North Australian FISH FINDER TM forums

Have golden snapper numbers been up off Darwin this year?

No, you are just getting the usual run of fish from early in the year and then it will die back to absolutely nothing by August! This time of year has always been bountiful in my opinion (not as good as it was ten years ago before every one found out about it). The difference is that later in the year you used to be able to get a few but now you get stuff all.

I've got heaps before and after xmas but I think CC might be right about the time of year. Middle of last year was hard to find a few. But I also only have about 2 years of info to go off which is SFA

Lats wrote:I've got heaps before and after xmas but I think CC might be right about the time of year. Middle of last year was hard to find a few. But I also only have about 2 years of info to go off which is SFA

Just a question Lats and no disrespect here in any way. I give credit that you have stated that you have only fished for 2 years but it interests me as to what you call heaps!

In past years fishing Lorna or Fish Reefs, Charles point ect we would call and average day on charter 25 goldies and a mix bag of reef fish. Jewies were tidal and you could just about right it on a callender when you were going to catch them. I know that now when I go out neither of these species are found any were near as prevalent as when I first started doing charters and a good day is 15 fish!

I would say that in the past few years that I have been here the numbers have dropped albeit the smaller Goldie's are still around in large numbers. I usually get 1 or 2 that are of larger fish however lately these have slowly reduced compared to a couple of years ago. I also think that a poor wet season this year may be a contributing factor as there are still some good fish being caught around the reefs.

cuddlescooper wrote:

Lats wrote:I've got heaps before and after xmas but I think CC might be right about the time of year. Middle of last year was hard to find a few. But I also only have about 2 years of info to go off which is SFA

Just a question Lats and no disrespect here in any way. I give credit that you have stated that you have only fished for 2 years but it interests me as to what you call heaps!

In past years fishing Lorna or Fish Reefs, Charles point ect we would call and average day on charter 25 goldies and a mix bag of reef fish. Jewies were tidal and you could just about right it on a callender when you were going to catch them. I know that now when I go out neither of these species are found any were near as prevalent as when I first started doing charters and a good day is 15 fish!

No probs. When I say heaps I mean I have done 3 out of about 5 trips where I have moved on to try and catch something else. I call goldies thick when I get a bag limit in 45mins or so (45-65cm). And on 2 of those occasions I have dead set seen heaps on the sounder. And not just on a single mark but rather spread out like cattle grazing.

Hence my quantifying marks of 2 years of experience isn't really a good base mark to properly answer the question

cuddlescooper wrote:

Lats wrote:I've got heaps before and after xmas but I think CC might be right about the time of year. Middle of last year was hard to find a few. But I also only have about 2 years of info to go off which is SFA

Just a question Lats and no disrespect here in any way. I give credit that you have stated that you have only fished for 2 years but it interests me as to what you call heaps!

In past years fishing Lorna or Fish Reefs, Charles point ect we would call and average day on charter 25 goldies and a mix bag of reef fish. Jewies were tidal and you could just about right it on a callender when you were going to catch them. I know that now when I go out neither of these species are found any were near as prevalent as when I first started doing charters and a good day is 15 fish!

No probs. When I say heaps I mean I have done 3 out of about 5 trips where I have moved on to try and catch something else. I call goldies thick when I get a bag limit in 45mins or so (45-65cm). And on 2 of those occasions I have dead set seen heaps on the sounder. And not just on a single mark but rather spread out like cattle grazing.

Hence my quantifying marks of 2 years of experience isn't really a good base mark to properly answer the question

Read todays paper and Craig Grovenor made a VERY good point I thought. He suggested that because of the poor wet seaon and hence runoff into the sea, the larger snapper have had to come in closer to feed as the runoff and food has not pushed out as far into the sea for as long as it usually does hence the fish have come in closer to feed and breed.
It makes sense to me, so I wouldnt think there are more snapper, the are normally out further than most trailer boat can go but this year they have came to us rather than us to them. So we actually maybe eating into more of the breeders than ever before, just a thought.
Great point you made today Craig.

Cheers David Attenborogh.

Lats wrote:

cuddlescooper wrote:

Lats wrote:I've got heaps before and after xmas but I think CC might be right about the time of year. Middle of last year was hard to find a few. But I also only have about 2 years of info to go off which is SFA

Just a question Lats and no disrespect here in any way. I give credit that you have stated that you have only fished for 2 years but it interests me as to what you call heaps!

In past years fishing Lorna or Fish Reefs, Charles point ect we would call and average day on charter 25 goldies and a mix bag of reef fish. Jewies were tidal and you could just about right it on a callender when you were going to catch them. I know that now when I go out neither of these species are found any were near as prevalent as when I first started doing charters and a good day is 15 fish!

No probs. When I say heaps I mean I have done 3 out of about 5 trips where I have moved on to try and catch something else. I call goldies thick when I get a bag limit in 45mins or so (45-65cm). And on 2 of those occasions I have dead set seen heaps on the sounder. And not just on a single mark but rather spread out like cattle grazing.

Hence my quantifying marks of 2 years of experience isn't really a good base mark to properly answer the question

Cheers Lats. If you are getting your bag in under an hour of fish of that size, well fishing is good!