Fleurieu Fishing Report - October 2022 - Get the Juice from Bruce
by Fleurieu Fishing and Outdoors 6 Nov 2022 14:13 UTC
Well, all of us fishos are waiting with baited breath (pun intended) for the announcement of whether fishing for Snapper will once again be allowed in waters other than the South East of Australia.
A decision was due to be made in October, but the "science" regarding whether snapper stock is stable enough to withstand a return to fishing has only just been presented to State Government, so who knows when the announcement will be made.
After three long years, Snapper fishing is set to resume early next year, but if it is allowed again what sort of restrictions will be placed on size and bag limits? The rumours are we may be allowed to catch just one Snapper per person which is better than nothing, but one wonders where does it all end? Surely other fish species have been targeted in lieu of Snapper for the last three years, what are their numbers like?
Why does the "science" not include the whole marine eco systems rather than counting the eggs or young of one species which was deemed to be under threat? Surely it's better to have an understanding of the complete picture rather than waiting until the next species becomes threatened and have to go through the process of banning fishing again?
Reports
It's been wonderful to have a few fine Spring days to get out and enjoy some fishing ourselves. At Rapid Bay jetty we caught some large Tommy Ruff, Silver Whiting, Trevally and Sand crabs.
Rapid Bay and Second Valley jetties have both had large Garfish and good numbers of squid being caught in the shallows, Wirrina Rocks and Myponga Beach have also been producing squid. Normanville and Carrickalinga beaches have seen Silver Whiting and Salmon Trout and larger Salmon have been found at Lady Bay.
At the time of writing, there are still schools of large Salmon from Fisheries and Waitpinga beaches. Boaties have done well on the King George Whiting and squid particularly off Rapid Bay. They have also had success catching Snook and Garfish and with finer weather these should become more consistent. The high rainfall and consequential high water level has made shore fishing at Myponga reservoir difficult to cast over the weeds, but kayakers have still landed Redfin and Cod.