Itchy anglers focus on fin and snapper outside

Twelve months to the day after Steve Norris opened the account with the first flattie, Mark “Wilba” Williams, tagging program co-ordinator, reports 154 flathead between 70cm and 95cm   tagged.

“Of those we’ve had nine recaptures,” Wilba said.

“The average size tagged was 74cm and that’s a bit lower than the other two areas involved in the tagging program – St Georges Basin and Tuross Lakes.

“Mainly because we don’t get as many of those 90cm-range fish, which reflects fishing pressure in Lake Macquarie and how we have a larger fishing population.

“That in turn reinforces the importance of releasing these larger breeding stock to ensure we maintain an  abundant fishery.”

Information is being collected on the behavioural patterns of these larger breeding flathead so that the stock can be managed sustainably.

One interesting fact recorded so far was the record swim, 41km, of a flathead tagged in the lake that was recaptured on Stockton Beach.

“That was the longest journey of any flathead tagged in NSW,” Wilba said.

If you catch a tagged flathead  (look for the pink tag located just behind the second dorsal) make sure you note the length, location and  date and pass the info on to Fisheries, or your local tackle shop or fishing club so that the valuable information makes it back to the database.

Ramp rage

Anger is brewing amongst local anglers about the state of the Pelican boat ramp.

Its a key ramp for the Lake fishing community but  has been sitting idle for months as council works out what’s going on with repairs.

“The fence went up around the March 6 this year and the old ramp was removed,”  angler Paul Sheppard reported this week.

“It is now a pile of concrete in the park behind a construction fence along with tonnes of steel shutters and no further visible progress,

“The council went through a design and tender process and I believe a contractor was awarded the works based on the original design approved by the council which they are now saying won’t work.  

“So it is back to the drawing board and spend more of the rate payers’ funds.

“It has been three years since we have had a boat ramp at this very popular part of Lake Macquarie and the locals aren’t impressed.”

Paul points out we now have between Swansea bridge and the Marks Point drop over, two public wharves boarded up and closed, one at Swansea and one at Pelican; one operational boat ramp at Coon Island; and one boat ramp at Naru which is silting up and in need of attention with an unsealed access road and no lighting.

“I wouldn’t leave my car parked there,” Paul said. “We won’t even talk about the dredging of the channel.

“We still have construction fences restricting the use of the foreshore from when Milano’s fell in the lake and parts of this has ended up in the channel.

“I’d be interested to hear what the Council has to say for themselves about the constant delays in repairing our ramp.” 

Holiday hit

The school holiday weather turned a bit toxic over the weekend and this week, but it didn’t stop young Alexandra Talbot catching a lovely 26cm bream off Sandbar Beach at Smiths Lakes.

Get Gone

The Department of Primary Industry will hold it’s annual Gone Fishing Day this Sunday, October 14.

DPI will be running a host of events to celebrate our love of fishing and encourage everyone to get out on the water.

Squid video

Aspiring YouTube fishing star Jayden Gilmore is using social media to take fishing to the people.

In 2016 he combined his fishing skills with cinematic leanings to release a Luderick instructional video in which he outlined how you go about catching this species.

We gave it a mention in the Fishing column and   to date it has had  700 000 views.

“Thanks for putting the link out there,” Jayden said this week.

“I now have almost 2000 subscribers and over 1.5 million viewed minutes on my Youtube channel.  Cool!”

For those interested, Jayden has recently published another fishing Youtube video.  

“This one is called ‘How to catch, clean and cook Squid’,” Jayden said.   

“Hopefully we can teach some locals not just to catch squid but to prepare them for a great feed!”

Check it out on https://youtu.be/h1mihOOe0T8.

 Meanwhile, it's head down and tail up for Jayden over the next few weeks as he does his HSC.

“I have a few opportunities on offer after these exams though at this stage I'm not too sure which one I'll be perusing,” Jason said.

Don’t be surprised if some of those options involve fishing.