Take me out to those spots and I'll make sure you get one on jig ;)

As for types of ground, I think lower, almost nothing ground can be a lot better than big lumpy rises. I don't know if this is more to do with what the dhuies prefer or if it's more because the more obvious a lump is the more likely it is to be fished?

Hlokk, I'll hold you to that :)

Next trip out of two rocks, i will let you know and you can coem show me how this whole jigging for Dmersals works!

Heaps around - nothing really big but plenty in the less than 10kg range and mixed in with lots of gummies and whiskeries (well both are over the same ground) and heaps of undersized dhuies as well - have caught upwards to two or three double headers of undersized in bait three out of the last four trips 

If my experiences last year are mirrored this year then the big fish (15kg+) will turn up in the next week or two over the same ground and the littlies will vanish

bans are having an effect yet,like ti think that they were

Changed the situation - Absolutely no question in my mind that is the reason for the marked improvement - the ridiculous closed season has NO effect whatever  

Within a year of the ban on crayfishermen using drop lines and wet line fishing - please understand I am NOT in any way knocking crayfishermen - I have several whom are personal friends and wholly understand their viewpoint and, up until the ban what they were doing was entirely legal and assisted them to supplement their incomes in poor cray years but factually it is a wasteful way of fishing.

The changes however in rec fishing and metro dhuies over the last five years has been utterly amazing.

I always caught more fish and bigger sizes whilst drifting.....

If I anchor up, didnt catch as much and they were smaller when I did..

each year, since the cray boys and commercials have stopped fishing in the metro area, i have seen a dramatic increase in not only the amount of undersize and small dhuies, but also some damn good sized ones as well, whilst cray diving.

some spots i dive ( in close to shore, and VERY metro waters), I'm seeing 8 - 12 dhuies per dive as an average, as well as an increase of baldies and snapper, when i would be lucky to even see one, 8-10 years ago.

i dont care what any research shows, it is of my opinion and experience that the numbers i'm seeing now, are a 99% result of cray and commercial fisherman NOT being allowed to take fish in the metro area. 

yeh bodie i agree mate,

years ago they where hard to catch,

these days we can not go out without getting 4 or more and some days 12 in a couple of hours, might only be the one or two size ones in there but.

dosnt seem to matter where we go either, rocko,woddies,o/reef all the same pretty much.

gotta be good for future dhuy numbers and we dont keep any unless they are over 60cm, sat out from o/reef we got 4 or 5 and 1 went 56cm and was returned.

one small one needed a release weight as he come up from 70mtr but all the others from the 40's went back good.

cheers mate

 please dont mind my ignorance, but how do you catch duies.

I have spent most of my time as a kid and today catching herring and other similar fish.

Ive recently purchased another boat, and I'm getting sick of eating herring.

can someone out there give me some idea (bait, sinker, depth etc) of how to catch a due fish.

i mostly fish in cockburn sound and luanch at woodmans, where do i go from there to catch something decent.

Ant help with this would be great.

thanks guys,

jim 

Hey Jimmy if you're launching at Woodmans you probably need to head out in line with or past Rotto. If you're going for bait California Squid on 9/0 hooks with a Paternoster rig as a start. Any smaller wrasse are excellent bait so throw them on live or the bigger ones filleted. I use 100-150lb mono leader. Fish can be anywhere depth wise But I'd be going for 30m upwards. Drift around with your sea anchor and keep trying different grounds and depths. We will move a dozen or so times on a good day out.Hope this helps.

Small dhuies have been crazy lately, I have been rigging up the release weight on a seperate rig before first drop. Always good to see them go back good. Some of my less productive marks a while back seem to be holding large numbers of juveniles but well within legal size. I think the restrictions across the board, are working and maybe just coincided with the fabled 7 year cycle . What I don't under stand is the slow growth weight of dhufish compared to the seemingly remarkable recovery of the resource...mmm

 I always have a rig dedicated to the release weight

Now that is something I would be interested in hearing about - I do recall from this website that one tagged fish (seem to recall Two Rocks) had grown almost 8cm in only 9 months taking it from just below legal to well above so once they get to perhaps 45cm on this scant and extremely limited info available they do appear to grow relatively quickly but they may have growth spurts much like humans or perhaps it is entirely dependent upon available feed.  

As a diver I have seen them as small as perhaps 6 cms but oddly nothing smaller than that so just where the real juvenile habitat is I have no idea. 

There are certainly plenty of once barren metro reefs and lumps now holding fish (though lots of small ones) and given this the future looks really bright   

I'm not catching many small dhuies down south at all. Looking at the 80 odd fish I have tagged only about 10% have been undersized. Don't know if this is because I mainly jig and the smaller fish aren't taken jigs as much, maybe dhuies have better years than others for breeding or the pros down here are really starting to do some serious damage.

 I was told of the feeding impacts of dhuies out at direction bank

The info I got was that the survival rate of each breeding season depended on the currents. And some years the currents would push the very small fish off the back of the reef and end up dieing or food for other fish in the depths.

Not too sure how accurate this is.

Doing well Bodie, I reckon you need a tagging kit mate ;) 

We have had plenty of recaptures since we started 18 months ago, and hundreds of fish, mainly dhu, have been tagged. Growth rates and movement are always interesting and the more information we recieve back from recaptures, the more we understand the species and can improve the management of recreational fisheries. 

Hopefully eveyone who finds a tag, whether releasing the fish or keeping it, rings thru to the contact number on the tag. 

Really interesting to read about the notable recovery in dhufish numbers in the metro area.

Unfortunately I cannot say the same for the southwest. In fact my experience is that, ever since the gillnetters have been hitting the geographe bay area, stocks of most ALL fish species have tumbled. A day out fishing is now often disappointing in the catch.  Sure there are days when a boat limit of demersals are caught but just as often ther eis precious little to show for a day out ( ESPECIALLY if the commercial netters are in sight!)

I fully agree that the fabled marine parks on their own are not the answer to preservation of fish species and stocks unless the fishable waters are protected from anihilation by the combined impact of the commercials and the rec's trying desperately to get a feed.

I suggest that anybody who is interested in preserving fish stock in geographe bay get ont he horn to (or email or tweet or whatever) their local govt and make some screaming sounds that include the words " gillnets, anihilation, preservation!"

Otherwise, just sell the boats ( real cheap cos there will be many of them up for sale!)

I have had 14 recaptures showing growth rates between recapture I will post up a report soon

Very rearly do we not get 8 or more dhuies for a day trip ,Numbers are on the rise for sure.most people have no problem getting there two.

Great to hear the Dhuies number are on the up. I did notice a few on a dive more than normal. Maybe just maybe ill be able to catch one oneday haha!!

I'm looking forward to when all these small snapper gain some weight!

What are these cycles I keep hearing about?  How long is the turnaround?

Not having fished Perth waters for all that long , I've not seen it , but heard you couldn't get away from baldies or pinkies (can't remember which) back in the day  , whilst getting a dhuey was tough work.