The RAP Report
August 2022
Welcome to the latest NSW Research Angler Program (RAP) newsletter. In this edition, we are looking at the mighty Mulloway. We have some outstanding captures, and an update from our tagging program. We will also check out our latest monthly winners, how you can be in it to win it, as well as some program updates.
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Mighty Mulloway catches
Since our last update, we have had some great mulloway captures donated to the program, including some true trophy-sized fish. Mitchel Marric was lucky enough to land this 150cm mulloway on the Mid North Coast. After attempting to release the fish, Mitch decided to donate the frame to the RAP for aging. With his fish aged at 15 years old, this is the second youngest mulloway over 150cm and shows just how fast these fish can grow. Looking at the picture of the fish below it looks like it has been well fed.
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Not all fish will grow at the same rate and just because a fish is 'trophy sized', it's not necessarily old when compared to other fish from the population. With this in mind, we can look at this solid 135 cm mulloway landed by Alex Thrift. Alex's fish was aged at 20 years making it one of the smallest mulloway aged at 20 years. Alex was also lucky enough to land another great fish measuring 130 cm and this fish was aged 16 years old. Again showing how quickly mulloway can grow, we had a similar-sized fish measuring 131 cm donated by Kyle Johnston, an avid spearfisherman during this period. Kyle's fish was aged at 13 years old. This growth rate is similar to Mitch's fish above at 10 cm per year over the life of the fish.
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Other cool catches
Speaking of trophy-size specimens, check out this monster 77.1 cm chopper landed by Skye Auld from St Georges Basin. Skye was lucky enough to land this great fish while trolling lures around the Basin. Skye's tailor was aged at 5 years old.
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Tagging and Recaptures
Participants of the NSW mulloway tagging program have also been catching lots of great fish since our last update. A total of 725 fish were tagged in the last 12 months which is double that of our last update showing how hard our taggers are working. Our taggers have been working up and down the coast with fish being tagged and released from beaches, rock walls and ledges, and numerous estuaries. One of our keen taggers getting good numbers of fish on the Mid-North Coast is Keith Kneebone. He has managed to tag nine fish from his kayak ranging from 69 cm to 96 cm.
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Similar to previous years the size category with the highest numbers of tagged mulloway is 70-74 cm with 119 fish tagged during this period. We have also had numerous fish tagged and released over the magic 1 m mark including some monster fish that have already been recaptured providing us with some great data.
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Our 'Top Five' taggers was once again a hotly contested event, but this year there was one true winner.
1st: Andrew Howland was able to tag an astonishing 169 mulloway over the 12-month period. Andrew's fish came from numerous locations along the North Coast of NSW and with the recent weather conditions, it only makes his efforts even more impressive.
2nd. Coming in second with a fantastic 48 tagged fish was Cain Bettenson (pictured below). Cain's 48 fish were primarily caught in the Hawkesbury River and included fish up to 135 cm.
3rd. Bill Steel was able to tag 32 mulloway over the 12 month period and this was enough to gain the third spot in our 'Top Five'. Bill's 32 fish included 16 over the meter mark, which is a great effort.
From our "Top Five' it is interesting to note that both the Far North coast and the Hawkesbury River feature heavily. With both regions contributing 279 and 133 fish respectively, it shows just how important these systems are for mulloway populations.
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'Top Five' taggers
| Tagger |
No. fish tagged |
Region |
| Andrew Howland |
169 |
North Coast |
| Cain Bettenson |
48 |
Hawkesbury River |
| Bill Steel |
32 |
North Coast |
| Tagger OA |
27 |
Mid North Coast |
| Thomas Perrett |
24 |
Hawkesbury River |
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Our 'Top Five' largest tagged mulloway had some note-worthy fish once again. Andrew Howland didn't just take out our 'Top Tagger' but also the largest fish tagged for the year with a 162 cm fish. He also followed this up with an impressive 145 cm fish that was our fourth-largest. Mitch Maric also managed to make our 'Top Five" with another quality mulloway measuring 148cm (pictured below)
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'Top Five' largest fish tagged
| Tagger |
Total length (cm) |
System |
| Andrew Howland |
162 |
Far North Coast |
| Mitch Maric |
148 |
Mid North Coast |
| Luke Hughes |
147 |
Mid North Coast |
| Andrew Howland |
145 |
Far North Coast |
| Thomas Perrett |
143 |
Hawkesbury River |
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Thomas Perrett (pictured below) not only made our "Top Five' for most fish tagged with 24 mulloway but also made our 'Top Five' for our largest fish tagged with this exceptional 143 cm fish. Thomas and mate Tommy Ge were rewarded after spending the night out on the water with this estimated 30kg fish. After a short but intense fight, they were able to land, measure, tag, and release the fish for another lucky angler to do battle with.
