Pickering Pt 28 Jan 2007

[armagh6]

Here's a few photos of this morning's action on the Fish Hunter at Pickering Pt.
Had a very pleasant day on the water, although couldn't troll far as my motor is stuffed (again!). Caught about 15 small snapper, 1 x 29cm bream and the big beast below of 43cm. I'm not quite sure if that's a kingfish or trevally (has similarities of both, although more slender than a trev). Can anyone confirm? It certainly give me a workout on the 6lb line. I also got busted off on something similiar about 5mins before this one.
cheers
seano!

[imnotafish]

Nice work sean, glad to see u gave pickering a go!!
Reckon the "beast" you've got there is a fine little amberjack...
not enough yella 4 a king and definately not a trev.
when ever i hear the comment "looks like a king and a trev too" i gets 2 thinking its an amber be4 i even see pics, and after seeing them i reckon it definately is.
seriola dumerelli i believe is the scientific name, a close relative to the seriola Lalandi (kingy) and the seriola hippos (samson fish)

Cheers mate
Stef

[armagh6]

G'day Stef, I knew you'd get in quick with a response!
Thanks for the confirmation. I knew it hadn't quite got the kingfish colours. Anyway, is there a size limit on Amberjack, and are they OK to eat?

Also, thanks for the tip about that area. The only thing is the launch spot. I set in at the swimming pool enclosure. It's a bit of a climb down the steps, and when you get to the bottom, the rocks are all covered in oysters and exposed at low tide. Not conducive to launching a dinghy! Do you know of a better launch spot around there?
thanks sean

[imnotafish]

mate dunno about where else to launch, maybe someone else knows?
but they r great to eat the ambers,
similar to kings
dont know if they have a legal size tho - there is nothing at the fisheries site....
u can check
http://www.fisheries.nsw.gov.au/recreational/saltwater/saltwater/bag_and_size
might be the smae as kings?

[JOC00L]

If you were looking for proper launch facilities, ie a ramp, then the closest to that area would be Tunks Park over at Northbridge, Davidson Park at Roseville, or Little Manly which would be a fair hike. Not many streets would give you a real easy access up around that way I would think.

[son of joe]

Can't find a size or bag limit anywhere.

May pay to play it safe and use the 60cm Kingy limit?

The similarity to a Kingfish may get you fined for a smaller specimen.

[pk-fishn]

mate you could try launching around the spit brigde area if its only a kayak.
its pretty close. the snapper have been starting to push the 30cm mark the fish are on the rise in mubers and size so could be promising for next few years.

cheers pk

[armagh6]

Good tip pk. Apart from around Clontarf, do you know of any spots west side of the bridge to launch? Also, I agree, the snapper are getting bigger. Hopefully some will stay inside when the hit the 30cm mark.

[sydfish]

Just spoke to a mate of mine in fisheries and his advice was that there is no legal size limit on amberjack, meaning you can take any sized fish be it 10cm or 1m. There is however the standard bag limit of 20 of any species.
As the amberjack are not a prolific species in nsw size limits have not yet be placed on them. :biggrin:

[armagh6]

Thanks for the confirmation Sydfish, that's good to know. I have also emailed Fisheries, so if I hear back I'll post back what they say. Also asked them about Samson fish.

[armagh6]

Here's the quoted response from Fisheries:

"Thanks for your enquiry. For species not listed in the Fishing Guides and Regulations (excluding protected species) there is a daily bag limit of 20 and no legal length applies. This is correct for Samson fish, also known as amberjack. "