My late grandfather was from the old school. If it grew, he would chop it down. If it moved, he would shoot it. He retired on the NSW South Coast and did plenty of both. When the trees threatened his 180-degree ocean views and he was too old to wield a chainsaw, he started a bushfire. That was in the national park. Views were restored, quick as that. It’s a sure bet our children and our children’s children will also look back at us with a similar enquiring mind. Just what were we thinking? Today’s kids are certainly a lot more environmentally aware than us. They are taught Human Society and its Environment in primary school then Earth and Environmental Science and Marine Science in Years 11 and 12. The latter is described as “an opportunity for the future custodians of this environment to study it and to appreciate its value.” 
  Need I remind you, environmental awareness, sustainability, organics, carbon trading, alternative fuels, and so on are all hot topics. And green groups are on the march, calling for a cessation of many of the activities that our forefathers took for granted and which are ingrained in our generation. 
  But there’s no doubt some practices will come to an end one day. And while you can argue till you’re red in the face, it’s more constructive to take the bull by the horns and implement some change off your own bat. If enough anglers banded together and fished by a strict code then, who knows, maybe we could form our own conservation group? 
  Meantime, the following measures in some way answer the call of environmental groups. Some may seem obvious and doubtless you practise them, but others may challenge the way you currently fish. Give some thought to the future and just maybe our kids will consider us environmental pioneers rather than pirates. 

Forget stainless-steel hooks 

There’s no denying that stainless-steel hooks aren’t great for fish recovery. In fact, environment group Coastcare is angling to have them banned and reportedly has the backing of some heads of Queensland angling group Sunfish. Use chemically sharpened or tin-coated mild-steel hooks instead. Single hooks are best and if you flatten the barbs you can dehook your fish more easily. Wash them after use, dry them and give them a light spray of Canola oil. If a fish is hooked deep, cut the line and set it free. 

Take only as much as you can eat 

When you consider the resources needed just to reach the fishing grounds, it’s a waste to then buy your dinner in the supermarket or local restaurant. This reality has spawned an eating-close-to-home movement across the world. Think of the savings from catching and cooking your own: transportation costs, fuel, packaging and by-catch. Fish to bag limits and, when not applicable – for example, yellowfin tuna in Queensland – adopt the NSW Fisheries regulations. 

Don’t eat the threatened ones 

  Some scientists say bigeye and yellowfin are in danger of being overfished and about 60 per cent of the world’s tuna comes from the Pacific. Greenpeace wants Australians to help ensure the survival of tuna stocks by demanding that retailers and chefs stop stocking unsustainable tuna products such as southern bluefin, bigeye and yellowfin tuna. Which brings us back to the above point: keep a fish or two for your own consumption and you won’t inadvertently be supporting the floating fish factories. If you really want to go green, consider taking albacore or longtail tuna instead of yellowfin. 

Tag don’t bag 

In this day and age, it’s difficult to defend a supposed right to weigh a fish that isn’t a record and no good to eat. So shark fishers are on borrowed time … unless they can turn it around. Tag instead and, where possible, work with research programs such as that which has seen numerous Sydney game fishers pin tiger sharks with satellite tags in recent years. That’s a win-win situation for everyone. 

Keep it clean 

Last month’s column talked about the northern Pacific Ocean where there’s estimated to be more than 100 million tonnes of plastic circulating. Now experts say unless we cut our use of unnecessary disposable plastic items, the ocean dumping ground will double in size during the next 10 years. Most of the refuse comes from boats, too, so leave the plastic bait bags at home and use reuseable Tupperware or tubs instead, dispose of fishing lines ashore, and take all refuse with you when you venture onto the rocks to fish. As the saying goes: leave nothing but your footprints or boatwake behind. 

Save fuel 

The simplest way to cut your fuel use is to troll places or drift fish. This might be difficult during a fishing tournament, but consider leaving the dock earlier and idling out to the grounds, deploying the lures, and then scouting around. Keep your hull, props and running gear clean. And if you are in the market for a boat, then insist on a four-stroke or direct-injection two stroke outboard(s) or electronic diesel engines with commonrail injection. 

Educate don’t devastate 

The ocean is a unique place and there’s a lot you can take back with you: photos, video footage, tall tales and true. But the way we’re heading, our children won’t have any comprehension of it or, at best, a misunderstanding of what it’s really like out there. Do your bit and educate tomorrow’s anglers. Go out of your way to find a place for juniors on your boat. Remember: from little things, big things grow.
 

