Marron Season
Submitted by Bing on Mon, 2017-01-09 20:08
First trip for the season today, no monsters but a good feed.
Have been going to the same spot for 18years now and always seems to produce. Hopfully get out a few more times this season.
little johnny
Posts: 5354
Date Joined: 04/12/11
Good feed
For sure.
meglodon
Posts: 5981
Date Joined: 17/06/10
Good catch
Tell me, what is your opinion of the state of the marron fishery. Obviously you have a good spot but what do you think about the marron fishery as a whole, and do you know if other fishers got a good feed.
Bing
Posts: 150
Date Joined: 13/02/11
Marron Fishery
Over the years I've been fishing for Marron the worst years were obviously the years we suffered the droughts, the Marron stocks took a huge hit. Since then the numbers have always seemed to be on the increase each year. One thing I did notice this year was the size in our area has dropped a little, usually we get most of our Marron over the trophy size. We still got them over this size yesterday but not as many as usual.
The area we fish has low numbers of redfin, I haven't seen one or caught one in the area. This might help out a little with the replenishing of stocks.
Either way I want to be able to keep fishing this area in the future so next trip ill explore something new.
Haven't seen anyone else or read any reports of how fishers are going this year yet. I'm sure they will be going well and getting a feed.
Bing
Posts: 150
Date Joined: 13/02/11
Marron Fishery
.
Laneo
Posts: 101
Date Joined: 05/08/12
Marron
What dams can you use crab pots looks heaps easyier than looping
LANEO
Laneo
Posts: 101
Date Joined: 05/08/12
Marron
What dams can you use crab pots looks heaps easyier than looping
LANEO
Bing
Posts: 150
Date Joined: 13/02/11
Marron
Not in a dam, in the river. You can't use crab nets, you will have to use some marron nets which are a drop net with sized mesh as a base.
We put the nets out but don't really pull them unless we see a few decent ones in there, most the time we snare them from around the net. For some reason the bigger ones seem a bit more shy towards the nets. The smaller ones seem to go into the net break the bait up and then the bigger marron clean up the scraps that drift out of the net area.
br3nno
Posts: 352
Date Joined: 25/12/12
Thats gotta be natural
Thats gotta be natural selection, the shy bigger ones. Got to that size because they are shy!
BC
Bing
Posts: 150
Date Joined: 13/02/11
Size
Also heard that the big ones prefer the dark but same deal at night, I prefer a hand full of chook pellets. Also no net lugging
Oldbull
Posts: 175
Date Joined: 21/09/15
Bing, why do the baits
Bing, why do the baits disperse??. We use a handfull or two of chook pellets in a doubled up stocking. Marron can make a small hole in the stocking but not scatter the bait.
Years ago I heard of blokes putting a bit of blood and bone fertiliser in with the pellets but never tried it myself.
Bing
Posts: 150
Date Joined: 13/02/11
Baits
We do the same with our baits but they seem to mangle the stockings quite easily. Then the flow of the river carries it away while they are ripping the bait, even worse when a few are in the net fighting.
Interesting, haven't heard about the blood and bone before. Chook pellets always seem to go fine for us.
meglodon
Posts: 5981
Date Joined: 17/06/10
Blood and bone - works a treat
Used to use it many years age when I went marroning.
little johnny
Posts: 5354
Date Joined: 04/12/11
Pollute water
Even more ? Wouldn't recommend that one. In fresh water . Fertiliser in water. Isn't that what causes blooms in swan river.
Bryce Day
Posts: 812
Date Joined: 01/06/15
I think they use blood and
I think they use blood and bone so when the fisheries officer walks along the bank with his torch he cant see it or you hiding in the bush behind him
Shimka
Posts: 465
Date Joined: 06/02/14
Just got back from a quick
Just got back from a quick trip down around Pemberton. I won't be doing that again in a hurry. Cars overflowing onto the main trail along Heartbreak & even the most remote camp sites have 2 or 3 groups on them. Water getting turned to foam & it's very very dry down there, water levels lowest I have seen in years. I left again without dropping a pot, wetting a line or even bothering to set up camp. Licence numbers should be limited or the fishery will not last.
