Reduce wastage of by protecting small and juvenile fish from capture and incorrect handling.

Reducing wastage is a case of ‘prevention instead of cure’. Small juvenile fish or unwanted species caught and released risk being harmed so use techniques that are selective in targeting the size and species you are after.

• Some methods/tackle are better than others for the fishery.  Modern lures such as soft baits, slow jigs or stick baits are good examples of methods that catch legal sized fish on average. They also lip hook instead of gut hook fish more often making survival more likely if carefully handled before release.

• Move location if you are catching mostly undersized fish or fishing in grounds holding predominantly undersized fish.
• Fish actively when bait fishing, staying in touch with your rod or line to avoid gut hooking small and juvenile fish.
• If bait fishing, Target appendage hooks are a great option as they deter small fish and significantly reduce the rate of gut hooking.

NZFN have kindly given permission for FishCare to reproduce this article, originally published in 2014

(…Continued)

One idea that has wide circulation among anglers is that it is best to use plated hooks (as opposed to stainless steel hooks) as they ‘rust out’ of a fish, where stainless will not. Do hooks ‘rust out’ of fish? Certainly most plated hooks will corrode faster than stainless hooks but the surprise is that the longer retention time of the stainless hooks did not mean higher fish mortality.

The problem apparently is that the heavy metals from the hook plating get into the bloodstream of the fish, either directly or via the gills, as the plating dissolves. The studied fish typically stopped feeding, become lethargic, and lost condition. Dark, discoloured wounds formed around the hook site. At least one major hook manufacturer, Mustad, discontinued the use of cadmium finishes as a result of this report.

Consider, on the other hand, that surgeons use inert stainless steel hardware to fix broken bones in humans — screws, plates and the like — that are often left permanently in the body with no detrimental effects. It appears that the often-criticised practice of using stainless steel hooks in lures or baits may in fact be the correct thing to do after all.

Barbless hooks

A study was also done comparing barbed and barbless hooks in the throat region of fish. After 120 days, 80% of barbed hooks were in the same position or had dug in deeper, 9% were loose in the stomach, and 11% were gone. By comparison 52% of barbless hooks were gone, 35% were loose in the stomach, while only 12% were in the original position or deeper. Fish with hooks loose in the gut showed no signs of infection from them.

My own experiences of barbless hooks are that they are easier to set; easier to unhook (an important thing for the fish or if you stick yourself with one); and that I don’t lose any more fish than I do with conventional barbed hooks. Like any other Kiwi fisherman I am not so high-minded that I use barbless hooks all the time. I mostly use barbed hooks, with the knowledge that I can press down the barbs with my fishing pliers anytime that it becomes necessary to avoid damaging undersized fish while unhooking.

The following points were indicated by the studies I read:

• Mouth-hooked fish often shed hooks rapidly
• More deeply hooked fish can sometimes shed hooks but this may take months
• Stainless hooks take longest to shed, but cause less mortality than plated hooks
• Fish can shed barbless hooks around 80% of the time
• Cadmium and tin-plated hooks are implicated in fish mortality due to heavy metal poisoning
• Mouth and lip-hooked fish survive better than those hooked more deeply

Snapper specifics

This last point is an important one as various studies conducted on New Zealand fish have underlined the fact that hook placement is a key factor in the survival of released or escaped fish. In the late 1990’s, local scientists investigated the effects of hooking on snapper. Two papers published were: Investigation of snapper release mortality from recreational line by Jeremy McKenzie and John Holdsworth; and blue cod: Large hooks reduce catch-and-release mortality of blue cod in the Marlborough Sounds of New Zealand by Glen Carbines.

Snapper (in the north) and blue cod (in the south) are the two most highly fished-for recreational species, so the results of these studies are significant. Each study was carried out in prime recreational areas for the specific species at the time: the Hauraki Gulf, in the heart of SNA1, for snapper and the Marlborough Sounds for blue cod. The methodology used was similar: fish were caught by standard hook-and-line methods using bait, with variations in hooking and handling noted. Fish were then kept in holding cages for a period (14 days for cod and 15 days for snapper) with a ‘control’ group of fish, and monitored by divers.

For both species of fish, the key factor to fish mortality was shown to be hook placement. Mouth-hooked fish showed little, if any, mortality. No lip-hooked blue cod died in the study period, and only about 4% of the snapper. It was a different story with fish hooked in the throat, gills or gut, however. Carbines’ study of blue cod showed 25% mortality of deep-hooked released fish over the two-week period, while the figure for McKenzie and Holdsworth’s investigation showed mortality figures of around 75% for deep-hooked snapper.

