Table of contents for February 2023 in Fishing World

FISH FACTS: WARNING ON IMPORTED SEAFOOD Upon reading an article in Fisho recently on frozen bait, I was struck by how times have changed. Twenty to thirty years ago around 80% of the seafood you could buy in the shops was locally produced in Australia. By Dr Ben Diggles ENVIRONMENT: CHEATING Right on top of Greg Finney’s piece on fishing grubs in the October edition of the mag comes the story of the walleye tournament cheats being busted in Cleveland, USA. By John Newbery…

Many newcomers to rock fishing tend to make the same mistake – they fish with tackle that’s too heavy. All too often I see fishers perch themselves on a ledge and proceed to cast rigs that are weighed down with lead, making them unwieldy and cumbersome. I grimace because I know what comes next. Inevitably, they spend the rest of the session trying to free themselves from snag after snag. Typically they have to resort to breaking the line, leaving their rigs wrapped around the rock and weed below. Not only are they losing tackle at a rate of knots, they’re leaving behind a hazardous tangle of braid, monofilament, hooks and sinkers. I shudder to think how much line and terminal tackle is gracing the sea floor at some of…

Walk-arounds or centre cab boats offer the best of both worlds. Good fishing boats need to offer manoeuvrability for those onboard and walk-arounds allow space alongside the cabin to reach the bow while fishing or fighting fish. Yet, being a cabin configuration, they also offer protection from the elements and even somewhere to sleep. You can fight fish, cast from the bow and still have all of the advantages of a cabin boat. Over the following pages, let’s look at five different walk-around style bots, all different, and all suitable for offshore fishing around Australia. Yellowfin 7000 Centre Cabin The Yellowfin 7000 Centre Cabin is said to be a force to be reckoned with for all offshore applications. A favourite in the Yellowfin lineup, it is heralded as the perfect…

Growing populations and increased fishing pressure from recs and commercials, not to mention habitat loss, has in many areas resulted in dwindling fish stocks. Implementing tougher restrictions on fishos is never popular. Someone inevitably loses and all too often it’s us recs… Take for example the recent decision handed down in Western Australia. Rec fishos now face a six month ban on catching demersal species (snapper and dhufish). It’s a harsh penalty and comes on the back of science showing critically low stocks of these species. WA Fisheries Minister Don Punch was presented with alternatives and predictions indicated these “less severe” rec fishing measures would still allow stocks to recover over a similar period. So why didn’t the Minister go with the latter option? Why would a Government put its…

Is WA Fisheries just kite flying with its proposal to close its demersal fisheries to rec fishing for up to nine months of the year? Is it just a soften up to warn anglers that if they don’t go a bit easy on retaining species such as snapper and baldchin groper tougher restrictions are on the cards? Going by the number of signatures on the petition opposing the move, the tactic has certainly focused massive attention on the issues of species retention, reasonable harvest levels and overall species viability. It would be easier to consider objectively if commercial fishers weren’t still to be allowed to take 375 tonnes per year, admittedly a 50% reduction, but still a helluva lot of supposedly threatened demersal fish. Maybe there’s a broader issue here…

SQUIDGIES REEF WRIGGLER THE all-new Squidgies Reef Wriggler provides anglers with the ultimate soft plastic for aggressive and predatory fish species. The Squidgies Reef Wriggler has been developed in Australia for Australian fishing conditions. These soft plastics feature a ribbed body composition to create a sonic trail of micro vibrations in the water, with a counter balanced Wriggler tail to create an unparalleled action. The “classic” Squidgies nose has been upgraded to a squared-off design and incorporates a centre line along the back of the bait for rigging ease and perfect in-water presentation. A hollow belly design accommodates weedless G-style hooks for fishing snags and heavy cover or can be loaded with S-Factor to make this lure hard to resist for the wariest of reefies. At 175mm in length, the…

FISHING isn’t always about catching. I recently went on a barra fishing trip to Lake Awoonga where we fished for days, and no one caught anything aside from a few catfish and a foul hooked turtle. Impoundment barramundi can be an extremely fickle fish, and when they are shut down there are times when no matter what you do, they just don’t bite. In this era of Instagram influencers there will always be some self-appointed legends who reckon they can still catch them on the lures they are promoting, but the reality can indeed be harsh. What really pissed me off was that we were fishing Lake Awoonga in the few days leading up to the full moon in November, a week that any barra angler would circle on the…

