In this episode of Go Fish Australia, we'll be taking you to some fascinating places.
Cape York Peninsula at the northernmost tip of Australia, the Derwent in Taffy, the Swan
River in Perth, the Hastings at Port Macquarie, the Yarra in Port Melbourne, and Sydney's
Lane Cove River.
I'm going to get it.
I'm going to get the one that got away.
I'm going to get it.
I know I'll get it.
This time I won't let it get away.
It was this big.
How big?
This big.
Well, big enough to make you want to say I'm going to get it.
You can bet it if it takes until my dying day.
I hate it, I'll fade it, I'll hook it, I'll cook it, I'll damn you, Fish, I'm going to
When we go saltwater fishing in Australia,
we have four basic locations.
Ocean beaches, rocky foreshores, offshore waters, and this, the estuary.
An estuary is that tidal body of water between the freshwater reaches of a river and the open ocean,
and is by far the most heavily fished of all saltwater environments.
Estuaries are also the most important grounds for amateur fishermen as well as for the fish themselves.
Now, in this episode we're going to look at estuaries,
what they mean to both recreational and commercial fishing in Australia.
Mmm, lunch.
What have we got on today?
Ah, fresh barramundi. That sounds absolutely wonderful.
Incidentally, where does the barra come from?
It's flown in fresh from the Northern Territory, Mr. Melier.
Northern Territory.
No doubt from Kakadu, know it well.
Yes, sir.
Nice light.
Up there, you've got to be wide awake at the crack of dawn,
plus, know your tides if you hope to bring back a barra or two.
And as the tide drops back, the fishing should start to get better.
We very rarely catch fish on a making tide,
and normally catch fish on the outgoing tide or right on top of the high.
Hang on, that's totally contradictory to what I was told this morning.
They said conditions are ideal with the run-in, you know, the fish will be going berserk.
Well, run-in tide's never any good, so whoever told you that doesn't know what he's talking about.
It's the run-out tide or peak fishing time is the change of any tide,
whether it's dead low tide or dead high tide.
Barramundi is basically a lazy fish and he hates to battle for his food,
so if he can feed on slack water when he can chase the food
and feed when he's got more chance of catching it and using up less energy, he will do it.
You might wonder what would happen if we neglect our estuaries
and violate the natural balance of things.
I think we'd all been through a great deal of trouble.
Definitely. We noticed when we catch brim up in the slower tidal areas
where the tide's not as effective as here, that they're sliming.
And I believe that comes from the warmer environment caused by the powerhouse.
It's only something we've experienced since the powerhouses have been here.
It's only one problem now that more boats than what there is fish around just about.
Years ago, you didn't get your 10 and 15 every time you went out,
you thought something went wrong with the boat.
Certainly with the fishing, I should say.
We still get a lot of fish here, but we work hard.
You put in a bit more time and you've got to be a little bit more specialist fishing for them.
Where you could go out fishing 30 years ago and catch a fish,
today you've got to go at the right time with the right baits.
Now's the time we should get a fish when the tide's just on the slow part of this change.
Those fish around, they should bite now, come in late in the evening.
Don't take a part of him.
Whatever's happened, I think it's deteriorating all along the coast,
everywhere, the fish, the size and the quality of them.
Probably the bit of pollution and the more efficient nets that the fishermen have,
the more likely they are to get caught.
So, it's a little bit of a risk to them.
I think the biggest thing is to be careful about what they're doing.
Probably the bit of pollution and the more efficient nets that the fishermen,
the professional fishermen have today and that,
I think they're more sure of getting their fish with them
than what they did years ago when they only had linen nets.
But I think there's several things that contribute to it.
Perhaps the pollution from out there outwards and speed running up and down the shallow flats and that,
it affects the whiting a bit, but there's still plenty of fish in the lake.
Lots of people say there's nothing in the lake, but, well, a lot of people say that everywhere.
For many years, the industrialisation of our major ports went ahead with little thought
for the preservation of our environment.
Pollution spilled into our harbours and caused these waters,
once the breeding grounds of many species of fish, to be virtually uninhabitable.