Dale
Posts: 7930
Date Joined: 13/09/05
.
Yep, people will do almost anything at Marron Season, I remember one year we found a old overgrown track going down to the Blackwood river and it was as rough as guts, so much so I reversed down in case I couldn't turn around. Bounced our arses off getting down there only to find some people in a old HQ holden already down there, Got no idea how they got down there and would have been an interested spectator watching them come back out. I was in my Nissan MQ SWB 3.3TD.
"Just because you are a Character, Doesn't mean you have Character."
Mr Wolf
Bing
Posts: 150
Date Joined: 13/02/11
Marron
Thats not good to hear guys, I didn't realise how busy marron season was until you mentioned it ^^. I've been fortunate enough to only see 1 or 2 passing groups over the years, my uncle always said the harder the spot is the better chance we have to get good Marron. This meant a lot of swimming for snagged nets or falling from trees that we had climbed out on to drop nets off haha.
meglodon
Posts: 5981
Date Joined: 17/06/10
As a quick summery
It appears that perhaps a big clean out of redfin may be in order to help the remaining stocks breed up a bit, problem with that idea is how do you implement it, bounty on redfin bodies perhaps.
little johnny
Posts: 5354
Date Joined: 04/12/11
Look what they did
When waroona dam was drained to fix dam head few years back. Blasted crap out of it ( explosives) to kill remaining reddies . Didn't do anything dam full of them. Every time you catch big reddies there always full of small to medium size marron .unfortunatley there here to stay. Next will be pretty carp in rivers and dams. Then there goes oxygen out of water . Everything gone. Use to do heaps of marron fishing crowds got to big . Good feed of marron by the way:):)
DanWA
Posts: 24
Date Joined: 11/02/08
Went and checked out
Went and checked out Wellington Dam yesterday... wow... half of Perth is there
Bing
Posts: 150
Date Joined: 13/02/11
Dam
How did you go?? Many people getting them??
105Barra
Posts: 2
Date Joined: 10/01/17
Soak Time
Hi Guys,
Question from a newbie- if you can't see into the net how long does it need to soak for before pulling?
cheers
Oldbull
Posts: 175
Date Joined: 21/09/15
same as crabbing. about 10
same as crabbing. about 10 -15 min then evey 10 after that.
went snaring yesterday and between us got 10. However another 10 still had baby marron under their tails. Very late for that. I remember years ago when season started on 15th Dec that we rarely saw a berried female. Now mid Jan and still happening. Like crays and crabs - eveything seems a month behind.
105Barra
Posts: 2
Date Joined: 10/01/17
Cheers mate
Cheers mate
Bing
Posts: 150
Date Joined: 13/02/11
Soak time
As mentioned 10-15min. Usually throw a net out then scatter pellets between that net and the next net, that way you can check the net then someone can snare on the way to the next net.
If they are there and hungry they dont take long to go in, I threw a net out the otherday and by the time I baited the next net it had a few around it already.
Put an esky with a few beers at the first net and an esky with beer at the last net. This way you get to the end of the string and can have a beer while you wait then you can walk back to the start checking nets on the way and have another beer
Oldbull
Posts: 175
Date Joined: 21/09/15
remember that you cannot use
remember that you cannot use a crab net for marron. Marron have a special base steel grill. You can however use marron nets to catch crabs. Expensive nets if you lose one in the estuary however
. Bloody shark clips are weak and come unclipped from the net.
Bing
Posts: 150
Date Joined: 13/02/11
Nets
I used some marron nets to go crabbing a few years ago after lending a friend my crab nets, I obviously didn't rinse them well enough and rusted. Now I just use my marron nets for marron haha.
Also when picking nets out make sure you inspect the mesh is in good condition. Few years ago some of our bases had broken at the fused joints, also some of the gaps weren't square making a huge gap at one edge of mesh.
Ryan Thipthorp (not verified)
Posts: 16
Date Joined: 01/01/70
Marron!
