Marine Parks Madness  

  A massive 103,000-hectare marine park has been proposed for the Sydney coastline, encompassing our most densely populated and modified waterways from the Central Coast to Wollongong, and potentially sending recreational fishing businesses and local boat dealers broke. 
  But the National Parks Association of NSW (NPA) won’t stop there. It wants 20 per cent of all NSW waters fully protected from fishing and, in just two years, is aiming for 33 per cent of all marine parks to be set aside as strictly no-fishing areas. Hang up your rods? You’re kidding. Anglers will fight them on the beaches, rocks and in the harbour. 
  Already, NSW has six large marine parks covering 345,000 hectares – or 34 per cent of NSW waters – 12 aquatic reserves covering 2,000 hectares and marine and estuarine components of national parks and nature reserves. 
  But the NPA wants five new marine parks and extensions to existing parks, including a new 103,000-hectare marine park stretching from the Central Coast to the Royal National Park. And to preclude recreational fishers from wetting a line. 
  Now, to the uninitiated, the National Parks Association of NSW sounds like an authority ... in its own lunchtime. It is a lobby group with a chip and no fish on its shoulder. 
  Marine parks of the scale being proposed would be political suicide for the State Government, which relies on a moderate rather than extreme green vote. The NPA’s radical proposal is doing it no favours. 
  Ironically, since its audacious plans were launched last month, the NPA has managed to achieve what angling bodies have failed to do in decades – galvanise opinion, unite anglers on a common issue and rally the F for fishing troops against them. 
  After all, no one in their right mind wants more marine parks in NSW. In fact, in more than 20 years of smiting the Remington, I haven’t seen an issue spark such fervent response among the otherwise lackadaisical fishing fraternity. 
  Already, the socio-economic impacts from the Bateman’s Bay Marine Park remain profound. Ask locals about ecotourism dollars and you may as well mention pesos. But delve behind the scenes at the NPA and you will find even greater irony. 
  Among the NPA’s key supporters are diving enthusiast Valerie Taylor, whose husband Ron, along with his old diving mate Ben Cropp, spent many years slaughtering grey-nurse sharks with powerheads. 
  Shark Hunters by Ben Cropp is an enlightening read from an unenlightened bunch of braggarts, who shot up large predators, grey nurse, groper, Maori wrasse, giant jewfish, saw sharks, even sea snakes. The guilt these guys now carry must be great. 
  I have also dived with the NPA’s listed supported Jean- Michel Cousteau at his luxury resort in Fiji. After I shared two of his eco dives, he payed locals for fish to flog in his restaurant. Today’s underwater postcard, tomorrow’s tucker. 
  Such contradictions abound. 
  Further, compensation for the proposed NSW marine parks would run into millions. Take my mate on the Central Coast, who relies on the income from guided fishing trips to feed his family. He is in his mid-40s and has a good 20 years of work in front of him. And he is just one of many. 
  Look, the NPA’S proposal is not even based on sound science. Marine biologists, eminent professors and scientists, members of parliament, as well as retirees, knockabout anglers, charter skippers and boating and fishing industries have derided the fanatical proposal. Government funded studies show that angling isn’t a threat to diversity of marine life. 
  But knowing how lobby groups ask for everything and settle for less, and how they have the ear of Government, the issue of marine parks is far from dead. The Labor government needs to take the bull by the horns and denounce the radical plans in the interests of the common man. 
  Our waterways are there to be shared, responsibly of course, not locked away at the behest of inner-city dwelling ideologues and blow-ins in from other countries heading lobby groups. 
  And here’s the biggest mistake the NPA makes – it ignores a fundamental part of the Australian’s psyche: our ingrained love of fishing. There are about 1 million (d) anglers in NSW and many of us are now be wetting lines during our summer holidays, abiding by bag and size limits, and letting the tiddlers go. 
  I was raised on a diet of family fishing, standing alongside my grandparents, my parents, uncles and aunts, cousins and brother on the lake’s shore. We always ate what we caught. We also grew our own veggies. These are traditions I’ve kept alive, along with keeping chickens in my backyard well before that became trendy. 
  They can take me kicking and screaming, but they can’t take away my love of fishing. I’m now passing that on to my two-year-old daughter. And I will fight for her children’s right to catch fish, too. We’re Australian, after all. How unfortunate that the main spruiker for the NPA has an English twang to her voice. She’s on the radio telling me I can’t fish. Sorry, lady, I don’t buy it.

