Snapper changes to start September 1

Changes to rules for catching snapper in Queensland will come into force on September 1, Fisheries Minister Craig Wallace said today.

From September 1, recreational bag limits on snapper will be reduced from five to four.

This move means the sustainability of the species can be protected with no future bans on catching snapper in Queensland.

“As a keen angler myself, I personally oversaw the consultation process to ensure community views were heard at the highest levels of government before these changes were made,” Mr Wallace said.

“In close consultation with fishers we have come up with sensible changes that protect some of the most popular commercial and recreational fish species in Queensland,” he said.

Mr Wallace said main changes to the snapper fishery included:

·No further bans on snapper fishing. A six-week ban earlier this year on catching snapper would not be repeated.

·Reducing the recreational bag limit for snapper from five to four, with a maximum of one fish with a total length over 70cm allowed. The minimum size limit for snapper will remain at 35cm. This will apply to all recreational anglers, including fishing from charter boats;

·There is no proposed change for the size and bag limits for pearl perch and teraglin;

·An online monitoring program will be introduced for recreational fishers to log snapper catch data, to ensure up-to-date and accurate information is available for future reviews. The program will be launched later this year;

·There also will be an education program to reduce snapper deaths through incorrect catch and release;

·Another review of fisheries management, including an updated snapper assessment, will be held in 2014.

Hi Guys,

Firstly, thanks again for the gear it is much appreciated.

SOMERSET DAM – Over the weekend 20 odd teams headed out to Somerset Dam for a tournament and many fish were caught which was pleasing to see.  Most of the fish were caught up in the sticks casting to the banks.  The winning team were casting their lures up onto a bank in about 15 feet of water and working them down the bank as it dropped away into deeper water.  Jackals, blades and spinnerbaits were proving to be lethal with some fish up to 2kg being landed in these areas. Use your sounder to find these drop-offs in the sticks and if there is some rocky terrain around it will increase your chances of landing a fish. I fished up the other end of the dam where I had found some fish a few weeks earlier. As a result I got a bag that placed me in the top 5 for that session. So there are fish throughout the dam but I would be heading up to the sticks to find a better concentration of fish.

BORUMBA DAM –  Some fish are starting to school in the main basin but they are not yet in large numbers or in large sizes.  To get some better fish target the edges where the water is a bit warmer, concentrate on 10 – 15 feet of water.  Spinnerbaits, jackals and blades in these areas and you should get some success.

LAKE MACDONALD – This dam is starting to really produce some good numbers and now some good quality.  The reports are that down at the 3 ways up against the weeds there are some fish hitting anything on offer.  A capture of 15 fish yielded many fish between 40 and 50 cm. If this area does not fire try down at the runway is shallow-ish water and around the Botanical Gardens. This dam has a reputation of producing large hauls of fish but it is pleasing to see that we are starting to see some large models caught like we did a few years back.

Hope this helps,

Brendan

OFFSHORE – Bit lumpy and windy this week. just had to pick your times to get out there. saturday looking windy but early next week looks the best to fish. off shore this week theres been good snapper, sweetlip and red throat on murphys. some good cobia and snapper on caloundra 12 mile and out wide. good red throat, parrot  and snapper on the top of the banks. inside of the banks on the northern side theres been good pearl perch being caught. big cobia and snapper up on the coffies. plenty of sweetlip and squire snapper on halls reefs.

ESTUARY – Bream and chopper tailor off the rocks at pt cartwright and garfish along la balsa but also not biting as hard as they were the other week. school jew in the cod hole on pumpkinseed coloured  plastics. plenty of flathead from marrochy river mouth to chambers island. the odd jack still getting caught up at bli bli along with plenty of flatties. dart, bream and the odd australian salmon of mudjimba beach. i spoke to a rep this morning and apparently the salmon are everywhere off the goldy. you could walk across them in the seaway he said. up to 6kg fish have been reported and the guys are having a ball hooking them on fly. bit far to go for a aussie salmon but lets hope they come up here as they are an excellent fighting fish but not good on the table.

till next week….   ben

sorry for no report last week i was away fishing the boyne tannum hook up.  ill say fishing cause i wasnt catching much

OFFSHORE – Snapper, sweetlip and coral trout on sunshine. Sweetlip, few snapper and cobia on north reef. spanish mackeral and longtail tuna off coolum. small snapper in close and on inner gneerings. better quality fish are out wider in the deeper water. snapper,sweetlip, parrot on murphys. snapper and some good pearlies out caloundra wide.

ESTUARY – dart, bream, tailor and jew off the beaches. a 86cm (7kg) was caught last night off a secret spot on the beach on a hardy head. awesome fish.  tailor off the rocks at pt cartwright. heaps of garfish along la balsa park region. good flatties up bli bli area. tailor and trevally on the top of the tide at the mouth of marrochy. some good jew in marrochy at night in the cod hole and deeper holes.

heard some news off a bloke this morning that on regular occasions he has seen people keeping jew at 45cm and swearing that is the legal length. peoples its the scaley jew that is 45cm ive never seen one. they tend to be further north. the regular jew we get down here in our estuaries has to be 75CM MINIMUM. Look at mulloway and also black jew they have to be 75cm. fisheries need to get off there arse and check these people out and get some more infomation out to the general fishing public. this bloke fishing hard has been releasing them all back doing the right thing.

till next week happy fishing