FREMANTLE BOAT TRIP- WESTERN KING WRASSE

 

Fremantle departing Leeuwin Barracks

 

Northwest Blowfish

From Top: Whiting, Butterfish & Western King Wrasse

                          

'With every drop of water that you drink,

every breath you take,

you're connected to the sea.

No matter where on earth you live'

Unknown

 

We docked off at Fremantle (Leuwin Barracks) at 7am in the morning for some serious fishing. The winds were blowing westly and conditions weren't the best as the water was a bit choppy, but we didn't care we just wanted to get out there and have a fish :). We had plichards as bait and I had my trusty, lucky, red fishing rod for the occasion. We journeyed out for 25 minutes until we arrived at a nice fishing spot which had some reefs so we decided to drop anchor and have a fish. I decided to rig up for herring I used size 1/0 hooks and did a running beam sinker. First cast in and we had many bites but the fish just weren't going for the bait after about 30 minutes into fishing I still seemed to have no luck and neither did my friend for that matter. So I decided to alter my rig set up and reduce the weight of the running beam in hopes of catching any fish. I changed the hooks to bloodworm hooks and did a double hook set up I recasted and bang this time I got Lucky. First fish for the day and I was pretty chuffed as I reeled up my fish in anticipation as to what it could be up popped a  Western King Wrasse fish. These fish are mainly found in offshore reefs close to sands and seagrass spots. These fish are interestingly cheeky in my opinion because they travel in groups and the group consists of 1 male and a school of females.....Thats a lota work for 1 male fish!  Like other reef fish they have the ability to change sex to female at any time. So if the male dies the bigger female of the group will change gender to become the new male of the group. This condition is known as 'protogyny'. Wrasse fish are not what anglers normally would go for but they are edible. I personally don't like the flavour of the fish but some people love eating them. The best way to eat these fish are pan fried with skin on. Two wrasse fish to nil later my friend decided we should travel further inshore and try our luck there. We found a nice sand patchy spot and not even 8 minutes into our fishing and I had hooked something huge I didn't know what it was but while I was battling to reel up my line the fish completely severed my line and I had lost my entire rig set up. I was spewing. As I quickly tried to re rig my line my friend spotted a Northwest blowfish also known as a pufferfish. These buggars have horse like teeth and can cause some serious bites. They are pretty aggressive fish and will pretty much go for any food on offer. We encountered 3 Northwest blowfish on our fishing trip and they are definately not shy. The blowy circled our boat for a period of time in the hopes of getting a free feed. It would flick it's fins out of the water as if to say 'Hello, I'm here, feed me'. The northwest blowy that circled the boat would have been about 60cm long but they can get as big as 88cm. We didn't stick around to fish when these buggars popped their ugly heads up. :) And I think that was what cut my line. We journeyed a good 10 minutes away from the location and sourced a better spot. This time I managed to land a whiting, as I went to soak the bag to put the fish in it. The fish slipped through the clenches of my hand and threw itself off the boat. My friend was indeed spewing our only whiting, one minute on the boat and the next minute....gone! But it wasn't all bad my friend finally caught a whiting which we managed to contain in the boat. :)  All up after catching many butterfish and one baby snapper which we had to throw back because it was well undersized, we finished the fishing trip with 2 Western King Wrasse, 1 whiting and a butterfish.      

 

  

 



PROTECTING SHARKS AND FISH FOR THE FUTURE!

In W.A they have put in place a new culling shark program releasing drumlines across the coast.  Sharks are the top predators of the marine food pyramid. They play a vital role in the oceans ecosystems as they regulate the natural balance of the ecosystems. The removal of these species which are on the endangered list would alter the ecological dynamics and thus be economically devastating. An example of the ecological domino effect would be fewer sharks would increase the octopus population which would decrease the lobster population. Decimated shark population would also decrease shellfish populations and since shellfish actually filter water the quality of the water would also decrease and the dominos list goes on. It takes 20 YEARS for a shark to reach sexual maturity and produce young ones. To me it's simply messing with the food chain. To put another funamental point across when we go diving, swimming or snorkelling we are going into their territory we are choosing to swim in their environment. So why must we set out to distinct an animal for being in their own territory. Every year more people die of car accidents and bee stings than shark attacks. Does this mean we should stop driving cars on the road and cull bees?
Maybe we need to be more aware of where and when we go swimming to reduce our risks of encounter and be more responsible? Some Anglers might think it's not a big deal but heres a thought to ponder on....If they continue the culling of sharks program into 2015. How much is this going to effect future fishing and the future generation....dissapointed Angler???  
Another issue that has popped up is the approval for coal companies to dump 3 million cubic metres of sludge into the Great barrier reef . A world heritage site which could well be on the 'dangered list' this year.