The blue cod study also investigated how the difference in hook size affected hook location, comparing 1/0 and 6/0 hooks. There was little difference between the two hook sizes in actual capture results, except that about half the cod caught on the 1/0 hooks were gut-hooked (and 50% of these died), while no cod were deep-hooked on the 6/0 hooks, and they all survived. This finding led directly to a recommendation from the Ministry of Fisheries that anglers should use at least size 6/0 hooks for blue cod fishing.

The snapper study did not look at this aspect, but it is probably fair to assume that a similar approach holds true: bigger hooks reduce gut hooking, which equates to a much higher survival rate of hooked and released fish. This means that we can have a much higher survival of released fish if we alter our fishing practices to avoid deep hooking them as much as possible.

Lures and baits

One American study concluded that the use of baited hooks caused higher mortality among returned fish than lures, as baited hooks tended to deep-hook fish more regularly. This was supported by an Australian study showing baited hooks produced deep hooking around ten times more than lures did. Fish tend to strike at lures and are quickly hooked (or missed), rather than having time to swallow them, as they may have with natural baits.

The increasing popularity of soft-bait and slow-jig fishing in New Zealand (especially in SNA1) would seem to be beneficial in reducing released snapper mortality in several ways. First, lures tend to reduce hooking of small fish that must be returned. Secondly, lure use would appear to result in mostly mouth-hooking, with a much higher survival rate. Although a big fish can sometimes engulf a lure, small fish usually cannot if a reasonable-size artificial is used.

Here are some practices to avoid deep-hooking fish:

• Non-offset circle (recurve) hooks result in a very high incidence of mouth hook-ups, which translates into a much higher survival rate of released fish.
• When bait fishing, fish with rod in your hand, not in the rod holder, and strike fish quickly, even if you miss some takes by striking early, to reduce deep hooking.
• Fishing with lures rather than cut baits results in a much higher percentage of mouth hook-ups and less mortality in released fish.
• As a general principle (indicated by the blue cod study mentioned) small hooks are much more easily swallowed by smaller fish which have to be returned, but may not survive. Larger hooks greatly reduce deep-hooking resulting in much higher survival rates. In the case of snapper, a 5/0 or 6/0 should be considered a minimum size.

Combining all of these aspects, it seems that the most fish-friendly way to go when fishing with natural baits would probably be to use barbless stainless-steel circle hooks of 5/0 or more ‑ or use lures, but adoption of any of these aspects – larger hooks, stainless hooks, circle hooks, or lure fishing – will help reduce juvenile mortality.

NZFN have kindly given permission for FishCare to reproduce this article, originally published 2014.

….Continued)

Fish for fish, they produce far, far more eggs than the small ones, too (a three-year-old fish can produce 250,000 eggs, whereas a 10-year-old fish may produce 5,000,000 eggs).

Another side to the coin is that these big old fish have tougher, coarser flesh so are not great eating, with some help required to make them reasonably palatable. It is almost a knee-jerk reaction for many fishermen to say, when a big snapper is slipped into the net (one they can’t bear to release because of its bragging value): “Here’s one for the smoker”.

But if our primary motivation is fishing for the table (as well as enjoying the outdoors, some time with friends and family, and a battle with a fish), then 1-4kg fish produce decent-sized, top-quality fillets and fight well enough on the ‘light’ tackle many anglers now commonly use, making them ideal captures under the new fisheries regulations.

How, then, do we target these desirable, modest-sized snapper, while avoiding the lesser fish, particularly in the inner Hauraki Gulf, and by extension, in other parts of SNA1?

With bait

In a nutshell, bigger baits catch bigger fish. But if targeting some nice pannies in the 1-4kg range say, you don’t want to go over the top with mega baits like big skipjack heads or whole kahawai fillets. What is needed is an attractive (to the fish) bait of a size only a reasonable fish can take in its mouth, which is also robust enough to survive the attentions of small fish worrying away at it for a reasonable period of time.

A common baitfish that ticks all these boxes is the jack mackerel. Called yellowtail by some, these hardy little baitfish are very common in the inshore waters of SNA1, and I like to use them fresh for best results. Small kahawai, trevally (just over the minimum legal size of 25cm) or modest grey mullet also fit this bill, but pilchards are too soft to last the attention of the pickers for long.

After the anchor, the next thing that goes over the side is the berley bomb, heavily weighted and set so it sits about a metre above the bottom, where the currents can run its trail to best advantage (this position may need to be adjusted as the tide rises or falls).

