Let the smaller ones live to fight another day...
Brian McGuire writes:
G'Day, the 2nd of June was for me spent fishing Mornington pier. A nice place to fish, however not much was happening, the odd bite, but that was about it. I did, moments before we packed up, catch a small Aussie salmon, I didnt even know it was on the line 'til I reeled up, but obviously I unhooked and was about to release. Seconds before, I was swarmed by 3 or so other anglers, all with the same question, "can I have it?". Bemused by this, especially since the fish was only about 17cm, I without a whimper released it. Thus receiving some rather vicious looks from the others. After this my mate and I decided to have a look about, see what the others were catching, that's if they were catching anything at all. What we found was quite disturbing, one man had 4 undersized of what I thought were whiting in his bucket, all now dead, another two had small flatheads. What is becoming of fishing today? How can we expect to catch larger fish when the junior stock isn't being released. Learn the etiquette, or dont play, that's what I've always been told. Let the smaller ones live to fight another day!! If you want to take pride in catching a fish smaller than you can eat, take a picture, don't keep it and allow it to die, then later realise that it was a worthless thing to do. I only hope these sort of people get caught by the Victorian Fisheries, heck I guarantee none of them even have licences!
(4 June 2001)


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