Rob Morecroft
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Q: After I eat prawns I throw the heads in the lake for the fish to eat. If I put them in the bin they stink for days. Is this OK?
Rose.
A: No, that is not a good idea. These days the supermarkets can acquire product from all over the world. By dropping the prawn heads in the lake you may be introducing a disease to the local fish that we do not have here in Australia.
What I do is to wrap up the prawn heads and put them in the freezer until bin night. You may have to leave yourself a note so you do not forget to put them out.
Rob.
Q: I know it’s a bit of a stretch, but do floods in the Murray-Darling affect the Gippsland Lakes?
Dave.
A: Yes surprisingly, floods in these two rivers affect the whole country. All the Red Gum swamps are filled when these rivers flood and they are exceptional breading areas for a variety of birds.
Large numbers of all types of water birds take advantage of this breading opportunity, and as soon as the food supply begins to diminish the progeny move around the country looking for other areas to feed in. We have already begun to see the effect of this in East Gippsland.
A surprising increase in the Little Black Cormorant population was the first thing I noticed. Since then I have noticed an increase in other birds such as Hardhead ducks, Grebe, Coots, Egrets and a number of Darters around the lake.
Rob.
Rose.
A: No, that is not a good idea. These days the supermarkets can acquire product from all over the world. By dropping the prawn heads in the lake you may be introducing a disease to the local fish that we do not have here in Australia.
What I do is to wrap up the prawn heads and put them in the freezer until bin night. You may have to leave yourself a note so you do not forget to put them out.
Rob.
Q: I know it’s a bit of a stretch, but do floods in the Murray-Darling affect the Gippsland Lakes?
Dave.
A: Yes surprisingly, floods in these two rivers affect the whole country. All the Red Gum swamps are filled when these rivers flood and they are exceptional breading areas for a variety of birds.
Large numbers of all types of water birds take advantage of this breading opportunity, and as soon as the food supply begins to diminish the progeny move around the country looking for other areas to feed in. We have already begun to see the effect of this in East Gippsland.
A surprising increase in the Little Black Cormorant population was the first thing I noticed. Since then I have noticed an increase in other birds such as Hardhead ducks, Grebe, Coots, Egrets and a number of Darters around the lake.
Rob.
Q.
Hi Mr.Morecroft.
We saw on the news that there is algae on the Lakes.
We want to camp near Loch Sport. Would it be safe there ?
My parents think of cancelling the trip
A.
The Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE) are undertaking tests on the Algae in the lake at the moment. I would not make a decision until these results are released. Remember that Loch Sport has access to both the Lakes and the Ocean and there is still lots to do e.g. fishing, cycling, walking, boating.
I have noticed a thinning of the Algae in Lake Victoria around Paynesville over the last week, so it is possible it will be OK by the beginning of the holidays.
Rob
Q:
Someone once told me once the egrets come back then there are fish to catch . Is that true, or just an old fisherman's tale ?
A.
There is often some truth in old fisherman’s tales.
In this dry continent of Australia, many of the rivers and lakes dry up forcing water birds to move about looking for fish to feed on. So if there is an area that has fish in abundance, it is likely that the numbers of birds will build up making the old fisherman’s tale true.
Here on the Gippsland Lakes there is always plenty of water and some fish and shrimp for the Egrets to feed on. This makes the lakes very important to sea birds in times of drought.
Rob.
Q :
I Goggled the legal size of a bream. 25 cm ! That sounds a lot. That means you have to throw almost all of them back .
What is your view on this.
PS : someone in OLDS mentioned your website to us !
A.
The legal size for Bream is 28cm not 25cm across Victoria.
It is important that bream have a chance to spawn before we catch and eat them, so setting the size at 28cm gives the fish approximately 5 or 6 years in which to spawn. It is very important to look after those small fish if you catch one and get it back into the water as quickly as possible with as little damage as possible. You can reduce the number of small fish you catch by using harder baits or lures, as larger fish seem to prefer these.
My view on the 28cm size is that this size is one cm to long. Both Snapper and King George Whiting are 27cm and it would make sense to me to include Bream at this size. This would make it easier for anglers to remember the size without having much effect on spawning.
Rob.
From: Kelvan
Subject: bream population
Rob,
Id like to know your thoughts on the bream population in the gippsland lakes as they are now compared to how they were 20-30 years ago??, I also remember the ease of catching blue nose bream around the channel markers and the abundance of life of not only bream but other species in the back lake area of the lakes. Also most importantly how do you think your commercial fishing operation has impacted the populations?
Thanks
Kelvan.
Subject: bream population
Rob,
Id like to know your thoughts on the bream population in the gippsland lakes as they are now compared to how they were 20-30 years ago??, I also remember the ease of catching blue nose bream around the channel markers and the abundance of life of not only bream but other species in the back lake area of the lakes. Also most importantly how do you think your commercial fishing operation has impacted the populations?