When I was a kid at school, I used to draw pictures of jumping marlin. I was absolutely fascinated by them. 50 years on nothing much has changed! We had our first success in the late ‘70s when we caught a 56-kilo black marlin just east of Cabbage Tree Island out of Port Stephens. I think we lost over a dozen marlin prior to that. We trolled old Fenwick Konaheads on 15 kilo mono and used a section of our jewie handlines for leader with a 9/0 jewie hook jammed up in the skirt. The boat was a 4.5 metre De Havilland skippered by my mate David Elliott. Despite its diminutive size we used in quite rough conditions. We were enthusiastic, a bit crazy and took a few risks. In…

Q IS THERE A WEEDLESS OPTION BESIDES A WORM HOOK AND WEIGHT? JAKE E-MAIL A The worm hook is a great design, originally made for topwater use unweighted, over the years there has been variations on how to weight this for subsurface use. Most of the ways to weight them is successful, however in some applications can make them less snag resistant. I’ve tried a few ways over the years to make a standard jig head weedless when the occasion has arisen with no worm hooks or weights on hand and have had success. Most recently, I have begun attaching soft plastic screw lock to the eye of a jig head, attaching the soft plastic on this then placing the hook in the plastic so its sits like a worm…

Queensland-based commercial photographer, Kenny Smith, is a keen fly fisho and regular traveller. When he’s not travelling or fishing the pristine streams of New Zealand’s South Island (where he owns High Country Cabin – @highcountrycabin), he’s often fishing the local waters south of the Gold Coast onboard his trusty Sea-Doo FishPro. The FishPro allows Kenny to easily tow, launch, and single handedly fish the coastal waters. The area is well-known for its run of mackerel and snapper which are easily accessible along the inshore waters. In addition, there are the common small tuna species, all of which Kenny enjoys chasing and turning into tasty, sustainable meals. “I really like the ease of the SeaDoo as a one-man-craft. I’m usually just ducking out for a solo fish to fill the fridge,…

Fishing our estuary systems with lures is a very popular area of our sport in Australia. Being based on the NSW south coast puts me right in the thick of the estuary scene and, since relocating back here, I’ve made it a mission to get better at tossing all sorts of lures in our local estuaries. I spend a lot of time on the water and in the past 12 months I’ve fished with several “gun” estuary lure fishermen with the idea of improving my skills in finding fish along with lure selection and presentation, etc. I’ve learned a lot and now I’d like to share some of that very valuable information with Fisho readers. Estuary lure fishing can be as simply or complex as you want to make it.…

THE National Carp Control Plan (NCCP) was publicly released earlier this month. The NCCP has examined the feasibility of the Cyprinid herpesvirus 3 (CyHV3 or the carp virus) as a measure to control carp numbers. According to Anthony Heiser from the Canberra Fisherman’s Club, “The delivery of the NCCP is only the first stage of the process to consider the feasibility of any future release of the virus as a biocontrol agent for carp.” Visit canberrafishos.com and follow the links to Andrew’s analysis. It’s essential reading for anyone who fishes Australia’s freshwater rivers or impoundments and cares about the future of native fish and their environment.…

IN recent decades a lot has been written and highlighted about men’s health and particularly our mental health. Those two factors are completely different and we need to understand that. You can be a health fanatic and appear as fit as a fiddle while struggling with mental illness or depression. We can also be mentally stable and well-adjusted to everyday life while suffering serious health issues. Over the past few years I’ve witnessed, several times, the devastation of losing a loved one or mate to depression and mental illness. Most of us know that engaging in some form of regular exercise and eating healthy is a major factor in our well-being. As I’ve gotten older I’ve discovered that there are many things I can’t and shouldn’t do that were fine…

HOT summer days and warm nights bring forth myriads of flying bugs, beetles, and in our part of the world, Black Prince cicadas, all of which means there’s food in the sky for fish, and they become tuned for surface bites. For those that fish with a degree of stealth and patience, surface-feeding fish are nothing new, but rather an integral part of their fishing experience. One of the tenants of angling success is to fish where the fish are. Obviously, fishing where there are no fish isn’t going to work, so we need to use the signs (apart from/or in addition to electronics), to maximise our success, and surface action (with or without birds), is one of the best long-range signs of feeding fish there is. By deliberately scanning…