theres a couple of wrecks in the depths of mossy bay dean, i know where they are! ive never actually seen them on the sounder, so i just go to a couple of moorings which produce well enough when the water is the right temp! hard to explain which mooring i fish off...ill have to explain it when i talk to u next.
ive seen mullas pulled from heaps of moorings in mossy bay...ones close to the cliffs, ones smack bang in the middle of the bay, moorings furtherest out, moorings close to the jetty etc etc...
i think the most chance of getting one would be having fresh bait (scalies IMO), right tides and 99% of it would be luck a mulla swimming past!

cheers
sam

I'll PM them to you later I have cleaned up on mullys on it and got some of my bigest black bream on it only problem with the wreck  is fish going around moorings.I have 2 in mosman park an on at the end of blackwall reach and also a barge in blackwall.


There's a fine line between fishing and just standing on the shore like an idiot

Ok thanks bill for that, very generous.

We have fished mosmans a couple of times, and heard people about 30m away who got into a couple of mullas while we didn't get a touch except starfish.

With regards to releasing the fish, I have heard that sometimes when pulled from the deeper water they can be nearly dead due to low oxygen levels, so what methods are best for release? Release weight or pulling the fish along to get oxygen into it's gills?

If the fish Is buggered I don't mind keeping it for a feed, but would prefer to release as I have heard they aren't that great.

Yep ive fished them off my bosses moorings in mossy. Great spot to cube for mullas with burley but im yet to land the "BIG" one but been on the same boat when some thumpers have come up.

Keep it tight, reeeeeeel tight!

gotta put alot of time n effort into catching mulloway i reckon. cube blocks n blocks of mulies. send down scalies aswell as a cube of mulie in the trail!
only ever caught soapies up to 6kgish but ive seen some thumpers pulled from that water! good 15kg fish!
as for releasing dean, good question i reckon! by the time a big mulla takes run after run around moorings etc. i would expect it literally to be almost dead when it hits the surface! i reckon release weight would prob be the best go.
seen people loose fish after playing it for a while then about 15mins later u'll hear this croaking sound and the fish has floated to the surface almost carcked it...

Hi there Dean

we just dropping you a line to say that if you need another boat to join you on your Mulla's hunt in Mossy bay then I would be keen as. Got a 14 foot tinny with sounder, nav lights ect and me and my mate Taylor Marc are always keen for a fishing session. I myself don't actually know the location of the shipwrecks they mentioned in the article but i am sure someone on the forum will let you know where they are.

let me know if and when you are keen to go for a mulla's session and we can go and check it out.

Scano

Yeah ill be keen as well. Its been a long time since ive tried to chase them. I see if i can get something organized as well and ill keep an eye out for the best times with dates. Weather, tides, times etc and let ya know.

Keep it tight, reeeeeeel tight!

Yeah spess, might be able to get a few boats together, make a day of it.  late afternoon bbq at matilda bay then off the mossies, or something like that.

hell yeah im there with ya'z 

G,day guys. I am not going to harp on about if you should fish this spot or not, but I thought i would give ya the reasons why i don't fish there anymore. and many more people that agree


I always new after fishing this area for a very long time near on 20 years, that these fish were spawning. the croaking noise ya hear has got something to do with mating, Even thou a few scientists disagreed with me and others,  we cleaned a few fish, we knew straight away that they were. One of the scientist went out with Ant Simper a few years ago and caught a nice one him self, they killed it for a sample, apparently Murdoch hadn't seen a fish so close too spawning ever, thats how close it was, then they released that we are targeting a Mulloway spawning aggregation

How important in this day and age is a spawning aggregation so close to a city center. and these fish get absolutely hammered.

I wish you could catch and release these fish, sadly I doubt many survive, in fact with the ones we tagged,( over 30 )we got 5 recaptures from people walking dogs   This is not too mention the amount of times guys have told me that divers who are chasing prawns have surfaced to say there are a not just one mulla, but several dead on the bottom

So bottom line is, yes they are spawning, they don't release so assess the impact and make up ya own minds from there.