Thanks
Kelvan.
Hi Kelvan.
Nice photo of a seven gilled shark in fishing monthly.
The bream population in the lakes fluctuates wildly, because they are, what is known as, ‘episodic breeders’. In short this means that they bread every year but some years are wildly better than others. It is understood that bream carry one million eggs per kilo of body weight, and they begin breading when they are as small as 22cm long. Because of this it is imposable to compare one decade with another. For instance, the catches of Bream in the 1940, 1950, 1960 were very low and catches did not begin to rise until the mid 1970s, then through the 1980s and into the 1990 catches jumped to previously unknown levels. These levels were unsustainable in a closed system like the Gippsland Lakes.
The spawning after the June07 flood was reasonably good and these fish are now being caught by both recreational and commercial fishers. There also appears to be a large number of smaller fish in the lake at the moment.
When fishing for bream it is better to accept the situation as it is, and gain as much knowledge as possible along the journey.
You mention catching blue nose bream around the channel markers, this is a summer activity. I would head out into Jones Bay on those hot still summer days and cast a peeled prawn, on an unweighted line, to the snags. Those big bream would swallow it and run you all over the place. This was before lures became the norm.
Your question about the commercial effect on the bream population is not relevant as we like you are only allowed to harvest size fish, and at 28cm they have had 4 -6 years of spawning. The real concern is how many juvenile fish are killed in doing this. Unfortunately research a few years ago showed that the recreation bait fishers were devastating on small bream. Thankfully lure fishing for bream has become very popular and this has reduced mortality of released fish substantially. Unfortunately I still see anglers using disgorgers to get their hook back from fish that have swallowed the bait. These fish are unlikely to survive.
The commercial fishery is a multi species fishery, we target a range of fish not just bream.
I have not seen so many fish in the lakes as there is at the moment. The back lake is full of Gars, Bream and Whitebait. Lake Victoria is covered with Mullet, Gars, Whitebait, Whiting and Tailor. The bream at this time of year are hanging around the mouth of the Rivers and a trip up the Tambo with the sounder on will show you what I am talking about.
The heavy rains of the last two years and the nutrients they bring down the rivers are a positive for spawning fish, so there should be good fishing opportunities in a few years.
Regards Rob.
Rose & Rob Morecroft
Beachside Loft at Eagle Bay
1 Bay Road
Eagle Point Vic 3878
ph: 0351566345 / 0409566345
Nice photo of a seven gilled shark in fishing monthly.
The bream population in the lakes fluctuates wildly, because they are, what is known as, ‘episodic breeders’. In short this means that they bread every year but some years are wildly better than others. It is understood that bream carry one million eggs per kilo of body weight, and they begin breading when they are as small as 22cm long. Because of this it is imposable to compare one decade with another. For instance, the catches of Bream in the 1940, 1950, 1960 were very low and catches did not begin to rise until the mid 1970s, then through the 1980s and into the 1990 catches jumped to previously unknown levels. These levels were unsustainable in a closed system like the Gippsland Lakes.
The spawning after the June07 flood was reasonably good and these fish are now being caught by both recreational and commercial fishers. There also appears to be a large number of smaller fish in the lake at the moment.
When fishing for bream it is better to accept the situation as it is, and gain as much knowledge as possible along the journey.
You mention catching blue nose bream around the channel markers, this is a summer activity. I would head out into Jones Bay on those hot still summer days and cast a peeled prawn, on an unweighted line, to the snags. Those big bream would swallow it and run you all over the place. This was before lures became the norm.
Your question about the commercial effect on the bream population is not relevant as we like you are only allowed to harvest size fish, and at 28cm they have had 4 -6 years of spawning. The real concern is how many juvenile fish are killed in doing this. Unfortunately research a few years ago showed that the recreation bait fishers were devastating on small bream. Thankfully lure fishing for bream has become very popular and this has reduced mortality of released fish substantially. Unfortunately I still see anglers using disgorgers to get their hook back from fish that have swallowed the bait. These fish are unlikely to survive.
The commercial fishery is a multi species fishery, we target a range of fish not just bream.
I have not seen so many fish in the lakes as there is at the moment. The back lake is full of Gars, Bream and Whitebait. Lake Victoria is covered with Mullet, Gars, Whitebait, Whiting and Tailor. The bream at this time of year are hanging around the mouth of the Rivers and a trip up the Tambo with the sounder on will show you what I am talking about.
The heavy rains of the last two years and the nutrients they bring down the rivers are a positive for spawning fish, so there should be good fishing opportunities in a few years.
Regards Rob.
Rose & Rob Morecroft
Beachside Loft at Eagle Bay
1 Bay Road
Eagle Point Vic 3878
ph: 0351566345 / 0409566345