In many cases, we've managed to reverse this madness in time to put back in place
that which we had blindly and irresponsibly altered and in some cases almost destroyed.
That's good water. I can't see why they wouldn't be there.
It's only a matter of leaving a bait in there.
It's surprising how clear that water is.
It is clean. We can see down there, I can see down there, about three and a half feet.
Now for the Yarra, that's incredible at the best of times.
We're fishing in an area that's just in its juvenile stages.
The river was really, really polluted a few years ago.
It's taken a time for the fish to get back into the system of doing what they do normally.
They've finished their spawning run in the river, and what happens is,
as the bigger fish move up to spawn, the smaller fish take over the lower reaches.
After the fish have spawned, the bigger fish head back to where the smaller fish were
while they were spawning upriver, and the smaller fish go back up the river.
So just looking at the way it's been on the piers that we've been here so far,
we've been getting a run of smaller fish, which suggests to me that the bigger fish are downstream.
Come on. Now you're there.
I'll hold the... No, lost him. Couldn't strike properly.
While he's there, he'll be waiting for another yabby as soon as I can get one end of him.
I would say that that fish is mine.
Within a couple of minutes, he should be in the boat.
A little bit of a strike here.
We got him. That's better.
Yeah, and I think he's another size... Oh, yeah, well and truly, another size fish.
Come on. Come in here.
That's a boy. And he's doing the right thing too, by even running the reel.
Yeah, this one's size. Okay, now.
Right, yeah, that's a bit better.
Now, he takes a bit of getting out of this position.
That's a better one. We finally got a good one.
Well, we're out at the mouth of the Swan River. They call this the North Mole.
We're actually fishing south across the entrance of the river, if you like.
A bit of a chance at a lot of fish here.
Most likely things are going to be herring. They call Tommy Ruff in the eastern states.
We might get a salmon. We saw a salmon caught here half an hour ago on the other side of the mole,
but this is nice and protected here.
You don't often hear of yellowfin going up rivers,
and I guess it's a bit of a testament to how clean the Swan River is.
They fell a quarter, always about a 16 or 18 kilo yellowfin right over the Perth.
It must be 14 or 15 ks up the river, only a couple of months ago.
You usually don't even hear them in close to shore, let alone up a river.
It's not only industrialisation and pollution that have spoiled our estuaries in the past years,
but also the destruction of habitats such as mangroves and other bankside vegetation.
But at least in some places we've woken up to our mistakes.
This river, like a lot of the rivers coming into the harbour, is quite incredible really,
because 15 years ago it was polluted and there wasn't any good fishing here.
Now this is one of the most active fisheries anywhere in the world,
and the take by the recreational fishermen is quite incredible.
Far exceeds the take of the commercial fishermen.
They're even getting John Dory halfway up the Parramatta River now.
Small snapper and brim and things like that.
There's an incredible number of little baby snapper about that big that are pulled out of here.
And luckily most of them are thrown back in, so they can grow into big snapper for people to catch outside.
The reason for it, apart from the pollution control, is all the boats and the moorings.
15 years ago the boats probably wouldn't have been there,
and the net fishermen would be hauling their net up there on the beach and catching the fish.
Now with all the moorings and the jetties and the marinas, it's just a lot of protection for the fish.
It's exactly the sort of thing you'd put in if you wanted to protect the stock that should be there.
It's true that you can't stop progress, but you can stop a lot of the environmental damaging effects of that progress.
It is through that kind of proper planning, together with a healthy respect for our environment,
that future generations can hope to enjoy the very same things you and I enjoy today.
We get a lot of fish over around the runway extensions and around the Port Botany development itself,
which is an area that's been greatly modified by man.
It's been dredged out and so on, and in some ways the environment's been degraded.
But it also seems to have created a habitat that suits certain species of fish.
For instance, hairtail have moved in there in the last few years, and that's a species that was never very common in Botany Bay.
Travali are caught there in reasonable numbers.
Brim, from time to time, good schools of small chopper tail are around that area from time to time too.
So that's all an area worth looking at, especially for boat fishermen.