This link is quality, its based on black jew but I think in this case the comparisons can be made, take the time to view it, its worth it, 45mins sounds long but grab a beer and chips and watch, plus if you haven't been to one of these things before, it gives a ya a little insight to fish biology

Hope this helps and more importantly I hope ya understand what we are doing to these spawning fish so close to the city

http://www.nt.gov.au/dpifm/barc/2008/1/

For me target mullas further up stream in shallow water, narrows etc better option if ya C&R



Wal

Yeah right oh wally.....................i agree and disagree! Without having a 300 post bullshit write up about this subject i think we will leave it at that. Im out.

Keep it tight, reeeeeeel tight!

Thats fine spess not a problem , as I said you make up ya own mind, I am over the bullsh&t,check the link if ya going too fish it, be a lot better then tonights gig


Wal

No dramas here mate ive only ever done my best to release fish that i wanted to release, if they couldnt be released i keep them. I only ever keep less than one percent of all my fish caught and i fish reguarly. I dont want to catch mullas if there in spawning mode so ill give it a miss. I have already seen your attachment mate and i beleive its worth watching if you havent seen it before. What shits me is that the only comments you put on this site are negative towards people who "ARE" trying to do the right thing and they cant learn if they dont try. I love most of your posts because i believe in 90% of your comments its just sometimes there said at the wrong time.I also hate the same things as you but just dont put a damper on people who enjoy there fishing and are scared to try fishing for certain fish species because people have said so. Enjoy your fishing, keep what you need and release the rest "BUT LEARN TO DO IT RIGHT AND THERE WILL BE ENOUGH FOR EVERYONE TO WIPE MORE SPECIES OFF THERE LIST!"

Wally how about you try and post a comment that doesnt flare the original post up. Everyone else will not comment because they dont want the dramas of a thread going on and on but i will! IMO im pissed with your comments not you which i hope you can understand. Thanks.

Keep it tight, reeeeeeel tight!

It wasnt intended in that way Spess, but hey I guess others see it different?

Wal

 No dramas mate. No problems here.

Keep it tight, reeeeeeel tight!

Spess, with all due respect, I think you'll find this is Wallys way of helping. Mate if you knew him, or more precisely, knew of his posts/flamings of a few years ago, you'd see that Wallys contribution in this thread is a far sight more helpful than in recent times. Whilst i don't know Wally personally, i've been involved in websites for a few years now, and to Wallys credit, he's toned down his thoughts/observations & critisms remarkably in the last year or so. I know Adam has had to have words with Wally in the past with regards to his contributions, and as such, Wallys feedback/contributions have changed for the better.

It is no real secret that Wallys 'outbursts' have caused problems in the past, i just don't see how the point he is trying to make here could be seen as inflamatory? Personally, i'm really not interested in starting an online 'he said, she said' type thing, nor am i trying to incite something(been there and played that game far too many times before myself), i just ask that you re- read Wallys comments, perhaps re-assess what you think he is trying to achieve. Again, I've never met Wally, and as such have no real reason to be defending him, only i do know that this man is doing more for our fishery than most. Personally, i value his contributions, as well as respect him, and thank him for his hard work. He knows more about the state of our local fishery than most.

I think you'll find the point is(Wally, please correct me if i'm wrong), by all means go fish for these Mulloway, just be aware of the effect you are having on the fishery. Understand what the Mulla's are actually there for, and respect their(the mulla's) right to pro-create.

Please don't miscostrue where i'm coming from here. Again, i'm not wanting to start an online 'argy-bargy', just asking you, and others to be a little more open to the cause s'all.

everyone woooosaaaaaah and look at bill's avatar jugs... yes, that calms anyone down :D

There is a recently article at the above site about the survival rate of release mulloways and it shows that they dont release well, this i believe in as i have venture the shore lines around mossie parks and found some monster mulloways (nearly 6 foot) washed up on the rock decomposing...a very sad sight to see.

There are the beaches which i have caught mulloways from if that helps and you wanna catch up with other fisho...

I personaly don't mind eating them
mulloway make great curry and great in stirfry because of thier firm flesh .

There's a fine line between fishing and just standing on the shore like an idiot

Quan, I know there are other places to catch mulloway and will also take it into account, though prefer boat fishing to Landbased and there is a higher chance of catching a fish in the river than from beaches.

To make this clear, I am not going to target the mulloway and fill my boots, just want to catch a river mulla for the experience, I'm all for fishing for the future.

I wonder it using 60lb braid and muscling the fish to the surface would increase survival rate, as said will do my research before we target them!

