People Musn't Complain.

Hi all Tasa members. Please note this is a rant!

I hope everyone has had a nice break. I have been inactive for the last week because we have been staying with family and camping/fishing.

We just got back from a nice two night stay at the Fish River and it was great. Among my dad and I we caught 3 little Cob (all undersize and thrown back) and a small Spotted Grunter (also thrown back)
But what peeved me off was when, as we were packing up, a guy caught a cob no bigger than 30cm and bagged the little guy. After a brief word with him he complained,"Well tell it to the trawlers who kill turtles and sharks and the like."
Well after walking back to camp, my dad and I felt like throwing our bait under the guys' caravan...
The guy said the day before "The river is dead". I wonder why.
Now my dad and I are very passionate about fish. We both started taking part in tagging fish a few years ago with correspondence with ORI.
So now the main rant: I hope you and the guy who caught the fish both have a terrible holiday further.

So please people who eventually finish reading this boring post, please help to conserve and protect our local rivers and seas. Throw back fish that are too small to keep.

I hope everyone has a blessed new year, and stay safe.
Oh and please keep dogs inside, in connection to tonight's fireworks etc.

Best wishes
Firefly

 

I agree fully, most people like to blame ""the other guy" It all starts with you not what the other guy or the big trawlers are doing. Save the whales, harpoon a fat Jap!

 

I agree 100% with you. I work on a catch, record and release principle. With GPS catch location and tag detail (if tagged)

Sent from my BlackBerry 9530 using Tapatalk

 

@Firefly, I share your despair.
a Very bad thing I see happening more every day is people taking up to 20+ fish saying it`s for own use but they end up selling it to people in rural areas.
Take what you ARE going to use and release others for another day`s enjoyment even the BIG ones.

~ Reyno ~

 

+ 1 , I dont fish but totally agree with the principles. it just makes sense

 

+1 from me too, @Firefly... I was raised by fishermen, spent my childhood running around returning prawns to the mudflats... I've caught fish, & still do... but only sustainably. (You shoulda sewed old bait into his ...well, use the old imagination... anywhere small and undetectable will do!)

 

Damn A-hole! I hate it when people do that. I have caught a few fish (White Stump-nose, Shad, Rock Cod) which were too small and put it back. In Velddrift, when the Shad schools come in the river, some of the locals come and catch some of the small ones <30cm and keep them! The minimum size is 30cm, and I think max is 4 per day p/p and they filled BAGS! BAGS full of it! I wanna shove there visstok up there a-hole because its THEM that cause the fish population (near the shore and estuaries) to plummet and then the Gov is forced to set the limitations even worse!

Even worse is when people fish without a license, or kill the annoying fish. You often see blow-fish and sea barbels on rocks and on he shore. People don't want to catch them, and the kill them. They are an important part of the food web and ecosystem too!

 

Well I'm glad now that others feel the same.

Apparently these, when cooked right, can taste awesome. Must try and find the bag size tomorrow- or later today...

 

LOL I wouldn't try that. It has that poisonous spike and looks gross - it's like a sand-shark (those beige, flat stuff that always excite you just to disappoint when you see what it is) that can also be cooked nicely.

 

Catching ones meter size though is not disappointing. They can put up quite a fight on light tackle.

 

Yeah could be true. Once I was fishing form a rock in the sea with very light tackle for kolstert, stump nose and strepies when I hooked one of about 70cm. That was quite fun.

 

i dont personally dont fish but my bro does and always returns undersize one i remember as a kid my mom buying all the undersized and berried crayfish the locals would bring round and take them back to the rocks to release. sustainability is the way to go

 

Faith in humanity restored.

 

I know what it feels like. When I go fishing I can sit there for about 12 hours and catch nothing.Ive been there almost 82 hours and only caught 3 fish. 2 I had to release because they were under size and the one I gave away.

 

i see the destruction in our rock pools and rock shores, there so few shells, small fish and seaweed compared to when i was a kid. i remember snorkling and having lush rocks covered seaweeds and so forth with sea slugs and so much more around. now i'm lucky if i see anything a school of fish. it saddens me greatly. my mom has this poem about a granny telling her grandchild about the wonderful things they'll see in the rock pools only when they get there theres nothings and she says how can she tell her grandchild that adults like her leave cans and hooks and fishing line lying around and have destroyed the undersea gardens. gives me a lump in my throat every time i read it.