Sweetwater Fishing Forums
General Category => General Discussion => Topic started by: TristanC on January 21, 2012, 06:33:39 AM
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I went fishing from the bank of Forgan Cove at Lake Samsonvale the other weekend. This was my first real fishing since my kids were born (eldest is 3) and my first time back at Samsonvale in over a decade. Last time I was there tilapia were still a relatively rare catch. This time... well, to say I was shocked would be an understatement.
Between the 4 people there who had a clue what they were doing, well over 60 tilapia came out of a 20-30m stretch in less than 2h. Mostly in the 20cm range, but perhaps 1 in 10 was a big bruiser of a Mozambique mouthbrooder.
Now, the law says that keeping these is a $200k fine, and that they should be either disposed of in bins if available, or buried well above the water line. Given that the bin at the Forgan Cove parking area seems to have gone the way of the dodo, and assuming this was a fairly typical day there, can you imagine what the state of the place would be if the law was followed to the letter? You wouldn't want to get out of your car because of the stink, and the feral pigs would have a bonanza.
I understand the intent behind this law (to remove any incentive to transplant the buggers to new areas) - but given that they're everywhere and in such large numbers, IMHO this law has gone past "unworkable" and reached "utterly farcical".
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They will develop into larger fish Tristan. Won't be too long before you will be hearing reports of them reaching the 500 mm mark.
Lot of fun on light gear. I was trying very small hard plastics for them yesterday to no avail.
Give the soft plastics a go next time I am out.
They have been taken on Fly Rods I have been told. Wet flys, little emerger patterns from what I remember.
Others may be more specific but when I try the Fly rod I will be scenting it up with a little garden worm.
Good fishing.
Gordon
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They will develop into larger fish Tristan. Won't be too long before you will be hearing reports of them reaching the 500 mm mark.
Well, last weekend, fishing the "wild" side of the cove, I hooked a couple of express trains that had me wrapped around the snags almost before I knew I had them - so chances are they're already there.
Nothing fancy for me - live worms hooked up with plenty of loops and dangly ends gets them attacking plenty aggressively enough for my taste.
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An Aboriginal bloke fishing Wivenhoe told my mate that garden worms are the go. He was taking the results home to feed the brood, so I'm pretty sure he had no idea of the legalities. He only knew that they pulled hard and ate well.
JD
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Law aside I don't understand our obsession with wiping out feral animals with a few exceptions like the cane toad. I like fishing impoundments. How many anglers are aware that virtually none of the fish stocked in our impoundments are sustainable. That includes Bass, Golden Perch, Silver Perch and Saratoga. In other words if they were not stocked within a few years there wouldn't be much to catch other than eels and tandans. Not an exciting prospect. Also the concept of catching stocked fish doesn't appeal to me at all. It's like one of those farcical pre-arranged hunts the American big game hunters go on. Tilapia are good eating, put up a good fight, are easily sustainable and are regarded in most parts of the world as a good angling fish. Carp fishing is virtually a science in Europe. (no where near as easy to catch as here). I would rather go to a lake and catch carp and tilapia (or Redfin) than nothing at all or something artificially placed there with an expiry date.
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:popcorn)
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There's just no accounting for the way people think. Lucky we have laws and Fisheries Officers enforcing them I guess.
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Law aside I don't understand our obsession with wiping out feral animals with a few exceptions like the cane toad. I like fishing impoundments. How many anglers are aware that virtually none of the fish stocked in our impoundments are sustainable. That includes Bass, Golden Perch, Silver Perch and Saratoga. In other words if they were not stocked within a few years there wouldn't be much to catch other than eels and tandans. Not an exciting prospect. Also the concept of catching stocked fish doesn't appeal to me at all. It's like one of those farcical pre-arranged hunts the American big game hunters go on. Tilapia are good eating, put up a good fight, are easily sustainable and are regarded in most parts of the world as a good angling fish. Carp fishing is virtually a science in Europe. (no where near as easy to catch as here). I would rather go to a lake and catch carp and tilapia (or Redfin) than nothing at all or something artificially placed there with an expiry date.
G'day Jim Bob,
Appreciate your comments, but don't necessarily agree with them...
Are native fish stocked into lakes like "farcical pre arranged hunts"?. I guess nobody told the fish they're supposed to just jump on the line. I agree that there's nothing like catching a wild fish on a wild river, but we've altered the flow regimes of some many of our systems, many native fish just can't sustain themselves, stocking is the alternative if there's to be any recreational fishing, or in some case species survival eg MRCs, JPs, Maccas. Hell even bass were almost gone from several systems until restocking commenced. Recreational fisheries in lakes & weirs help to take pressure off those remaining wild fishieries, imagine cramming several thousand fishos onto the upper Noosa every weekend like Somerset gets; the fishery would suffer without a doubt.
Saratoga are certainly sustainable, they freely breed in many locations....the list is extensive. Oh and you forgot Australia's most wide spread angling fish Leiopotherapon unicolor that will be left along side tandans.
The existence of tilapia, carp redfin etc is a direct threat to Australian native fishes; often outcompeting natives for food, space & habitat or by possibly spreading diseases like EHN or parasites. Redfin are possibly a contributing factor of the demise of Mac Perch in the upper Murray. Yep the introduced fish may be fun to catch if they're there but I don't think that they're any better than aussie natives or should be given a higher status or priority.
Then there's the fact it's illegal to return carp or tilapia to the water, or to translocate them for that matter..... Anyhow, I'll keep killing any pest fish I catch content that every one I kill help out the natives just a little more.
Cheers,