Bill I have eaten deep sea ones from the containers and if they taste anything like them, it will be eaten happily!

Cheers
Dean

If they don't release well don't release them .

Spike it in the head put it in the esky take it home eat it if you don't like the taste.
don't target them again.

For the small boat owner it's a chance to catch a desent size fish out of a small boat i can asure you that you want see any blue water rigs fishing for them in the river.

It's not fished like the snapper run in the sound,you don't get alot of boat targetting them and out of those that do only a small amount of them actualy catch


There's a fine line between fishing and just standing on the shore like an idiot

100% agree with bill...if you dont like the taste then don't target them again! fresh mulloway isnt too bad either!
its not like there are 1000s of boats chasing the things, im sure theres plenty of fish that get the chance to breed for future seasons!
its all about the thrill of actually catching/hooking a mulloway

cheers
sam

Dean, you have every right to fish for them just that they dont release to well, so your better off to keep it.

Guys don't stress over it

If you want to go catch a mully go catch one your in your right to do so.

If some of you personaly don't  like the idea keep it to yourself unless it's illegal to take one them keep your opinions to yourself.
 
There is no need for people to make someone feel guilty about having a go at targeting something they havn't caught before in the river.

Hey walley you obviously enjoyed it for 20 years thes guy only want to go once

Thats the one thing that anouys me about these forums is that there is allways some1 ready to have a dig .


There's a fine line between fishing and just standing on the shore like an idiot

well said bill, will keep one if I catch one.

If you want to fish shallow i know a spot that they group up in 5 meters of water around Jan.

Let me know when your going I'll be in havn't been mully fishing for years

My grandparents lived on the river at blackwall reach so i grew up on that part of  the river.

It is the practises from our fathers and our fathers fathers that have caused the problems we have today i still remeber a bloke (old smithy ) He use to set his cobbler traps all along the reach i remeber him comming in with rubish bins full of cobbler in winter all full of eggs. My dad is no exception and i don't blame him in those days they were braking no laws there was just no controls in place.

In saying that our generaion today  have been left with that burden and we have learnt to manage our fishing practises well to date.


There's a fine line between fishing and just standing on the shore like an idiot

Guys - I think deefa was right in his post that Wally's intention was not to have a go at anyone about catching a mulloway rather to try and pass on some of his experience and knowledge about the fish in that area.

As others have said - including Wally - Its up to the individual to be informed and make their own minds up on whether they fish for themor not, release them or keep them.

As for the comments about Wally fishing the area for 20 yrs I dont find it that ironic. Without people having fished in an area and learning from scientific reasearch conducted people would still be filling our eskys with Snapper from the sound like days of old. These fish sound like they fall into a similar category. A fishery cant be sustainable with a "we've always done this attitude". 

I think Dean also has the right attitude to wanting to find out what he can before he targets them also and agree that from what Ive heard and read you will be better off keeping a fish caught in this area rather than releasing it to die.

we already said that jangles in prev posts

There's a fine line between fishing and just standing on the shore like an idiot

Send your frames in for research....

Hi Ya,

Interesting read Wally.  Agree as you said that it is for each to make up their own mind.

Know a guy (now retired in Augusta) who told me of the days when he was a lot younger when he and his dad could get 20+ mullas a night in the river.  And big ones at that.  When they did they spent all the next day trying to give them away up and down the street.  Of course, he now recognises that catching that many a night was the wrong thing to do.  But in an era when they were almost in plague proportions, who really cared or thought that one day soon, they would be hard to find.

Cheers.

For the record, we started tagging them in 03 , we found out straight away ( months ) what was happening and then stopped fishing the area and I havent fished it since, end of story

No one knew what was happening with released mullas from mossies and thats a fact ,thats why we tagged them, a lot of guys C&R, and still do too this day.
 
We found out its not worth it. I was only passing on that info, you want to go and do it, knock ya selves out

anyway, thanks for the kind comments,


after tonights meeting, you guys have got more important things to worry about anyway, 


Wal

so many fish in the last 20 yrs (2 mulloway) and enjoyed every minute of it......................90% of those are still swimming ...the rest tasted great................go catch wat you want ...enjoy wat you want....but just have respect for the rules......think of the future and we'll enjoy it even more
happy lines gentlmen!!!
SO MANY FISH.....SO FEW SICKIES!

