Nice work team, as much as we all enjoy a feed of fish it's the conservation work like this and catch and release that ensures we will all continue to get productive and enjoyable days on the water .
Great video and I applaud your efforts on the breeding program, But every time I see people fishing in a boat bare foot it gives me the cold shiver remembering my uncle getting a good hook in his foot.
Cheers for that! 👍 They annoy the cr@p out of me a lot of the time (like the groper ban nonsense), but they also do great work, and their people on the ground and at the coal face are excellent. 👍
I would like to see more videos on landbased flathead fishing. I find it difficult finding them consistently in my local areas when people always say they're around!
It can be tough to find them consistently, that's for sure. But keep at it! 👍 Here's a recent video I made chasing them on foot: ua-cam.com/video/iq3krcrn04U/v-deo.html
I think that places that have endured 200 years of intense fishing pressure are getting a bit denuded. And I don't think that the soap from sewage outfalls is helpful to baitfish either. When there's a strong sou'easter with rain, the surf gets frothy and filthy.
I like to look for areas that are what I call half accessible, meaning you can get the car close enough but you might have to bush bash a bit to get in to the waters edge. You usually find areas where nobody goes meaning less pressured fish. Just remember to bring the bushman's though
Good stuff. Yep, I LOVE a feed of flatties, but I'm much more selective these days and limit my kill rather than killing my limit... So good to see more and more people thinking the same way. Tight Lines.
Enjoyed Starlo. I got a black tip reefy and a shovel nose yesterday both beautiful eating. I got a couple of diamond scale mullet Monday lovely eating. I always forget to take the roe out to cook. Have you ever eaten mullet roe? It’s expensive to buy so it must be good?
Cheers! I’ve eaten smoked mullet roe from down south. Delish! I reckon the diamond scale roe would be good too. Nice work on the shark and shovel nose. As you say, both good chewing’! 👍
Still can't believe I saw you on the boat ramp we had a good day out fishing that day 4 bream 1 tailor, 6 flatties biggest one was 48cm. Looks like you did alot better than that love to see the breeding of flatties when I've been land based fishing baby flatties bite you feet it feels really weird
Yes, hard to measure. It would be low to very low, though... single digit percentages, I'd imagine. But still likely a fair bit higher than the survival rate of naturally-spawned flatties, as the fry in the hatchery ponds are in a relatively "safe" environment away from predators for the vulnerable first few weeks of their lives. My guess is that survival of naturally spawned flatties to legal length would be well under one percent, while that of the stocked fingerlings might be more in the order of, say, 2 to 5 percent... Still a LOT of fish when you're talking about stocking 20,000 plus at a time.
Hey Starlo. Would you be able to recommend an App that can help novice fishermen easily ID fish and give size and bag limit information and also record personal best sizes for each breed of fish caught.
We were running jig heads around 5 to 7 grams (say, 1/4 ounce) and roughly 80mm Squidgy plastics (Wrigglers and Prawns). There are a lot of smallish prawns in the system at the moment and most of the fish are actively targeting these prawns - even the big ones. It makes sense to "match the hatch" and use what's currently working best. When we've thrown bigger plastics lately we've caught a lot less fish.
It’s a great program to run but it’s sad to see that Lake Illawarra misses out every time. I guess that what happens when it’s still a commercially fished lake.
I believe the science shows a fair bit of mixing of dusky genetics along the coast, and they've certainly been recorded leaving one estuary system and moving to another, so I'd imagine there wouldn't be a huge amount of genetic variation between, say, a QLD dusky and an eastern Victorian one. That said, breeding programs do tend to prefer their brood stock fairly locally.