Nice work on the Marron Bing .... esky at each end with coldys is the go eh
Bing
Posts: 150
Date Joined: 13/02/11
Beers
Thanks Ryan, just don't pack the end esky too heavy and have to lug it back half full of beers haha
little johnny
Posts: 5354
Date Joined: 04/12/11
Something to try
When strawberrys are cheap or out of date try them against any bait ( they float by the way) put them in fine mesh or cray bag onion sack ect. Think you would be very suprised:)
DanWA
Posts: 24
Date Joined: 11/02/08
Make sure your licenses are
Make sure your licenses are up to date lots of checking at Wellington
Some OK sized ones being snared!!
meglodon
Posts: 5981
Date Joined: 17/06/10
Story from the good ole days
A great many years back my brother was renting a property that backed onto the serpy river. He had a good vegy patch out the back and the last bit of land before the river bank had a row of strawberries planted on it.
just as they where ripening at one particular patch along the row he began to notice that the fine plump strawberries where taking a hammering from something that was eating into this crop.
Bloody water rats, I'll fix them, rat trap placed out with big rip strawberry as bait right in the damaged area of the crop.
Next morning he found the trap had gone off and a crushed and broken off claw of what must have been a very good size marron was left behind on the trap plate.
The strawberry crop was at least 10 yards from the river bank.
Laugh all you want at the idea of fruit working as bait for marron but I can assure you strawberry do work.
Oldbull
Posts: 175
Date Joined: 21/09/15
odd creatures marron. Will
odd creatures marron. Will happy get out of a river or dam and walk across land to another spot. Can live out of water for 24 hours or so as long as it is cool or damp. I had some big ones around 140mm carapace in my backyard pond. Needed a mesh over the pond to stop them walking out. Took the mesh off and next day they were in the garden.
hezzy
Posts: 1521
Date Joined: 27/11/09
many years ago when i was in
many years ago when i was in grade 7 , i had amate whow parents owned a spud /sheep farm , we used to put nets in the water at the abck of the packing sheds , baited with spuds .....
once the nets where set we would ride on the truck back to the paddocks , load another truck full of bagged spuds ,& return to the packing sheds to unload them .then check nets
it was surprising how many marron we caught using raw spuds ......
nowdays the main thing thats killing the marron abundance is water quality , eroded banks , and damaged enviroment along the banks ...id really love to see the gov , pay farmers to fence off all river banks in agricultural land areas and re vegetate it back say 20 metres min each side of the waterways ....still allow famres to use the water, just keep cattle and sheep off the banks let it return to natural filters for water quality and depth etc
the second biggest issue is social media and google maps ......... people are finding their way into all areas that once upon atime where not fished or not fished heavily .now its full on everywhere
and then their is the out of season poaching ....... way too many places we go to now have been carved up into small rural lots and the owners and friends use traps out of season or long weekend visits to just take afew , they all seem to think there taking 4-10 out of season wont matter too much or have too much of an impact ....
hezzy
hezzy
OFW 11
evil flourishes when good men do nothing
DanWA
Posts: 24
Date Joined: 11/02/08
Wellington Dam is a waste of
Wellington Dam is a waste of time this season, not a single sized one last night taking some work mates out... few years ago would have been averaging 90-100 now this season not a single one over 76
But the one saving grace is LOTS of babies 2-3 inches...
Made my blood boil last night having to put a camp fire out after some not so inspired marroners packed up and left... was literally blowing embers into the bush and they just upped and left
meglodon
Posts: 5981
Date Joined: 17/06/10
I know what you mean
Some years back friends and I set up camp down at Wellington Dam dug a hole and and had a nice small camp fire going. About 10 metre away a group of 19 - 25 yr olds arrived in force and gathered logs etc to make a camp fire, after 2 or 3 attempts to light this collection of logs branches and other bits pieces they had no luck it getting it going.
We could hear a slightly excited conversation going on amongst them then we observed one of them throwing a liquid over there proposed camp fire. Shortly after the strong smell of petrol wafered across to us. A friend of mine quickly jumped up ran across to this group and explained to them just how stupid and dangerous throwing petrol about was.
If there had been even a red amber left on the fire wood this group would have been incinerated, and quite possibly we where very luck we didn't suffer a major flash over from our fire as well.
Some people hey.