Hawkesbury/Cowan

[glennm]

Hi all,

Fished the hawkesbury and cowan on Saturday & Sunday (day and night). Things were very quiet withy none of the recognised spots like The Vine's, Graces Shore, Bar Point etc producing anything but Tailor or undersized bream. Got a few undersized Whiting and Bream around Bar island. Cowan was a sea of miniture Tailor biting every bait before they even hit the bottom. Must say that I have been fishing the Hawkesbury for over twenty years on and off and have never seen it so dead. The sooner they get the last of the pro's out and make it rec only the better. Anyone have any better luck on the Hawkesbury over the weekend?

[imnotafish]

Must say that I have been fishing the Hawkesbury for over twenty years on and off and have never seen it so dead. The sooner they get the last of the pro's out and make it rec only the better. Anyone have any better luck on the Hawkesbury over the weekend?


great call glen.....

time to start hassling fisheries

[Pukunui]

Yeah i agree,
the fishing should pick up in pittwater aswell with the pros out of the hawkes'

Does anybody know if anything is actually happening?
i heard talk a while back about fisheries collecting data for a marine park in the hawkes' but havent heard anything recently.

[Hamuwaja]

Can we start a petition... Maybe you guys can put them at the FOW counters???
i will sign...

[plfishfingers1]

Yeah i agree,
the fishing should pick up in pittwater aswell with the pros out of the hawkes'

Does anybody know if anything is actually happening?
i heard talk a while back about fisheries collecting data for a marine park in the hawkes' but havent heard anything recently.

I am actually going to a meeting today regarding the extention of commercial fishing in Pittwater.:banghead: :banghead: :_smack_:
They want to open up the prawning again in Pittwater and also extend the trawling months so they are allowed to trawl Pittwater for 10 out of 12 months.
THEY are not Fisheries but the commercial reps for the commercial fishing industry.
We as recreational anglers now purchase our licences for the right to fish and in turn are represented by fishing groups to fight for our rights. These groups will also be attending today and fighting to stop the opening of this waterway to even more raping.
At the moment Pittwater is open to Trawling, mesh netters, beach haulers, fish trappers, crab trappers and bait haulers. I think they must think what the hay, lets rip the rest of Pittwaters weedbeds out of the ground for the sake of some prawns.
One of my major issues is that great promise when Sydney Harbour was closed " There will be no extra fishing effort placed on Pittwater due to the Harbour Dioxin Closure".
Already at the moment, trawlers operate, mesh netters, beach haulers, bait haulers, fish trappers and crab trappers. They really must of thought, what the hay, lets try opening Pittwater back up to prawn trawlers to make certain that all the weedbeds are ripped up, so the Caulerpa weed is free to go wild.
In regards to stopping them from operating in The Hawkesbury or Pittwater I cant see it happening in my lifetime as a charter operator. The only way the commercial effort will stop in these two systems is when we are all locked out by Marine Parks and only allowed to fish sand and mud for catfish and flathead.

Will let you all know how it goes.
Best wishes
plfishfingers

[Hamuwaja]

U get Em Pete...

Seriously, how stupid can these people be...

And why cant they do this out at sea???

[plfishfingers1]