Like wally said after tonight meeting us guys have got alot more to worry about,And lot of things are going to change in W.A.on the fishing side of things
steve
Born to fish forced to work

It was good to meet wally last night and all i was on about was that wally has got good points and i agree with them all i said was could the posts stop being sabotaged by comments that make "US" anglers think twice about going out to get fish. Wally is really educated as everyone can see so im not going to pass judgement on this comments of education just general ones to stop us having some fun.......ive got no problems just like to place my opinion across thats all. Cheers and sorry if anyone took my comments in context differently to what i was actually trying to get across.

Keep it tight, reeeeeeel tight!

now that everyone has got their opinion off their chest,

Dean, Bill, Scano and Taylor Marc will be going Mulla's fishing when the timing and the conditions seem right. If anyone else has a drama with that well unlucky! Like Jangles and several others were saying, we certainly won't be breaking any laws.

Taylor Marc and I plan on keeping one if it is too exhausted when at the surface, if it is still fighting well then it will be released. Marc and I go fishing nearly every weekend and would only actually keep about 10% of what we catch, we firmly believe in fishing for the future and we practice what we preach!!And before everyone has a hissy fit about do fish them, don't fish them ect. well I think everyone is forgetting the fact that we haven't caught any as yet and who is to say that we are even going to hook one? for all we know we might sit there all night with out so much as 1 run (i hope not but it does happen)

Dean and Bill, when you guys are keen to go for a fish send me a pm. i sent dean a pm with my number yesterday.

everyone chill out, enjoy your fishing and the company of the people you fish with and most of all fish for the future.

Scano

Agree fully with alot of the last comments.

Keep it tight, reeeeeeel tight!

Hi Ya,

February this year my brother & I went chasing a mulla at the narrows.  Most frustrating night I have ever experienced.  There was a mulla, about 1metre long, slowly swimmg by us every 3 to 4 minutes, for over an hour and it wasn't the least interested in the baits we tried so hard to entice it with.  It must have been swimming in circles.  It was in less than 600mm of water and was well within reach of my 10' rod - the bait was dangling straight down from the rod over the top of the fish.  It is the only mulla I have ever seen (dead or alive) and would have loved to have broken the duck.  But it wasn't to be.

Funnily enough, on the way home at about 1:30 in the morning, both my brother & I conceeded that we were both probably happy that it was still swimming around.  Was an amazing sight.  Still, would have loved to break the duck.  Maybe in a weeks time at Kalbarri.  Fingers crossed.

Damn frustrating though.  LOL. 

Cheers.

That was a good read fellas and well done on keeping it civil. Fishing is something we are all allowed to do and it is up to each of us to make up our own mind on how we go about it. Wally has made some important points and whether we agree or not, it's great that he has been willing to share his experiences/knowledge with the rest of us. (Deefa's post is also spot on)

Ultimately nothing compares to doing it for yourself and maybe the time will come soon that you won't be able to. If you do decide to go and fish for them, just remember some of the points that have been made in regards to their release. If you are lucky enough to catch one, please please please contact Bryn Farmer with your frame for research purposes.

Cheers,
Adam

Wally is correct, they dont release well at all and the barotrauma stuffs them so if you plan on catch & release then dont do it, the release weight really doesn't help i've/we've found....they're too fragile imo

Catch and kill one isn't an issue to me but no sports (C&R) with these fish. There's plenty of wrecks Dean in that area, i've got em all and some great life down there.


*Oceanside-Strudwick,Daiwa,Van Staal,Jigmaster Rods, Banax,Shimano,Penn,Furuno*

Owner/Operator Oceanside Tackle and Marine
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Well, have been doing a bit of reading, as said by numerous people they don't release so if we catch one it will be eaten.  hopefully i'll be able to land my first Swan mulla in the months coming!
Suppose you dive on them ryan for prawns?  From hotbite pics looks to be an abundance of life, sambo's, pinks, flathead etc. 

Cheers to all contributing

Dean

Me and Scano found one of the barges lol ;)

Heading down on sunday  for a look, and have one co-ordinate for a barge in blackwall but not the other ones in blackwall/mossy bay.

So if anyone would like to share that would be great.

Cheers
Dean