Great Weekend

Congratulations to the organisers of the 2009 Gove Peninsular Festival. It was a great day down at Hindle Oval last weekend and many clubs along with the Nhulunbuy Regional Sports Fishing Club enjoyed the day show casing their organisation and activities at the numerous stalls and displays put together by the local clubs. Such events would not be possible without the fantastic support of club members, and the NRSFC is most grateful for the many members who entered the float parade and stayed the day at the static display chatting with potential, new and renewing members of the club. Thanks also to the members who took the time and effort to put their boats on display and answer the many questions from festival public all day long. I’m sure Jason sold Derek’s boat several times over at a bargain basement price !!!!

Festival Fun & Fishing

Camping was my own option last week with the 25 to 30 knots blowing all weekend. These south easterly winds are always about at this time of year, but are always cursed when some good tides come along and fishermen are left by the shore due to rough conditions out wide. Once again some club members headed for the creeks with mixed results. However one long serving member having read the last few reports of the buckets of bait fish hanging around the back of Melville Bay decided to put this scribe to the test. A couple of sailfish later, and Mo was more than happy with the results. I believe these were the first bill fish tagged for the new season. Well done. Still heaps of bait fish in the Bay area so as Mo proved, pop out and drag a bait. You may well be surprised what turns up to have a go at your rig !

International Game Fishing Association NT Division Announcement

The Northern Territory branch of the International Game Fishing Association announced an extension of its annual membership renewal with an addition 25% discount to members. Northern Territory representative for the IGFA, Peter Cox, confirmed the membership drive to raise much need funds for the continued work the IGFA carries out on behalf of all recreational anglers.

“The International Game Fish Association (IGFA) is a non profit fishing organization dedicated to ethical recreational fishing and to the conservation of game fish and their habitats world wide. IGFA has members in over 100 countries and has members of its International Committee of Representatives in countries fishing in the Indian Ocean in, Australia, Indonesia, Kenya, Malaysia, Mauritius, Pakistan, Seychelles, South Africa, Sri Lanka, and Thailand”, detailed Peter. In its latest initiative, the IGFA has recently launched its “Take Marlin off the Menu” campaign. The IGFA is campaigning to have several countries including the USA to have restaurants and fish wholesales remove billfish from their catch, sale and menu lists. “The commonly used reference or name of “Billfish” include Swordfish and several species of Marlin and Sailfish, which frequent many shared oceans of the world. The impact of commercial fishing is taking it’s toll on the Billfish stocks, and with the reduced migratory stocks comes the increased pressure on the available target species for the recreational angler’ tag and release efforts”, mentioned Peter.

Bonus Weekend’s Fishing

Well, we normally complain about the dreaded south easterly winds playing havoc for the fishing enthusiasts this time of year, but last weekend was a bonus weekend of great weather and productive fishing. Several reports of good sized Reds, Golden Snapper, Jew fish, schooling Mackerel and Trevally were reported after the weekend, with the most productive areas including Cape Arnhem, north east of Higginson shoals, east wide of Veronica Island , Brombys island network and outside the last few outcrops of Bonner Rocks. With great tides and weather, it was pleasing to get amongst some steady action and post some good results. Although some of the larger vessels of the recreational fleet were high and dry on hard stands undergoing annual maintenance and antifouling, these anglers jumped aboard trailer boats and got amongst it off shore and beyond.