Rob Paxevanos: Gold comes in many forms
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AT the age of seven, Byron Boehm had the world in front of him, growing up on the ski slopes of the snowy mountains he was a mad keen skier, until he broke his arm in an accident on the slopes.
While recovering a fragment of bone travelled up one of Byron’s veins and lodged in his brain resulting in a stroke. I understand this is a rare but very serious complication of breaking a bone.
Byron is now 26, he’s been through some rough times sure, but you wouldn’t know it-he has a golden attitude for life and has become one of the region’s best all round anglers.
He has caught most species of fish our region has on offer, and also ventures overseas catching things like Sturgeon and more. His specialty though is trout, and he’s good, really good at knowing where they live.
When I needed some new artificial Trout Baits Tested, Byron had results on the board and the thumbs up verdict within just an hour of trying. Ditto with the high tech Trout quiver lures that have since become a hit with anglers in the region. He’s beat me too trying and proving several more successful products that have ended up on tackle store shelves. Anglers coming home with good fishing experiences on a number of new products this season can say thanks to the experience and expertise Byron has gathered over the years while recovering from his accident.
In order to avoid pain killers and Physiotherapy Byron has used fishing as his therapy wherever possible. He tells me the simple act of getting about and wetting a line has proved to be one of the biggest helps he has had, and while he will never make a 100% full physical recovery, he plans to keep on fishing as long as his body will let him.
Amongst other things Byron also works part time on the council cleaning up rubbish that other un-Australian people have left behind!
When thieves stole most of Byron’s trout fishing gear from his car boot this season, myself and a few others were quick to help him replace it, and he’s now back in action. The lad is gold and an inspiration to many.
Byron reports great fishing for rainbow and brown trout in Lake Jindabyne and also over at Buckenderra on Eucumbene. He also says that anyone wishing to catch a big brook trout has another 3 to 4 weeks to do so and the best spot is the steep part of the upper reaches of the Eucumbene arm of Lake Jindabyne.
SQUID
I’ve been doing a little more squid fishing down at Jervis Bay in between everything else. A few weeks back I mentioned that I found great results on a size 2 Ikado squid jig in the silver or grey colours. This proved to be the case again on this trip.
However when the squid got a little shy in the areas we were fishing we switched to Ikado soft plastic squid jigs and started catching them again. Color and size didn’t seem to matter so much with the soft plastic squid jigs. Perhaps this is because squids throats run through their brain, so they need to chew up their food into fine pieces before swallowing or they get a major headache! And chew they did, the plastics had some serious bites in them-squid have a parrot like beak that can nip through things that many fish can’t.
ESTUARY PERCH AND BASS SEASON OPENS
The start of September saw the opening of the Australian Bass and Estuary Perch Season, where anglers are allowed to keep these species-strict bag and size limits apply, check www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/fisheries or grab the latest copy of the rules from your tackle store.
Interestingly it is great to see that most anglers still release these fish, preferring to keep fish that exist in much larger numbers such as tailor, salmon, snapper, sand flathead, sand mullet and stocked rainbow trout.
Rob Paxevanos
Super trawler banned for now
The Stop the Trawler Alliance welcomes the Federal Government’s laws to prohibit super trawlers in Australia until science and consultation can demonstrate they will not damage our marine life and fisheries.
“Environment and fishing groups welcome the Government’s announcement that they will stop this super trawler and protect our marine life. Community concerns about this super trawler have been overwhelming. We expect to see this bill to result in a permanent ban on super trawlers in Australia following the science and consultation period,” said Rebecca Hubbard, Environment Tasmania’s Marine Coordinator.
“It is excellent to see Australia taking a global lead in addressing the massive impacts that super trawlers have on our oceans and fisheries. Super trawlers like the Margiris are one of the greatest drivers of overfishing - there are too many oversized boats chasing too few fish,” said Nathaniel Pelle, Greenpeace Oceans Campaigner.
“Right from the start we believed that this vessel outdated the harvest strategy. The sheer efficiency of this vessel means that the science needed to be rock solid before any fishing occurred in this fishery - a fishery which is critical to game fishing across Australia”, said Nobby Clarke, President of the Tuna Fishers Club.
“The fact that the super trawler now has no quota to fish in Australian waters means Australia’s threatened marine life gets a stay of execution,” said Tooni Mahto, Australian Marine Conservation Society’s Marine campaigner.
“We’re pleased to see the Federal Environment and Fisheries Ministers have worked together to stop this vessel fishing for now, and preventing the mortality of seals, dolphins and seabirds. The review of the Fisheries Management Act is a significant and very welcome announcement from the Fisheries Minister, Joe Ludwig,” Miss Mahto continued.
“This campaign has brought together 93,000 people from all walks of life including environment and recreational fishing groups. This win just shows that if we work together we can protect the places that we love,” said Ms Hubbard.
“We also look forward to the review to update the fisheries management legislation announced by Minister Joe Ludwig today,” concluded Ms Hubbard.
The Stop the Super Trawler Alliance is made up of over 13 fishing and environment groups united to stop the super trawler fishing Australia waters.
