller (but mature) specimen.
Similarly a study of (I think it was tailor) found that commercial harvesting in WA resulted in populations that were mature at earlier ages. (Specimens that were genetically prone to mature at a smaller size were favoured because they were returned on capture while others were not).
As an ex-NSW Fisheries Officer I could not reconcile the need to issue infringement notices to someone possessing an undersize fish (because they should be allowed to grow and spawn, right?) while allowing commercial fishermen to target and harvest entire spawning migrations.
Commercial fishermen's lobby groups had more influence than the rec and the role of the Department seemed to be maintaining the status quo.
A fellow officer told me about a beach haul operation that harvested migrating schools of mullet, removed the roes for export and bulldozed the remains into the beach.
One ineffective knee jerk response to appear to be 'managing' fish stocks was to decrease the bag limit. A joke really because so few people actually reach the limit and the effect is negligible.  
Qld (and belatedly NSW) finally adopted sensible management policies such as closed seasons (eg to allow barra to spawn), and limits on taking larger fish that have managed to survive to maturity and spawn. (fish produce so many eggs because so few of them will manage to get to maturity, so the rationale for returning undersized fish while taking the bigger ones was always crazy).
 

Hi Kat,
I don't know the area, so my suggestions are general.
If snags are bottom material rather than sunken trees you could try a paternoster rig with a bomb sinker at the end. I think that these elongated sinkers cast well (more streamlined) and release from snags better than many others because of their shape. A loop on the end of the rig makes for easy and fast sinker changes as for when you need more/less lead as the tide changes. The paternoster should keep the hooks away from the bottom snags so a sinker that is shaped to come free easily makes sense. 

Making the loop at the end is straight forward. Double the end of the line back on itself, then using the doubled up line make a simple overhand knot. The resulting loop is easily slipped on and off through the the bomb sinker's swivel. (Poke loop thru sinker eye, then sinker thru loop and tighten). 
Alternatively you could also try using a float to keep your rig off the bottom.
I am wondering if its a good place to fish when the current runs so strongly. In general fish don't like wasting energy fighting a current unnecessarily. Instead they hang in eddies behind structures as this quieter water uses less energy and brings a meal to them.  If they need to move from A to B  it makes sense for them to go when the current assists them. As someone above said, there may be  better stages of the tide to fish this.

Recent interference by the Chinese Communist Party in trade has been the last straw for me.
I have long been concerned about our close relationship with a one-party police state that executes political opponents or imprisons them in concentration camps. The Chinese Communist Party regime is increasingly belligerent, coerces ethnic Chinese overseas, ignores international law, ignores the rule of law, denies freedom of speech, uses slave labour, is a threat to the stability of the region, beggars vulnerable nations with debt, steals intellectual property, is responsible for cyber-attacks on Australia, actively spies on us, attempts to influence our democracy for its own ends, and corrupts our elected leaders.
There is also the issue of their fishing fleets pillaging the oceans around the Galapagos Islands and I'm not very comfortable with a proposed fish processing plant in PNG.
Whenever I shop now I look to see where the products was made and I boycott mainland Chinese products. I bought some tackle the other day that was made in Taiwan and other stuff from South Korea (both liberal democracies). Its a small start.

I’ve eaten a few but not anymore. Nothing against the taste, just prefer to let them go. You need to bleed them correctly to get rid of that smell