Teen reels in 135-kilogram tuna in waters off Mornington Peninsula

[cobby]

Man I got nfi about tuna science, but if this is the way going forward then I'll have to sell all the bream gear!!!
No more needing to travel to the west is already a massive bonus.

Theoretically with the international effort to slowly improve the biomass whilst satisfying a decent harvest quota via the CCSBT we're only at the beginning. They mature at around 122cm so again in theory it's better for the stock if we remove these larger fish than taking a similar tonnage of school fish on the assumption these barrels have dropped millions of eggs, even if it turns out they're only periodical spawners as the schoolies aren't even mature. Historically in the summer months you could chase Kingfish at Phillip Island, head out wider for a drift for a Mako and then troll some skirts for some Yellowfin Tuna.

[Kimtown]

Man I got nfi about tuna science, but if this is the way going forward then I'll have to sell all the bream gear!!!
No more needing to travel to the west is already a massive bonus.

Theoretically with the international effort to slowly improve the biomass whilst satisfying a decent harvest quota via the CCSBT we're only at the beginning. They mature at around 122cm so again in theory it's better for the stock if we remove these larger fish than taking a similar tonnage of school fish on the assumption these barrels have dropped millions of eggs, even if it turns out they're only periodical spawners as the schoolies aren't even mature. Historically in the summer months you could chase Kingfish at Phillip Island, head out wider for a drift for a Mako and then troll some skirts for some Yellowfin Tuna.

Yellowfin Tuna? Literally never heard of any caught around melbourne in my lifetime…

[purple5ive]

Man I got nfi about tuna science, but if this is the way going forward then I'll have to sell all the bream gear!!!
No more needing to travel to the west is already a massive bonus.

Theoretically with the international effort to slowly improve the biomass whilst satisfying a decent harvest quota via the CCSBT we're only at the beginning. They mature at around 122cm so again in theory it's better for the stock if we remove these larger fish than taking a similar tonnage of school fish on the assumption these barrels have dropped millions of eggs, even if it turns out they're only periodical spawners as the schoolies aren't even mature. Historically in the summer months you could chase Kingfish at Phillip Island, head out wider for a drift for a Mako and then troll some skirts for some Yellowfin Tuna.

What's the sudden influx of bigger fish so close to us man. Ive never paid much attention the offshore fishery locally tbh but this is an exceptional run of big fish we have had and was a few in the last few years as well.
Is it a case of the waters warming up and more and more fish are moving south? But then again bluefin are a colder species I believe, so that rules that theory out for the bluefin.

[Sebb]

Remember when there's kingfish in docklands?
And someone caught a tuna off flinders pier.
I reckon won't be long til we see a marlin in Port Melbourne's Lagoon Pier.

Joke aside, good on him. He's Sharkmen's deckie isn't he?

[hornet]

Back in the day many years ago, I would read reports of school size yellow fin occasionally caught in the rip as a kingfish by catch when trolling ...

[cobby]

Man I got nfi about tuna science, but if this is the way going forward then I'll have to sell all the bream gear!!!
No more needing to travel to the west is already a massive bonus.

Theoretically with the international effort to slowly improve the biomass whilst satisfying a decent harvest quota via the CCSBT we're only at the beginning. They mature at around 122cm so again in theory it's better for the stock if we remove these larger fish than taking a similar tonnage of school fish on the assumption these barrels have dropped millions of eggs, even if it turns out they're only periodical spawners as the schoolies aren't even mature. Historically in the summer months you could chase Kingfish at Phillip Island, head out wider for a drift for a Mako and then troll some skirts for some Yellowfin Tuna.

Yellowfin Tuna? Literally never heard of any caught around melbourne in my lifetime…

We're talking preceding our parents lifetimes unless you were born in the 60s... They'd go and kill tonnes of Couta for fish and chip shops and leave what we now call prime species alone

[cobby]

Man I got nfi about tuna science, but if this is the way going forward then I'll have to sell all the bream gear!!!
No more needing to travel to the west is already a massive bonus.

Theoretically with the international effort to slowly improve the biomass whilst satisfying a decent harvest quota via the CCSBT we're only at the beginning. They mature at around 122cm so again in theory it's better for the stock if we remove these larger fish than taking a similar tonnage of school fish on the assumption these barrels have dropped millions of eggs, even if it turns out they're only periodical spawners as the schoolies aren't even mature. Historically in the summer months you could chase Kingfish at Phillip Island, head out wider for a drift for a Mako and then troll some skirts for some Yellowfin Tuna.

What's the sudden influx of bigger fish so close to us man. Ive never paid much attention the offshore fishery locally tbh but this is an exceptional run of big fish we have had and was a few in the last few years as well.
Is it a case of the waters warming up and more and more fish are moving south? But then again bluefin are a colder species I believe, so that rules that theory out for the bluefin.

Larger stock biomass, similar bait biomass, same water conditions, same time of year migration wise. Nothing more than larger numbers of schools of fish following bait and water they like and keeping straight to spread out further than turning right towards a king and an apple isle. Similar reasons for the lower reaches of the Tamar River in Tassie having consistent mid sized Kingfish captures the past few years. If what they think might be the case with SBT and their breeding patterns, we might have a couple of downer years on local barrels, and then suddenly another 3 week period with in excess of 10 a week. We did go through almost 2 months between the last run and this current run with only a couple caught in between. The stock breed in the Indian Ocean near Christmas Island, and head around the south of the country and sort of stop at the top of the Tasman Sea and head back.

[rb85]

More boats are now targeting them here as well no doubt. Last few years 5-10 back there were rumours or the occasional report of school fish or barrels. From then the amount of fish around has increased every year to what we have now.

[blacklab99]

More than likely weather conditions have changed in all honesty..

Up here, well into winter, we were experiencing terrible off shore conditions, but the water temps were crazily high and out of sink..
Marlin hung around close into shore way closer and longer than they should have been.. We all looked at the water Temps and shook our heads because weather conditions prevented anyone from getting out. These sorts of conditions, were not typical and many experienced blokes were perplexed at what was going on,, Those unseasonable high water temps, effected everything in the food chain, tiny to large, that is the key to most of the changes we are seeing I believe...

[pappyy3]

Hope the run of these bigger fish continue in the near future. It's unbelievable how many are being caught so close to Melbourne.

Given each female produces 12-15 MILLION eggs a day during breeding its possible even without further tightening the international and regional restrictions. They are mass producers, it's just unknown if each fish breeds annually or if it's only once every few years.

Would be interesting to find out how many actually survive. My understanding is that species that lay huge numbers of eggs, do so because the mortality rate (chances of survival) is relatively low so high numbers of eggs ensures some survivors for future generations ..