David Lockwood’s Guide to Fishing – January  

  At the time of writing, swarms of small black marlin were swimming down the Eastern Seaboard, as Gold Coast anglers were cockahoop over tagging more than half a dozen blacks a trip. Should their migration continue as expected, this will be a banner year on the blacks off Port Stephens, Sydney and ports to the south. 
  The hot water has also delivered mahi mahi to the fish traps and fish-aggregating devices (FADs). While the fish were small, you should expect bigger ones in January. 
  The key to separating them from the minnows is to use large live baits, preferably slimy mackerel, pitched around the FADs at dawn. 
  I’m not sure if it’s global warming, but the Central Coast has been turning on fantastic catches of sub-tropical reef fish. You used to get a few oddities, but now they are a common catch. 
  Local charter skipper Scott Thorrington scored more than 20 pearl perch to 2kg in one session, kingfish to 8kg on the deep reefs, and he’s found amberjack and Samson fish this month. 
  Small snapper were about when the current eased, but January is usually a month for strong ocean flows. 
  Deep-water bottom fishing is difficult. 
  January is a wonderful time in our coastal lakes and lagoons, rivers and estuaries. All of them will be firing for flathead. The biggest fish always fall for live (poddy mullet) baits, but flicking soft plastics will keep you busy with the succulent kilo-sized fish. 
  This is also the month for blue swimmer and mud crabs. Make the most of your summer sabbatical and set your legal allowance of witches hats and/or crab traps. Those on the coast will score plenty of crays in pots, too. 
  The continuing rains are increasingly inciting prawns to run on the dark moon. Get an underwater prawn lamp, some waders and sally forth for some after-dark fun and a feed of fresh prawns. Keep a few live for bait and you’ll take school jewfish, flathead and whiting. 
  January is a great time for whiting on the beaches using pipis and/or beach worms you have gathered yourself. 
  The summer fish aren’t huge, but sweet and plentiful. 
  Going one better, Mark Turnen from Narrabeen Tackle has been landing trophy jewfish from Sydney’s beaches. Several other beaches produced jewfish to 15kg late last month. Whole squid is the bait. Fish into the night. Jewfish and January are a natural pairing. 
  Inside our bays and harbours is a kingfish bonanza. 
  But there are several classes of fish: either exuberant undersized rats that need to be released, or real beasts to 20kg! 
  Harbour guide Craig McGill and world-acclaimed chef Tetsuya landed kings to 12kg but also lost a 20kg beast boatside. There are chopper tailor about in droves, but January usually sees many more bonito appear around the headlands. 
  January is peak fishing season, with generally settled weather and northeasterly wind from 5-15 knots, pulling away to 20 knots in the afternoons. The southerly busters, which always wrack the Sydney to Hobart sailing fleet, are short and sharp. 
  The holidaying hordes are the big challenge this month. Fish abound, but you need to be out at dawn and dusk – the coolest part of the day – and to strike out that little bit further afield to find fishy waters. Head well offshore and the game fishing can be great. 
  This is also a great time to throw another fish on the barbie, to sit down with the sun-kissed family and enjoy the spoils of your toils, and celebrate the Australian way of life. No matter how hard they try, our love of fish and fishing can never be taken away. See you out there.

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 softplastic lures jigged around the harbour wharves, jetties and rock walls on ultra-light flick sticks and 4kg braided line with a 4kg monofilament trace.

DF Dolphin fish  
Head to the fish aggregating devices (FADS) off Sydney – locations found at www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/fisheries/ recreational/saltwater-fishing/fads/locations – at dawn or fish into the dusk to beat the crowds. Cast live baits at the FADs for the biggest dolphin fish. Smaller specimens fall for pilchard baits, lures and saltwater flies. Great sport and, when kept on ice, delicious eating.

F Flathead  
Drift with whitebait or frog-mouthed pilchards hooked through the eyes and bounced along the sandy bottom. Glue reflective tape to the sinker for added flash and appeal. Early morning before busy boat traffic is best. Or use rubber-tailed jigs flicked around the foreshore.

J Jewfish  
The prize of the estuaries, jewfish gather in the deep holes in our harbours and bays from November through to the end of summer. The fish is most active right on dusk, especially when that coincides with the last hour of a run-in tide. Use large cut baits of mullet, slimy mackerel or tuna, or fresh squid strips, set on the bottom. Berleying with cut fish pieces can help attract the fish to your bait. Ranging from 3-8kg, though specimens to 20kg aren’t unheard of, the general run of jewfish is easily subdued with 10kg tackle and a 4/0 hook.

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.

L Leatherjackets  
Found around kelp beds and foraging off wharf pylons, retaining walls and other submerged structures. Easy to catch with a long-shanked hook topped with peeled prawn or try using the flesh from mussels gathered at the fishing grounds.

MAR Marlin  
In a good season with warm water, marlin pass just a few hundred metres from shore. Troll a staggered spread of assorted small 15cm-long skirted lures at 7-8 knots from 40 metres to 120 metres of water, concentrating around the bait schools, birdlife and current lines. Striped marlin join in the party, along with dolphin fish and sometimes wahoo out wide. And the game fishing is even more fun when you can see the city clear as day.

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 chemically-sharpened 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.

W Whiting  
Warm water heralds the whiting run along the beaches. The sweet-tasting fish are a cinch to catch, the only prerequisite being live worms for bait. Fish in the deep gutters and where there are rips and no surfers. Night sessions can be most rewarding from the harbour beaches.