@StarloGetsReel Thanks Starlo (if that's really you😃) . Flathead don't strike me as a particularly mobile species, more Labrador than Greyhound, so I love what you and the NSW fisheries crew are doing, and I hope we have a similar program in QLD. I'll give the DPI a call on Monday, if we have a similar program that's excellent, If we don't, expect a GoFund me campaign to launch on Tuesday👍
@StarloGetsReel I met a man once at a bar in Canberra (in the mid nineties) who was about 5 foot 2, might have weighed 6 stone wringing wet and introduced himself as Steve Starling , a fishing journo of renown.. Since then I've found it prudent to check if the Steve Starling that I'm talking to is the real Steve Starling😃
Ahhhh... if only it were that easy, eh? Anyone who actually fishes knows that not all fish (not even flathead!) feed ALL the time. There are many periods when they are simply not feeding at all, and other times when they are feeding fairly selectively on specific forms of prey. Otherwise everyone would catch a fish every single time they dropped a line in the water, and real life experience shows that is definitely not the case... the old adage that 10% of anglers catch 90% of the fish is spot on. Flathead mightn't be the sharpest tools in the shed and the smaller ones, in particular, are amongst our "easier" targets (though still far from a guaranteed catch). Bigger flathead tend to be trickier and more selective. They don't get big by being dumb. Folks who write the humble flatty off as a no-brainer target are missing a LOT in their fishing journey, and are rarely "ten-percenters"... just sayin'... Tight Lines.
Find out more about all the NSW Fisheries stocking programs here: www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/fishing/recreational/resources/stocking
Nice work team, as much as we all enjoy a feed of fish it's the conservation work like this and catch and release that ensures we will all continue to get productive and enjoyable days on the water .
@@Katipo-l7r so true! Thanks. 👍
Wow, that’s an awesome program. Good on you for being involved.
Cheers! 👍 We're stoked to be a part of it!
Great video and I applaud your efforts on the breeding program, But every time I see people fishing in a boat bare foot it gives me the cold shiver remembering my uncle getting a good hook in his foot.
Yep, gotta be careful out there! Especially with sharp hooks. Been there...
Joe’s shirt looks a bit like our club shirt.😊
Almost at first sight thought it was one of our members 😁😎
Love to see the amazing work you’re doing with DPI. Tight lines 😊
Cheers for that! 👍 They annoy the cr@p out of me a lot of the time (like the groper ban nonsense), but they also do great work, and their people on the ground and at the coal face are excellent. 👍
Hadn't seen Jo's "Starlet" shirt before -- that's rather clever 😂
She loves it! It’s her team shirt for the Reel Gauntlet comp (men AND women). Great initiative: www.reelgauntlet.org
Great stuff!
Good onya you 2.
👍
Just checked NSW DPI who suggest in just 3 years these little critters will be around 40cm, which is very fast.
@@espoton yep. Certainly 3 to 4 years. Some could easily be in the 50 or 60cm plus range after 6 years. They have a pretty good growth rate. 👍
I would like to see more videos on landbased flathead fishing. I find it difficult finding them consistently in my local areas when people always say they're around!
It can be tough to find them consistently, that's for sure. But keep at it! 👍 Here's a recent video I made chasing them on foot: ua-cam.com/video/iq3krcrn04U/v-deo.html
I think that places that have endured 200 years of intense fishing pressure are getting a bit denuded.
And I don't think that the soap from sewage outfalls is helpful to baitfish either.
When there's a strong sou'easter with rain, the surf gets frothy and filthy.
Mate i don’t know where you live but just fish close to the shore and bring the lures back towards you slowly and you will get them ok 👍
@ thanks for the tips! 👍
I like to look for areas that are what I call half accessible, meaning you can get the car close enough but you might have to bush bash a bit to get in to the waters edge. You usually find areas where nobody goes meaning less pressured fish. Just remember to bring the bushman's though
I’d like to think most are like myself. We return far more Duskys than we keep.
Good stuff. Yep, I LOVE a feed of flatties, but I'm much more selective these days and limit my kill rather than killing my limit... So good to see more and more people thinking the same way. Tight Lines.
Enjoyed Starlo. I got a black tip reefy and a shovel nose yesterday both beautiful eating. I got a couple of diamond scale mullet Monday lovely eating. I always forget to take the roe out to cook. Have you ever eaten mullet roe? It’s expensive to buy so it must be good?
Cheers! I’ve eaten smoked mullet roe from down south. Delish! I reckon the diamond scale roe would be good too. Nice work on the shark and shovel nose. As you say, both good chewing’! 👍
God bless love youre work 🤜🤜
Thanks, I appreciate it!
