GV's 25kg East Alligator monster

Post by **Matt Flynn** » Mon Jul 03, 2006 2:59 pm

The Territory's land-based big barramundi specialist George Voukolos Jr has been braining them again, the latest monster being a 25kg barra taken from the East Alligator River on a Barra Bait lure.

He said he also caught 24 barra over a metre from the vicinity of Bamboo Creek and Browns Creek on the Daly River in the period between the Barra Nationals and the Barra Classic competitions.
"As soon as it got dark and the last boat went, it just went crazy some nights - we were getting a fish a cast and the boofs were like cannons going off,'' he said.

"In the morning, when the first boat arrived where we were fishing, the fish would stop biting and not start again until the next evening. When the barra feed that hard at night it is no surprise that they are hard to catch in the daytime - we would drop livebaits in the same spot during the day and not get a touch, then when evening came it was on again!"

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Tue Jul 04, 2006 8:54 am

Looks like a nice breeder. I wonder what Mr GV Jr did with it? He's been around long enough - he probably put it back unscathed.

guest(chanos) · Post by **guest(chanos)** » Tue Jul 04, 2006 11:26 am

sshhh how can you say a thing like that!!!!!!!!!! shame on you for casting nasturshums on his good character........ hmmmmmmm

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Tue Jul 04, 2006 1:08 pm

wow. im here trying to get through another day and a halfs work before I fly into darwin. im catching up with a mate and planning on hitting shoal bay and if no action there the Daly. Can;t wait.

Post by **Matt Flynn** » Tue Jul 04, 2006 1:16 pm

I have just deleted an anonymous post off this thread.

I am happy for people to post controversial topics but anyone who wants to make claims about anyone on this forum can do so as a registered member and not as an anonymous guest.

G · Post by G » Tue Jul 04, 2006 3:46 pm

Hey Matt, how about a poll on whether to keep or release huge barra like this one - seeing that you're on a roll with polls at the moment?
How about a similar one on whether to introduce an upper limit for barra?
Does anyone know AFANT's stance on this issue?

Shane Doevy · Post by **Shane Doevy** » Tue Jul 04, 2006 5:30 pm

I think we all seem to be forgetting that the fisherman is quite within his rights to keep the fish - dont get me wrong i would return it no question but if i felt like keeping it then i would be quite within my rights to do so.
I understand that it is important to return these breeding fish but until the laws are changed we shouldnt go around bad mouthing people who do decide to keep these fish.
The case of the guy in the paper the other week is a classic - the guy made the comment that it was really dry - lesson learned for him there - i wouldnt have thought that should have taken very much to work out but once agin he was within his rights to keep it after spending his money to go out and chase them.
There are a couple of other issues to consider:
Firstly some of those fish that are caught may not survive to be released - if thats the case then it seems to make good sense to keep it rather than leave it for croc food.
Secondly i wonder if these bigger fish actually dominate there environment and therefore dont allow the smaller fish to grow into larger fish. Now i am no expert but i do know that the Murray Cod will dominate his part of the river and will kill any smaller fish that enter his turf - given the territory the barra cover this may not be an issue?? Any info on this matter would be very interesting indeed.
Thirdly a fish of that size would look amazing if preserved and mounted on display.
Now im sure that the issue of whether to release or keep will be an emotive one and raise lots of comments and discussion. More on the side of catch and release - i reckon and not because people actually think that or not but they dont want to admit that they do going fishing to catch a feed of fish.
We certainly release the bigger ones - i had some visiors up from South Australia in the Finniss 2 weeks ago and the first fish he landed was a 94cm beauty. We released it and i got a great sense of joy watching that mighty fish slip into the depths but it could just as easily have been slipped into the kill tank to fill the esky. We ended up with plenty of fish that day anyway so it was no big deal.
I would love to hear from other forum members what "upper limit" you place on yourselves - i have eaten 80cm fish and they are great.
The important thing to remember is that there is nothing to stop people keeping those fish until a size limit is placed on it. The Murray Cod has a lower and upper limit - that way the smaller and larger fish must be released.
Anyway food for thought - as i said im sure there will be many replies and lots of opinions!! I also agree with Matt re the anonymous posts - opinions are like arses - everyone has one!! -Some you will agree with some you wont - so be prepared to put you name to your posts!!

Shane

max · Post by **max** » Tue Jul 04, 2006 7:00 pm

I think a lot of people are getting too precious about big fish of course it makes sense to release the breeders but you catch it you do what you want with it after all they probably swim around the next corner into a net and get whacked into fillets.

BEAR · Post by **BEAR** » Tue Jul 04, 2006 7:50 pm

well put dovey & max I would agree with what youse said.

BEAR

George · Post by **George** » Tue Jul 04, 2006 9:07 pm

From what I heard about the big barra they are very dominant, and do eat large no's of small and medium barra to boot, that's the reason I've been told is why Qld encourage people to keep the bigger barra in the impoundments. As the sheer quanty of food required to keep a monster like this alive is quite large.
Just what I've heard though.

Cheers

Post by **Matt Flynn** » Wed Jul 12, 2006 10:38 am

No doubt that barra are greedy cannibals - they can eat a fish one third their size.

BarraBeast put two baby barra in his pond and all the guppies were gone in two weeks.