One funny comment I had from a very long-time fisherman friend of mine, the fish Botany Bay,
he said maybe the quantity isn't there, but lately he's found that the quality has improved out of sight.
It's always regarded by biologists as a sign that fish stocks can be in trouble when they start to...
when the individual size starts to go up, it can mean that there's less fish there.
So there's not so much competition for food, and the few fish that are left are getting more to eat, so they grow faster and grow bigger.
Luckily, there are still some places left where these problems are on hold.
That's all we want. Look at this fella.
Oh, they're terrific, Jacky, did you see? Look at the size of that.
This is what this place is famous for forever. Look at the size of that little fella.
Let him.
Oh, well done.
I'm going to release this bloke. I find it very hard to keep.
That's called a little Jack. Isn't that beautiful?
You happy to let him go? Yeah.
Too nice, I wouldn't keep one of that fish from here.
Look at that, he's all right. Beautiful. Lovely.
Seen any? Yeah.
Oh, beauty.
Looks like a Jack too.
Oh, nice one.
How great a little fish they are.
Well hooked. He might be a keeper.
Right down the hatch, isn't he?
You can lift him, I think.
He's bleeding, he's a keeper.
Don't put the lure in here, mate. God, you're terrible like that.
I've always got to watch you, I can't relax with you.
He's been bleeding for years too, isn't he?
Look at the set of choppers on him.
Yeah, it's right there in his gills.
He's got the lever on.
These are beautiful, beautiful mangroves.
Beautiful because they're the lifeblood of any healthy estuary,
unfortunately, for the environment.
The importance of mangroves is all too often,
and very sadly, underestimated.
People guilty of this gross ignorance imagine mangroves are only good
for mozzies, mud and sand flies.
Mangroves are vital to any estuary,
and they're not just vital to the estuary,
they're vital to the whole inshore marine system.
The leaves and so on that fall out of the mangrove trees and float around,
and the seeds and so on that fall out of the mangroves
link at the bottom end of the food chain for things like prawns and garfish
and little mullet and so on, which feed all the bigger fish.
So it's really important to have mangroves there.
They also stop the bank getting washed away.
They hold everything together.
They act as a buffer against storm seas and so on and strong winds.
And unfortunately, we're losing a lot of our mangroves.
They're being ripped out and areas are being developed and so on.
They're so vital to the estuary that we've got to try and hang on
to what we've got left of them, especially in an area like Botany Bay,
where there's no mangroves left.
One of the other things that's worth remembering about these mangrove areas
in estuaries is that they not only provide an input of food
and habitat for the estuary system itself,
but it affects the whole inshore and even the offshore fishery.
Little snapper and so on spend their early days in here,
and a lot of the prawns and garfish and so on that rely entirely
on the mangrove system for most of their food supply and for their nursery area
end up out at sea, becoming part of the food chain for big fish,
for tuna, for marlin, for snapper.
So if you take away the mangroves, you don't just take away
what's happening here in the estuary, you're actually denuding
the fishery resource 50, 60 miles out to sea up and down the coast.
Estuaries are absolutely vital in fishing the nursery area
for so much of what goes on in the whole marine food chain.
What Steve is saying is that you can't have big fish
without first having little fish, and you can't have little fish
without first having the natural nursery areas to protect and nurture.
Well, the whole Dermid estuary and the shell of mortars
in the southeast of the state in particular are very important
juveniles of lots of commercially and recreationally important fish species.
One of the most interesting ones is the moorong,
which is the basis of a multi-million dollar fishery on the mainland,
in Victoria and southern New South Wales.
And it appears at least that Tasmania is probably the major nursery area
for the juveniles of that species.
We get one, two and three year old fish that are relatively rare on the mainland,
particularly younger age groups.
Alex assured us that this stretch of the river was carpeted with flaties
and he was right.
The only thing that he didn't mention was their size,
which left a little to be desired.
Music
The undersized flathead are a sure sign that this area is producing well.
So, let's leave Alex to tend his kindergarten while we head north to Naruma
to see what happens when those little fellas are on to graduation school.