Still can't believe I saw you on the boat ramp we had a good day out fishing that day 4 bream 1 tailor, 6 flatties biggest one was 48cm. Looks like you did alot better than that love to see the breeding of flatties when I've been land based fishing baby flatties bite you feet it feels really weird
Yes, that was so cool! Glad you got amongst them. We got lucky getting that bigger one, I reckon. Tight Lines.
It would be really interesting to know the survival rate of the fingerlings. Not sure how that could be measured though.
Yes, hard to measure. It would be low to very low, though... single digit percentages, I'd imagine. But still likely a fair bit higher than the survival rate of naturally-spawned flatties, as the fry in the hatchery ponds are in a relatively "safe" environment away from predators for the vulnerable first few weeks of their lives. My guess is that survival of naturally spawned flatties to legal length would be well under one percent, while that of the stocked fingerlings might be more in the order of, say, 2 to 5 percent... Still a LOT of fish when you're talking about stocking 20,000 plus at a time.
Hey Starla I think you taught starlet too well she is outdoing do now😊
For sure.
Hey starlo, I was wondering if you could do a video centric around Pelagics and what line class and setups to use for them
Good idea. It's definitely on the list.
Thanks a lot and awesome vid!
Hey Starlo. Would you be able to recommend an App that can help novice fishermen easily ID fish and give size and bag limit information and also record personal best sizes for each breed of fish caught.
Have a look at the NSW Fish Smart app.
What weight jighead and plastic size were you using? Looked smaller than I expected for targeting big fish
We were running jig heads around 5 to 7 grams (say, 1/4 ounce) and roughly 80mm Squidgy plastics (Wrigglers and Prawns). There are a lot of smallish prawns in the system at the moment and most of the fish are actively targeting these prawns - even the big ones. It makes sense to "match the hatch" and use what's currently working best. When we've thrown bigger plastics lately we've caught a lot less fish.
Lettssssssgooooo
It’s a great program to run but it’s sad to see that Lake Illawarra misses out every time. I guess that what happens when it’s still a commercially fished lake.
Yep. They’re not going to spend recreational anglers’ licence fees to stock fish for commercial netters to catch and sell… and rightly so!
Youve made me a bit curious, are Dusky population's from, lets say SEQLD and Southern NSW genetically different?
I believe the science shows a fair bit of mixing of dusky genetics along the coast, and they've certainly been recorded leaving one estuary system and moving to another, so I'd imagine there wouldn't be a huge amount of genetic variation between, say, a QLD dusky and an eastern Victorian one. That said, breeding programs do tend to prefer their brood stock fairly locally.
@StarloGetsReel Thanks Starlo (if that's really you😃) . Flathead don't strike me as a particularly mobile species, more Labrador than Greyhound, so I love what you and the NSW fisheries crew are doing, and I hope we have a similar program in QLD. I'll give the DPI a call on Monday, if we have a similar program that's excellent, If we don't, expect a GoFund me campaign to launch on Tuesday👍
@@Smokeyr67cool… and yes I think it’s me. Hang on… I’ll have a look in the mirror… Yep, it’s me! 😝 Tight Lines. 👍
@StarloGetsReel I met a man once at a bar in Canberra (in the mid nineties) who was about 5 foot 2, might have weighed 6 stone wringing wet and introduced himself as Steve Starling , a fishing journo of renown..
Since then I've found it prudent to check if the Steve Starling that I'm talking to is the real Steve Starling😃
@@Smokeyr67 love it!
People these fish are so hungry they feed all the time and they eat anything that is in there range to attack ok ✅
Ahhhh... if only it were that easy, eh? Anyone who actually fishes knows that not all fish (not even flathead!) feed ALL the time. There are many periods when they are simply not feeding at all, and other times when they are feeding fairly selectively on specific forms of prey. Otherwise everyone would catch a fish every single time they dropped a line in the water, and real life experience shows that is definitely not the case... the old adage that 10% of anglers catch 90% of the fish is spot on.
Flathead mightn't be the sharpest tools in the shed and the smaller ones, in particular, are amongst our "easier" targets (though still far from a guaranteed catch). Bigger flathead tend to be trickier and more selective. They don't get big by being dumb.
Folks who write the humble flatty off as a no-brainer target are missing a LOT in their fishing journey, and are rarely "ten-percenters"... just sayin'... Tight Lines.