swanfish

[fishcatcher]

hi i was wondering if anyone would be entering swan fish in a boat and wouldnt mind another 2 passengers on the boat to help and fish.

[Mim]

We did Swanfish last year and left pretty disgusted.

There were many bream and other fish left to float around dead as people up-graded the fish that they had sitting in their buckets.

I don't think too many of us will be entering this year.

I spoke to Ira about how disgusted I was last year and all he had to say was " Didn't want to say anything as you guys were all psyched up about it". He also said something along the lines of " I knew you guys would do it once and then never again". Well he was right. We (JP, Tildy and I) wont be anywhere near the river on that weekend.

[Chris_Jackson]

I wasn't a breamin' person last year so how does the swanfish affect the bream population after the event?

[BoofHed]

I did it once about 3 years ago and i agree with Mim. The dead fish and the ppl on the swan was just to much. Ther was people from midland to freo all after the prizes, no thought of keeping there fish fresh or alive, i'll never do it again.

[bubba]

I did Swanfish last year with Bear. We ran into JP and Mim for a BBQ on the foreshore. In all honesty that was the best part of it. I wont be fishinh it this year due to the farciacle "live" weighin system.

[Mim]

And the best bit of the BBQ was watching Connor (Tony Ireland's son) trying to catch fish under the Garrat Rd bridge and ending up totally soaked, but hey, we can do that any time without being distressed by what is happening with Swanfish.

[Bear]

To be honest, unless a LOT has changed from last year I won't be doing it again. We were treated pretty much like second class citizens and the equipment used was laughable.

To be honest, I was hoping to see some more effort on the LIVE weigh-in area after commenst made last year, but it looks to be the same format.

After the fish kill, I would have hoped for no DEAD weigh-in for bream..

JMO.

[jimi]

I also entered last year and fully agree with the above comments. I won't be entering either. I noticed that they didn't even mention that they are having a catch and release section in this years promotional material (at least I couldn't find it in newspaper reports on the comp), so maybe they decided to go back to their meat gathering roots......

The weekend does provide a great opportunity to head down to the murray or other rivers though. The crowds are greatly reduced on these rivers as everyone else is out to bag a kill and a prize on the swan

Cheers
James.

[jonesy2]

Yep, i was another one that fished last year . never again !
They push it as a family comp. Both my kids 4 and 7 didnt even get a chance to weigh the fish they caught(2 x small trumperters)

i agree , better time to fish elsewhere

jonesy

[fishcatcher]

i will e mail the melville amateur angling club and ask for a live weigh in as it may do major harm to the bream and the only dead fish should be tarwhine i think they are a pest and also if there are any other breamers who want to email M.A.A.C.this may help a live weigh in.

i never new it was a dead wiegh in or i wont go

[Bear]

Fishcatcher,
It was something that was discussed quite a bit on another forum last year and a lto was promised. Between now and then little has been said and it's hard to tell if anything has been done by the info that has been recently sent out for this year's Swanfish.

If I remember rightly, there was some promise of them getting together with Breamers on how our experiences could help them. If I remember rightly it was Jimi who was promised.

Pity, from our point of view it had the chance to be expanded right across a number of species.

Maybe another year.

[Bear]

Jimi,
I've still got my Swanfish flier and it does have a Catch and Release section.

'Most Meritorious Release'????????

What the !@%#$ does that mean.

No where does it give people a guide as to how to protect their catch either. Why do I feel a little cheated?

[Stu_000]

Who organises this farce? Sounds so irresponsible its not funny. They should be using this event to educate the public, not encouraging the mass slaughter of a large part of the food chain. 'Most Meritorious Release' spare me. You can just imagine the slaughter of Bream under the legal size because people don't know how to handle them properly (or keep them alive). Not to mention the other species that will be caught and killed. I'm not saying people can't catch fish to eat etc, but I wonder how many will end up floating as a larger one is caught, as people have said happened in previous years.

Fishing comps are a good idea for the general public but it's gotta be done right ie educate people, set the rules etc.

Here's hoping that a majority of people will do the right thing

[Shane]

Not to rub anyone the wrong way or anything.

Wouldn't it be better if a large force from this site invade the comp? To show how to catch and release and such. I have never been in the comp so not to sure how it works, but if no-one shows them how to do it right they will do the same thing each year.

The AFC comp should of shown people that it is possible. I guess people are just upset with what one would call the typical "baito" going into the comp.

I assume bag limits apply, so I suppose if you are killing your catch then you either throw it back or hide it and the final weigh in/tally. One can just hope that fisheries will be around checking to make sure people are sticking to size limits and such.

[Stu_000]

Sounds like some good ideas Shane. Perhaps someone(s) from BM or DohDohDoh or WA BREAM etc could get involved and try and "sell" or at least make the ethos that most of us abide by clear to the organisers. Nothing like a bid of conciousness weaved in to the comp to make it more ecolgically sound