Hi all
Just got back from the discussion.
It was just a discussion not a decision making meeting.
The commercial effort wants to open up an area to commercial mesh netters for a longer period of the year than what is already being used.
It will mean that the deep water area between Longnose Point to Soldiers Point and across to Stokes Point will be open for 10 months of the year instead of 6 months. In short they are already using this area but as a rec fisho we need to gain something if it is going to happen.
The proposal I had was to reduce the area that they are allowed to fish and to have artifical reefs installed in Pittwater that are made recreational only fishing areas. The number of reefs that was proposed was about 5 big reefs and have an exclusion area that will prohibit any commercial fishing at all. No netters, haulers or trappers to be within a very large area.
This of course is only a discussion that was designed to try and find middle ground.
There were a lot of other issues that also have to be looked at before anything will be done. These issues included the number of extra netters that have the potential to use these areas. About 30 have the potential to use these areas and when they use nets of 725m in length with a mesh height of up to 20.
Fisheries have to find out how many are being used and how many are able to be sold by retired fishermen.
It also included gathering information on everywhere that Caulerpa weed is present and an attack plan or strategy for Caulerpa weed.(sit on our hands and wait will be the likely answer)
The other areas that are being looked at is the migration of fish through the netted areas. The capture of undersized fish and the damage to migration of smaller fish on their way to spawning.
Anyway the proposed areas that are being looked at for artifical reefs are from Sand Point to Taylors Point and the deeper water sections near Soldiers Point and Longnose Point. That would basically mean that the pros would be kept out of the eastern side of Pittwater from Barrenjoey Head to the red marker pole at Palm Beach to Taylors Point. Plus one or 2 reefs that would allow people to anchor on the western side of the river.
I hope I didnt fail anyone.
There will be more discussions in the near future, so please, if you have any constructive ideas, please feel free to PM me or write it up here.
Best wishes
Plfishfingers

[garth]

you hardly failed mate.

99% of people (myself included) would not bother to turn up to a meeting.

well done mate.

[Pukunui]

Thanks for the great info pete.
Very interesting (and very frustrating) stuff.
It would be an absolute disaster if they increased the pressure on pittwater.
Not just for fish stocks but caulerpa would be unstoppable if there were more nets being dragged around for longer periods.

Please keep us informed as you hear anything about this subject.

[Hamuwaja]

Also, let us know if you need a rally of support at the next meeting.. i rekon we should get a group of site members together and stand in your support.. As thats basically what you are doing for us... .

Anyways, keep us informed, or make a new post, and lets all get together and fight the buggers off..

[Jewman70]

just on the radio yesterday..they were talking about how our fish stocks are decreasing, and there making an offical "no seafood" or something..i swear some people jsut a have a rocks in there head..pitty is thrashed as it is ffs

[kingyfisher]

We are very lucky to have such a knowledgeable and dedicated Fisho to represent us. I only hope that some other rec fishos give him room to downrig next time they are out,instead of using, then abusing ,his knowledge !

[DONITAL]

IT IS SLOW IN THE HAWKESBURY NOW BECAUSE THEY ARE STILL RELEASING WATER OUT OR wARRAGAMBA TO FLUSH THE RIVER ,ONCE ALL THIS FRESH IS GONE IT WILL IMPROVE. aLSO ON SATURDAY AFTERNOON THERE WAS A PRO NETTING THE VINES.i WAS OF THE IMPRESSION THAT THIS IS ILLEGAL ON WEEKENDS ? nO WONDER FISH ARE HARD TO COME BY.:ranting2:

[stealthmission]

Rec fishers certainly need a say... the commercial guys tend to be so dominating (and aggressive) at such meetings and it is important we work to ensure habitat values are maintains to help fish stocks in the future. Commercial net hauling anywhere near caulerpa beds is plain ludicrous!

[beats]

It is totally illegal to net of trawl on w/ends from memory (have to check) & the dirty dogs are netting accross oyster racks for last 2 years also.
hence why I do not put reports up any more (the pro's read them) but I'm still gettin bream & good buggers too:warp:

[Bass flicker]

We need plenty of fresh flushes from warragamba!! Believe me, it keeps the river healthy!!!

Damn straight about not letting to much go about spots the pro's can get to. I realised early on they read the reports.

They should try getting thier nets into the colo valley, the hill billys would shoot them and bury them on site:rolling laughter: :rolling laughter:

[davidmda]

haha u should of left out the part about the hill billys and see wht happened.

[beats]

Half of them are old pro's anyway !!!

[phytoplankton]

The river was once subjected to regular flushing (basically every time it used to rain heavily) but since there is so much pressure being placed on our water resource as a result of Sydney's growing population, the dam will probably never spill again, and hence the large mad glacier which is slowly travelling down through the system is only going to get worse. There was a time when 80lb Jews were scored in places upstream as far as Wisemans Ferry, Spencer and particulary lower Portland, but not any more!