You can start fishing with weighted stray-lines rigged with 5/0-6/0 circle hooks and cut baits (usually strips of skipjack that have been salted to toughen them). Within 30 minutes the berley will usually have drawn a school of jack mackerel (and maybe the odd kahawai or trevally) to the boat, so a dedicated bait rod, rigged with a set of sabiki flies, can easily harvest these for fresh baits as required.

To rig the whole or half mackerel baits, a moderate to heavy stray-line rig (about 10-15kg braid or mono with a 15-24kg mono leader) is weighted with a running sinker on the leader; about 1oz usually suffices. A beak-type hook of 7/0-8/0 is tied on the end of the leader, while a similar-sized circle hook is used as a sliding keeper above this (note that sliding keepers are not IGFA compliant, so you need to snood them on if competition or club rules so require).

A decent-sized mackerel will produce just two baits; I cut them in half towards the back end of the gut cavity. My favourite piece is the head end, as it is tough, robust and contains most of the gut. The gut section of any baitfish is the most popular with snapper and also helps create a good scent trail, but I have caught plenty of good fish on the tail section, too – or, you can use the baitfish whole.

I rig half-fish baits by threading the beak hook through the bait a couple of times to anchor it well, then set up the hook towards the back end of the bait (by the gut) with the point well exposed. Next, the circle keeper hook is positioned on the trace to suit the length of the bait (I wind the leader around the circle hook’s shank three times so the line friction holds the hook in position) before passing the point through the nose of the bait.

 I usually cast this bait a reasonable distance from the boat, back down the berley trail, as the bigger fish tend to hang back a bit. The big, robust bait will often attract plenty of activity from smaller fish, which will rag away  at it, but are not often hooked. I think that this feeding activity helps attract the attention of bigger snapper, which will swoop in and shoulder their smaller brethren aside, before scoffing down the prize. For this reason, it is important not to strike at the initial bites of smaller fish, instead waiting for the big hit.

The hardy bait should be able to withstand a fair amount of attention before needing to be replaced. I normally fish this rod in the holder until it loads up and the drag starts howling. Often these bigger fish will hook themselves, and in the meantime, if you want, you can go on catching the mostly smaller (but still often worthwhile) fish on smaller cut baits.

You can also use small to medium jack mackerel as live baits for snapper (with a useful by-catch of john dory and sometimes even kingfish), but I reckon if snapper are not feeding aggressively, giving them something that they can smell from a distance and don’t have to chase is the best option.

With lures

There is little doubt in my mind that you tend to catch a better class of snapper on lures – whether metal jigs, soft-plastics, slow-jigs, hard-bodies or whatever – than you do using average-sized cut baits. This, I consider, is because little fish are more intimidated by lures and also not physically big enough to engulf a lure in a manner that makes a hook-up a good chance.

This aspect can be further influenced by the size of the lure used. In general terms, bigger lures tend to catch bigger fish (although bigger lures will also usually catch fewer fish – in a standard population pyramid there aren’t as many of the larger ones around as there are smaller ones).

My usual preference in the shallower, inshore spots is for soft-plastic lures. The trick here is to use a lure of the right size that’s also right for the situation. For example, with a lot of small fish around, using 3-inch soft-baits will still see you hooking ‘throwbacks’ all day, so save these little lures for times when the better fish become fixated on tiny prey, such as juvenile anchovies, in shallow water.

However, using slightly larger lures sees the balance swing. Softies in the 4- to 5-inch bracket will help intimidate the little guys, and those that do have a crack usually tend to pull at the soft-bait’s tail and are not often hooked – and you don’t want to catch them anyway with the new increase in minimum-size regulations. Using tougher types of soft-baits will preserve them from the attentions of small fish.

If you want to put all the money on the table, you might try even larger lures (such as 7-inch soft-baits) to target the largest available fish. But remember, if the medium-sized table fish are not feeding aggressively, you are likely to miss out on what might be a useful catch.

Adjusting to the new reality – Sam Mossman

New Zealand Fishing News have kindly given FishCare permission to reproduce the following series of articles (originally published 2014)

New regulations for the SNA1 fishery (North Cape to East Cape) came into force, ironically, on April 1 (2014).

As most of you will be well aware, this involves a reduction in the bag limit for recreational fishermen from nine snapper down to seven and an increase in the minimum takeable size from 27cm up to 30cm. Regardless of the huge unfairness of this measure (when commercial have – yet again – had no quota reduction and are still able take snapper of 25cm, which have not even spawned once … don’t get me started!), these measures are the new reality and we will have to adjust if we are not to be turned into criminals.

One way to approach this – especially for inshore and land-based fishermen who live and breathe pannie snapper – is to adjust fishing methods and techniques to target bigger fish. Indeed, we have to catch bigger fish if we are to keep them for the table under the new regulations.

