Fishing Victoria Forum

Victoria’s snapper fishery is world class. Aggregations in Port Phillip Bay and elsewhere in the state have been substantial in recent years. Multiple hook ups are common when a feeding school is located. Sometimes this means that fishers targeting mature snapper reach their bag limit of 3 snapper per person over 40 cm in a short space of time.

If a full day’s fishing had been planned, many fishers are reluctant to leave if the bag limit has been reached quickly;
preferring to continue to catch and release snapper. However this is a risky business as there are a number of identifiable causes of reduced survival of released snapper.

You can help increase the survival of snapper you release by following the key points below:

• *Fish shallow water to avoid barotrauma
  *Leave snapper in the water for release
  *Minimise handling and netting
  *Use circle hooks or lures
  *Release snapper quickly

VRFish has developed a "Snapper Survival" brochure designed to inform and educate recreational fishers on what they can do to ensure maximum survival rate. Click this link http://www.vrfish.com.au/#!fishing-in-victoria/c1mu7 to go to the VRFish website and download the brochure.

Hell I'd love to follow the advice of this brochure....if I ever bagged out on snapper haha

This info should have come out before the Tea-Tree comp.

It was really disappointing to see the hundreds of of dead snapper floating, they had obviously been discarded after being upgraded with a bigger fish.

The Tea-Tree comp would have the most participants of any comp in Vic, yet it's one of the few catch and kill comps left on the calendar. Hopefully it wont be too long before that comp becomes a photo-release comp, a positive step toward sustaining a healthy fish population.

Just my two cents worth...Cheers, Greggo.

greggo wrote:It was really disappointing to see the hundreds of of dead snapper floating, they had obviously been discarded after being upgraded with a bigger fish.

Hopefully it wont be too long before that comp becomes a photo-release comp, a positive step toward sustaining a healthy fish population.

I've done the tea tree 5 straight years and have seen 2 floaters both were still twitching as I pulled them out with a landing net - I think these were badly released fish

just a thought are snapper stocks unsustainable and in an unhealthy population atm

you may find a lot more floaters if guys have to have deep caught fish out of the water long enough to take a happy snap or 2
as it is my guess more of the hundreds of floaters are though bad release practices over upgrading

Personaly i can't stand the people that catch and realese,knowing that that is all they will catch,[undersized fish] but yet they still keep catching more and more and releasing them, just for the sake of catching fish.I went out fishing at Werribee south on the weekend and caught 3 undersized pinkies,and had enough.I went home knowing that is all there was to catch on that particular day.I saw people catch these small pinkies,even though they released them,but the undersized pinkies coped a beating on the rocks in the mean time.They would not have a chance in hell of survival when thrown back in the water.Im sick of it. I have baged out on snapper a few times last year,even when i have baged out in an hour.Just go home or changed location,for different species.Im glad i am not a fish,being tramatied for no good reason.CATCH FISH TO EAT,MOVE ON IF THEY ARE ALL UNDERSIDED FISH,DONT HOOK THEM UM JUST FOR THE PLEASURE OF CATCHING FISH.I have been fishing a long time so i know what im on about.

A lot of people fish for the FUN of it.. It's a sport, nothing wrong with catch and release. Better than blokes that go out everyday and keep there limits every time

If all these released fish die how come we have pretty strong stocks at the moment???? And how come we don't see dead fish floating everywhere? Something clearly doesn't add up mate!!!!
Cam

TooMuch wrote:A lot of people fish for the FUN of it.. It's a sport, nothing wrong with catch and release. Better than blokes that go out everyday and keep there limits every time

This. X2 :bounce:

Reading through these posts I tend to partly agree with all of you.
There are always floaters after/during Tea Tree. However, is it due to upgrades, or is it due to lack of care during release?? Maybe a bit of both.
As for C & R, how can this be a bad thing? The fish go back! The only problem I can see is possible lack of respect or care for the fish leading up to the release. Of which can be addressed through education, eg. the post that began this thread. Just that the promotion of how to release snapper really should have started back in August/September.

I think that is more the problem than bad release people upgrading