What do eastern king prawns, snapper, and blue swimmer crabs have in common? They are all part of our monitoring program for sustainable fisheries. Over the next two months, our monitoring team will be at sea for their fishery-independent beam trawl survey targeting juvenile eastern king prawns, snapper and blue swimmer crabs. The survey will cover areas from K’gari (Fraser …

Abusive fisher on the Manning River gets an expensive lesson! On the 28th September 2021 Fisheries Officers were patrolling the Manning River in the Wallis Lake District on the Mid-North Coast of NSW. Fisheries Officers observed two illegal nets, one cast net and one monofilament net, on the banks of the river. While seizing the nets a man came down …

Inshore/Offshore With the weather not playing the game this week not as many people have had the chance to head offshore in chase of some esky-filling fish. We have had some small weather windows which has seen the die hard anglers heading out for a short period of time whilst the weather allowed. The coral trout, sweetlip and tusk fish have …

Wet ‘n wild weather Finally, we are at the end of what has been a wild ride weather wise this month. Only a few days ago, the local area got smashed by big storms and another drenching. Fortunately, things tend to get better after a big wet and the weekend gave many anglers a shot at heading out. With the …

Bundaberg Inshore/Offshore Weather permitting this weekend will be a perfect opportunity to head out along our inshore reefs or out wide whilst most of our rivers are filled with fresh water. Our inshore reefs have been firing full of pelagic fish whilst the bait is plentiful in these areas. Using whole pilchards has been the go on some big trevally …

High tide, grey skies It certainly feels as though we’re in for a wet one. With weather alerts reaching mobile phones across the state, the big wet was predicted to fall and it arrived as predicted. This need not mean that fishing is going to be a bad thing, as this can make it excellent if you know where to …

Last week, a Murwillumbah man was found guilty of two charges of abusing a Fisheries Officer after posting himself on social media using offensive and abusive language towards a NSW Fisheries Officer. He now has a conviction and must pay almost $4000 in fines and costs as a result of his behaviour. Everyone is entitled to courtesy and respect while …

Great news for Bundaberg fishers! Recent monitoring at the all-water fish aggregating devices (FADs) showed an increase in the number of fish and variety of species. 21 fish species were recorded, including yellowtail scad, red emperor, saddletail snapper, gold spot cod, striped seaperch, Moses perch, purple tuskfish and painted sweetlip. You can help us monitor FADs by providing catch details …

Wow, the thirty-fifth annual Rainbow Beach Family Fishing Classic and Expo in August was a great week. The competition saw some amazing fish weighed in, including a whopping 9.68kg blue parrotfish and an amberjack at 23.095kg. But let’s not forget, this is a family fishing competition, and we all know that ‘the family that fishes together, has lots of fun …

Okuma Barbarian rods – Tackle Tactics Angler requests have seen the Okuma Barbarian specialist bait rod range continue to grow at Tackle Tactics, with the latest additions being a 10’6” and 11’6” model – expanding the range to seven models, from 7’ to 11’6”. The latest additions will be perfect for anglers chasing whiting, luderick, bream and dart, along with …