David Lockwood’s Guide to Fishing – June 

There’s a buzz about the waterfront as word of the annual yellowfin tuna run spreads like wildfire. And, compared with previous seasons, there are some real bottlers among the school-size tuna now being boated off the NSW coast. A jubilant Jack Doyle was among those reporting back from the frontline with a text message after he landed three yellowfin to 53kg on 15kg tackle. The yellowfin were taken northeast of Browns Mountain and, as ever, the bigger fish fell for live baits and pilchards fished in a cube trail. The smaller school fish are more likely to jump on trolled lures. 
  Of course, only the experienced should venture to Browns Mountain, 40 kilometres east-southeast of The Heads and a long way from home should the weather turn turtle. So it’s with some consternation that one often sees marginal trailerboats among the flotilla fishing the mountain. Beware of bad weather in June. 
  The Port Hacking Game Club held a one-day tournament last month to celebrate John McIntyre’s 50 years of game fishing. While only 15 boats fished (no prizes and no entry fee) there were a few nice fish caught. Chill Factor won Capture with a 269kg mako shark on 15kg, Just Chill won Tag and Release with a mako, and John McIntyre’s Stormy Petrel also tagged a mako. 
  Triton went to Heatons Hill for a tagged yellowfin. And Billfisher weighed a 40.9kg yellowfin on 24 as well. Three marlin were raised, one by Triton, one by Two Up and one by Outlaw but none tagged. The presentation was well attended by 100 or more and a great night was had by all. 
  Besides being a hot spot for yellowfin, albacore tuna, and some big blue marlin in early June, the mountain is also firing for blue eye and gemfish. You have to plumb the bottom more than 200 metres below, so it’s a real workout retrieving the fish. But the rewards will keep you in fish during winter. 
  Meantime, we’re hearing plenty of reports that snapper are snapping. The edge of the 40-metre reefs is the place for fish to 6kg, especially if you fish through the dusk. Trevally, morwong, kingfish and flathead are adding colour to the catch. 
  But if you’re too slow landing the flathead, expect the odd angry mako shark to take its cut. Leatherjackets are even more of a problem and some skippers have stopped berleying due to line-snipping fish. Drifting instead in 60-80 metres is producing solid morwong and snapper. 
  Right now, everyone’s talking - and tucking into – tailor, too. One of our most popular angling species, the tailor earns its name from its voracious behaviour and, be warned, its razor-sharp teeth. 
  Travelling in schools of similar size fish – for they are cannibalistic – tailor range from juvenile choppers to adult greenbacks. And it’s the bigger fish, which patrol the headlands, surf beaches and the deep holes in bays, that are thrilling beach fishers and boat-based anglers. 
  Besides being easy to catch, providing great sport with plenty of jumps and headshakes, tailor are first-class eating if bled and kept on ice. Fillet the fish or butterfly them, sprinkle with salt and grill or barbecue over high heat. Or try hot-smoked tailor. 
  Incredibly, tailor have 39 per cent saturated fat compared with 33 per cent for yellowfin tuna and almost twice as much Omega 3. So tailor is top tucker and even better for the ticker. But don’t bother stocking up. The fish don’t keep for more than a couple of days and, if frozen, turn to mush. 
  The beaches have been producing big tailor, as are the headlands around the mouth of all coastal bays and harbours. Hawkesbury guide Greg Joyes has been taking school jewfish to 6kg from the bridges and June is jewfish time in Cowan Creek. 
  There are big bream and Aussie salmon around Broken Bay, both of which will stick around in June. Further upstream, the Aussie bass and estuary perch should be moving down to the brackish water to breed. And trout are about in the mountains. 
  Harbour guide Craig McGill says the kingfish have gone quiet, but others report the fish are taking jigs on the nearshore reefs like The Colours, Murphy’s and The Whale. 
  Luderick are easy pickings at Sow and Pigs and around The Spit, but McGill says flathead remain the best bet in the harbour in early winter. He’s been taking plenty of fat fish on lures from the Rushcutters Bay flats and those in North Harbour. 
  Trevally will become the main catch in the harbour and Botany Bay – use plenty of berley and fish soft baits such as pilchard fillets – while the calamari coming from over the kelp beds would do Jules Verne proud. All told, plenty to tuck into. 
  But play it safe in winter, when the wind and waves can make offshore fishing dangerous. The risk of hypothermia also increases when the cold currents arrive from the south. Make haste in fair weather and take some fish for a winter. 

Contact this column at lockwood@intercoast.com.au
 

Fishing Key — 

B Bream 
Berleying with chopped pilchard and floating lightly weighted pilchard fillets back into the berley using light tackle and fine line. Suitable method from both boat and shore. Hook size No 1 to 2/0. Or try using the latest soft-plastic lures jigged around the harbour wharves, jetties and rock walls on ultra-light flick sticks and 4kg braided line with a 4kg monofilament trace. 

K Kingfish 
Fish the deep, tidal shores or around the harbour channel markers with live or strips or heads from fresh-caught squid. Stagger the depth at which you fish the baits until the school is located. Berley helps keep the fish around your boat. 

LU Luderick 
Herbivorous, with a taste for green weed, luderick are one of the most common fish in temperate estuaries. They inhabit deep rocky shores, sidle-up to pylons and piers and school over seagrass beds. Suspend some green weed bait (collected from the rocks or around ocean pools) about three metres below a perfectly weighted float. Berley with chopped weed and sand. First hour of the run-out tide is best. Bleed the fish, fillet and skin them, and cook and serve as you do veal schnitzel. 

S Snapper 
Fish the inshore reefs in 30-50 metre of water with 6kg-10kg tackle. Anchor up and berley with chopped pilchards and chicken pellets. Drift a half pilchard bait on a 4/0 chemicallysharpened hook back down the berley, with a pea-sized running sinker or just enough lead for the bait to waft down to the bottom. Dawn and dusk is best. 

T Tailor 
An aggressive schooling fish, named for its ability to slash baitfish to ribbons, the tailor is a snap to catch. Troll or cast and retrieve lures around the schools of fish hunting around headlands and estuaries in winter. Or cast a pilchard from the shore or boat during the flood tide and at night around Sow and Pigs or The Spit. 

TR Trevally 
A soft-mouthed schooling fish that generally lays low in the water column. Use plenty of berley, light line and soft baits such as peeled prawn, tuna cubes or pilchard fillets. Drift the bait to the bottom on a 1/0 light-gauge hook. Go slow when fighting the fish or you will tear the hook from its mouth. Bleed and eat fresh.