Sharks

Well, February has arrived again and so far, it’s looking better than the February we had in 2022! Last year, we did a ‘random act of kindness’ on behalf of Robert from RWM Cleaning and Maintenance. This year, Robert has done it again. Fifty packets of prawns were randomly given out to unsuspecting customers – the packets were received by …

AS a charter operator, mess and disorganisation seriously get under my skin. Now, if you know me personally I am one of the messiest people about, and the console of my boat is a clear indication of many moments of mayhem. Lures with rusty hooks stacked on top of each other and hidden underneath is a pair of line clippers that …

WHEN it rains, it pours. And pour it did, with some parts of the Gold Coast shaken and stirred, copping 500mm or more. You can’t deny we needed it though, and boy was it good to hear rain on the roof. With all the creeks and estuaries in flood, the systems are receiving a well-overdue flush. The wet can really change things on …

IF fishing teaches you anything, it’s patience. Patience is a virtue rarely seen in an adult and even more rarely observed in a 10-year-old. Recently, my youngest of three amazing boys achieved what many of us only dream about: his first metre-long barramundi. Having spent many years in the Townsville sport fishing and game fishing clubs, at a time when my …

WELL I was talking about rain and pretty much every creek and river from Hervey Bay to the NSW border was running after the fresh flush in March. It’s great news because the fresh flush was much needed to improve fishing, and the majority of dams have seen good increases or are overflowing. In the short term, fishing options will …

PICKING up where I left off last month on my week-long live-aboard Swain Reefs charter trip with Carlo Fishing Charters, we’d just wrapped up an incredible morning of fishing a glassed-out Great Barrier Reef. This unreal start to the fishing had us salivating, but not for lunch, rather to get back out in the dories and catch more epic fish! …

THE land-based longtail tuna and mackerel season came to a grinding halt mid-May after a couple of days of howling westerly wind followed by large 3-4m swells that lasted for several days. Sure, you may still be in with a chance of a land-based longtail tuna off the walls and headlands during June, however I would take a good supply …

FISHERIES Queensland is reminding commercial fishers of the new requirements for hammerhead sharks, which commenced on January 1, 2018. Fisheries Queensland Deputy Director-General Scott Spencer said the new regulations were designed to strengthen the management controls around hammerhead sharks and avoid the species being listed as endangered. “New logbooks and instructions for reporting shark catch in Queensland had been sent …

[First published on www.abc.net.au] A 65-year-old man who was bitten by a shark while he was surfing on the mid-north coast of NSW is “quite happy” and in stable condition. Police said the man was attacked just off Booti Booti after 9am by a shark later confirmed to be a great white. He managed to swim to shore and contacted emergency …

NSW Minister for Primary Industries Niall Blair recently welcomed the passing of legislation through NSW Parliament with bipartisan support to expedite a trial of shark nets on five North Coast beaches. “Passing this legislation is an important step towards getting the shark net trial in place on the North Coast by the summer school holidays by streamlining the approvals process, …