The upside to this situation is that if we can target bigger fish (albeit a few less of them) then we will probably end up with a similar actual weight of fish for the table as when we were catching more, but smaller fish.

But let’s get this straight: I’m not recommending going out and targeting the big old moochers here. To my mind, a top table fish ranges from a kilo up to about 4kg – fish of about 35-55cm in length. There are techniques to target the real XOS snapper – fish of say 9kg or more – but I rarely employ them these days. I figure these big old fish have earned their retirement and deserve to be left in peace, rather than in pieces. They have proven their survival instincts and growth potential by reaching a ripe old age and large size – these are the sort of fish we want in the gene pool. (READ MORE)

Fishing techniques and snapper survival

By Sam Mossman

As most anglers will now be aware, some months ago the Minister of Primary Industries, Nathan Guy, made his pronouncement on reducing the SNA1 recreational bag limits and increasing the size limit.

Predictably, no one is really happy with the result, and although (surprise, surprise) the commercial industry received no corresponding quota reduction to recreational cuts, there are some positives to come out of the decision regarding measures to try and control commercial fish dumping and juvenile mortality.

The devil is in the detail of course, and many aspects of the changes to commercial practices in SNA1 are short on actual nuts and bolts at this stage. For example, the ‘move-on rule’ will require commercial fishers to move from areas where “a significant portion of the catch is small juvenile fish”. But there is no definition of what a ‘significant portion’ is or what a ‘small juvenile fish’ is (especially considering that commercial are legally allowed to take 25cm fish, a size that most recreational fishermen would consider to be a small juvenile).

I guess we will see in due course how this, and the other new requirements on commercial boats to reduce wastage and juvenile mortality, actually work out. But with the new recreational regulations coming into force on April 1 – April Fools day ‑ it is timely to consider what might be done to reduce wastage and juvenile mortality in the recreational sector as well; after all, every bit helps.

Barbed wire

The hook type and size used is one aspect that can have a large effect on the survival of released fish – and those that are deep-hooked and undersized so must have the line cut and be returned; or break away and escape with a hook left in them. Researching this question I read a number of studies done on hook retention and fish mortality in the United States, Australia and New Zealand. (READ MORE)

Learning to let go ‑ handling and releasing snapper

Sam Mossman continues his series on minimizing snapper mortality as part of the ‘new reality’ in SNA1.

The term Noblesse oblige, roughly translated, means ‘with privilege comes responsibility’. Applied to fishing this concept can be interpreted that if we have the privilege of harvesting fish, so we have an obligation to look after them. Although it is questionable that many of those who see fish as a product and fishing as just a way to fatten their pockets have this principle at heart, I believe that more and more recreational anglers are accepting this precept.

Along with hook type and size (see last month’s feature), an important aspect of how anglers may help reduce mortality of released snapper ‑ and other fish ‑ is in the way in which they are handled prior to release.

The slime or mucus coating on the skin of a fish is its primary defence against infections. Avoiding damaging the mucus (slime) covering on the outside of the fish goes a long way to increasing the survival rates of returned fish.

Here, ‘best practice’ is less clear, but it is advisable to take a conservative approach. As an absolute minimum, wet your hands before touching fish and avoid putting fish on dry surfaces. Many consider that a wet rag, towel or cotton glove is a better way of holding fish for unhooking. Along with reducing damage to the fishes’ mucus covering, this gives a good grip (helping avoid dropping the fish) and also protects the handler from being cut by sharp scales, spines and gill plates. (READ MORE)

FishCare Survey – Results

A big thank you to everyone who completed the FishCare survey earlier this year. We received 671 responses, a pleasing result allowing us to collect information on fisher behaviour and measure over time.

FishCare – The school of best practice aims to educate recreational fishers on how they can handle fish and look after the fishery and marine environment. Recommendations are contained in the best practice guide are available online, and in the media.

More fishers are using the principles in the FishCare guide to help the fishery. Photo: Digital Fish

This is our second FishCare survey, so it provides a useful measure of the reach and success of the FishCare campaign. Here are the notable results of the survey:

1. About 50% of respondents to the survey had read the FishCare guide.
2. More respondents who had read the FishCare guide always or often fished with circle hooks when using bait (68%) , use larger hooks (60%), or move away from an area (76%) to avoid catching small fish.
3. There was also a big increase in fishers using a rubber net or wet hands on fish they released as recommended in the guide.
4. Of all respondents, 86% said they were ‘highly likely’ to change their fishing techniques if it meant more juvenile or undersized fish would survive.