With excellent catches coming in all over the Sunshine Coast this past month, we have filmed a record number of species from river, beach and offshore. It has been brought to our attention though that some anglers are not following the rules when it comes to bag limits and releasing undersize fish. If this is the case, then as the DPI recently did, it is time to re-educate anglers who are unaware of the current size and bag limits for Queensland.  If you feel you may not be up-to-date or the words “bag limit” and “size limit” are completely foreign, then you must read on!

In all states of Australia, there are limits on the size of fish that can be legally taken and this varies from species to species. There are minimum size limits and also some maximum size limits as often the larger, more mature fish of a species are the breeding females and need to be left alone to continue on the reproduction of a species. Size limits are not just a random number pulled out of a politician’s hat!  There’s much calculation over time based on biological research into each species´ reproductive cycles.

Measuring  the bag limit is as simple as counting the number of legal-sized fish you have caught and wish to take home – there is no excuse for keeping in excess of the legal bag limit and anglers caught doing this are simply greedy.

To measure the legal size (length) of a fish a ruler is a must as guessing is just risky.  The fish needs to be measured from the tip of their snout to the end of their tail (not the inside of the concaved tail but the longest most point). With crabs the measurement is across the carapace, from the widest most tip on the left to the widest most point on the right.  If you unintentionally take a fish that is not the legal size or is unwanted, return it to the water immediately, taking as much care as possible to avoid causing injury to the fish.

Fisheries Queensland is asking South East Queensland visitors and residents to also polish up on fish identification. Queensland Boating and Fisheries Patrol officer Hayley Meiers said misidentification of fish was common for species such as flathead, whiting, javelin, snapper and bream.

"If you catch a fish and aren’t sure what species it is, you might unknowingly be doing the wrong thing - keeping an undersize javelin (grunter bream), when you thought it was a bream for example.

"There are a few simple tips to help you remember the differences between these fish," she said.

• Spot the dot on the mud/dusky flathead - a large dark spot on the tail distinguishes the dusky from other types of flathead.
• Check the dorsal on the trumpeter (winter) whiting - a convex dorsal fin sets adult trumpeter whiting aside from sand, goldenline and northern whiting.
• Silver javelin and barred javelin can often be mistaken for pikey bream. Look out for silver javelin which has numerous scattered dark brown to black blotches on the body and dark blotches on the dorsal fins.
• Barred javelin unlike silver javelin has vertical bars along their flanks. These bars are comprised of spots and blotches. Javelin also ´grunt´ when caught, hence the common name ´grunter bream´.
• Bream are completely silver in colour and have no blotches or spots. Bream have a forked tail unlike javelin. Yellowfin bream have yellow-white anal and pelvic fins.
• Juvenile snapper, commonly known as ´squire´, are often mistaken for bream. The upper bodies of snapper vary from pale pink to reddish in colour mostly with bluish spots.

Once an angler is correctly able to identify a species, the bag and size limits will be easier to follow. It is impossible to remember all legal limits, so invest in an Angler’s Almanac or Tide Guide with fish i.d. included. Listed are the most common species getting caught at present and their size/bag regulations:

If we all abide by the legal size and bag limits while taking it in our stride to educate future generations of angler and ever re-educated our angling friends who may not be quite up-to-date with current regulations, then together we can all fish for the future!

1. Izak Lefton-Bennet was flicking lures in the Maroochy Waters Canals when this giant trevally smashed it and put up a great fight on light line (trevally species don’t have a size or bag limit at present).

2.  Jason Davis was happy with this 47cm dusky flathead, that he caught while fishing in the middle reaches of the Maroochy River. Remember that dusky flathead can be identified by the dark blotch on their tale.

3. Grunter bream like this 34cm specimen being held by Rob Marchant in the lower reaches, have a minimum size limit of 30cm.