Music
Now, you might think this chap is pretty laid back after having just landed a flatty
weighing around seven kilos.
Well, when you consider that this is one of his smaller catches,
back in the real world...
Probably when the tide gets down, the tailor will come,
those little chopper tailors will come in and work along these mangroves too.
Of course, if we're in a good barrow or salmon river,
where that one landed there would be just right
because they'd be there in the shadow and come roaring out on it.
Here we go.
Aboriginal legend has it that a boy and girl from two different tribes
were forbidden to meet, that these young lovers simply couldn't resist each other's charms
and ran off together oblivious to the Godotra man's warnings as punishment
for their impulsive disrespect.
The mangroves transformed into fish and vanished forever
to the estuaries of the Northern Territory.
Their names were Barrow and Munny.
In this part of the country, right on the tip of Cape York,
there isn't a lot of really big barrow here.
We've probably caught over 900 just from this river land.
We've probably caught somewhere in the vicinity of about 20 or 30 of them
that we're close to over 20 feet.
That's gold colours, isn't it?
There you go.
There's another fish they like to catch in these parts, and that's the Saratoga.
It's actually a living fossil, a bit like me,
unlike me, it hasn't changed in around 40 million years,
and it's unique to this and other small pockets of the Gulf area.
Saratoga is a mouthbrooder.
It's relatively few.
Large eggs are hatched in the mouth of the female
where the juveniles stay until ready to fend for themselves.
They're a really good fighting fish.
They put on a lot of aerial acrobatics,
and that's one reason why a lot of people like to catch them on a fly rod.
Beside barrow and Munny, they're probably the most sought after sport fish we have in the north.
There's one.
Because of the uniqueness of the fish,
the Saratoga, which I've caught, are also released.
Or release themselves.
Flip things.
Isn't that a bad little fish?
The river's still in flood.
When the fish can gain access to all those shallow reaches right up underneath the trees,
they're usually up there at the start of the year.
It's a little bit of flood height to get amongst the amphibians, frogs,
and other terrestrial life that they couldn't normally eat.
So until the water begins to drop down,
the fish are not forced out onto these edges here.
It's interesting to note that Gary and his friend weren't the only
who were taking advantage of the high river levels during the wet season.
I'm here at Cape York Wilderness Lodge,
and young Gary is in there and he's playing with a toy crocodile.
Now that may seem a lot of fun, but up here, they're for real.
So be careful.
How are you?
Well, I think we'll let Hoegs take care of the crocs.
After all, he's the expert.
Meanwhile, we'll get back to civilization where the biggest risk
a fisherman is likely to run is cutting his toe on an oyster shell.
This area here is a big shallow bay, and it's covered with oyster leases
that have worked professionally, and it's been only shallow.
It runs off, and at low tide it uncovers,
and there's all weed banks extending out into the river.
It would be the main area on the hastings where,
once the traveling fish arrive, they come and rest on this area,
and they rest in the shallow waters away from predators like sharks,
dolphins, and the other types of fish that would be traveling with them.
People from all over the world come here,
and they're just amazed at just how clean the water is.
The proliferation of fish, it's nothing to just look out at any time
and see even a stingray jump, a school of dolphins go past,
or a swirl of mullet as they go up along the shore.
I think it rivals anything as far as our heritage goes,
something to look after for the kids,
and it's just going to get better and better,
and I think there'll be more protective measures
and awareness at government level that it's got to be looked after.
If we're all willing to take the responsibility,
we can go on fishing and catching forevermore.
Ah!
Now, that's much better.
Next week, we go fish Australia from our rocks and beaches,
and be prepared for a few surprises.
I got a habit, I got a habit.
So at the end of the line, I'm going to have it.
This time I'll prove it was mine.
I'm so sure, now she knows it is.
That she sure enough can bring all shine.
Let me have it, I'm going to have it.
If it takes until the end of time,
I'll day out swing her, defeat her, then eat her.
Damn you, fish, I'm going to steal you.
idovails
For the one that got away
That's a better one. We finally got a good one.
That's a good one.