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Recaptures
Along with record numbers of mulloway tagged over the previous 12 months, we have also had some great recaptures. This year we had 69 fish recaptured and reported. 23 of these recaptures were re-caught less than 1 nautical mile (nm) from their release location, amazingly one of these fish was at liberty for 1232 days or approximately three years and four months. Tagger OA from our 'Top Five taggers list had an impressive five mulloway recaptured showing with the proper handling mulloway can be released successfully for another lucky angler to catch. Two anglers were lucky enough to recapture their own fish over this period. The first was by mulloway whisperer David Birt from the Hunter River with an 80 cm fish that was at liberty for 102 days. The second was a 101 cm fish from the Richmond River. This fish was recaught just five days after its initial release.
Of the 69 recaptures, the longest recorded distance travelled was 153 km over 228 days at liberty. The mulloway was originally caught wide of South West Rocks in Trial Bay and measured 91 cm. Upon recaptures wide of Yamba the fish measured 95 cm.
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The longest time at liberty recorded for a recaptured fish for this period was 2095 days or approximately 5 years 9 months. The fish was originally caught in June 2015 in the Georges River and measured 78 cm. Fast forward to March 2021 and the fish was recaught in the same system and measured 108 cm showing a 30 cm growth over its time at liberty.
One of our most impressive recaptures is that of the mulloway caught by Mitchell Kelly pictured below. The fish was originally tagged in May 2018 in the Hunter River and measured 138 cm, a great feat on its own. In May of 2021, Mitchell was lucky enough to land this healthy-looking fish that measured 142 cm after being at liberty for 1091 days. What makes this recapture even more remarkable is that this is the third time this fish has been caught, tagged, and released meaning three anglers have had the pleasure of landing this trophy fish.
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Program updates
Firstly, a big thank you to all those keen anglers that have continued to donate their frames since our last newsletter, with many of our tackle store locations unable to accept donations for durations due to COVID restrictions, it was great to still see over 300 frames donated.
We have added three new drop off locations, as detailed below, to make it even easier for anglers to donate their frames! If you are a tackle store owner and want to be involved in the program, get in touch.
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Find a drop off location while cleaning your catch
Recently many of the main cleaning tables along the coast were updated with some RAP advisory. While cleaning your catch you will now be able to see what species we are collecting for the program along with the nearest drop-off location. This will hopefully make it nice and simple for keen RAP participants to find dropoff locations while on holidays!
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While you are cleaning your catch keep an eye out for some of our RAP staff or Fisheries Education Officers. Not only will they be able to provide advice on many other Fisheries programs they can also collect your frames, saving you a trip to one of our drop-off locations.
Recently young Phoenix returned to Coffs Harbour boat ramp and was able to donate his great catch of snapper and blue-spotted sand flathead to the RAP. Phoenix watched on eagerly as RAP staff recorded the length and sex of his catch then removed two otoliths for aging. We are looking forward to letting our young citizen scientist know all about his catch, thanks for your help Phoenix.
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The RAP has expanded to include more dropoff locations
We are excited to announce that there are now three new donation locations where you can donate your frames for collection. BCF Tuggerah on the Central Coast, Adreno Spearfishing mega store in Sydney, and Ocean Hut Complete Angler Narooma. All three locations have bags, donation labels, and friendly staff ready to help you donate your frames. If you either live or holiday in these areas it is now even easier to get involved with the RAP. To find your nearest drop-off location follow this link to our Participating drop-off location webpage.
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Monthly Winners!
In this batch of monthly winners, we highlight some of the great catches our keen anglers have donated. Remember every frame you donate gives you an entry into the monthly draw, not just trophy size fish!
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Alessandro scored this trophy snapper on the mid-north coast. His fish measured 95 cm and was aged at 12 years old. Since his capture Alessandro has gone on to tag numerous large snapper.
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David Mathews has been having plenty of success on the dusky flathead in the Macleay River on the Mid North Coast. Over the past few months David has provided multiple dusky flathead and mulloway frames earning himself plenty of entries into our monthly draw.
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David Kalatzis caught this beautiful 72 cm mulloway on the Port Hacking River and was kind enough to donate the frame to Tackle World Tarren Point for us to collect. David's fish was aged 5 years and was caught on Christmas Eve.
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Snapper gun, Grant Ashwell has been at it again donating some great fish to the program. This time he was able to donate one of our biggest fish received at the RAP a 99.5 cm beast! This snapper was aged at an impressive 17 years old. The image below shows the fish's sectioned otolith with all the growth rings marked just like you would see on a tree trunk. Like many north coast snapper Grant's is much younger than you would expect for a fish of its size. Typically, snapper caught north of Coffs Harbour show an accelerated growth rate compared to fish from the south coast.
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Ian Jack was able to catch some great dusky flathead around Port Stephens over the warmer months and donate them to the RAP. Along with a handful of table size fish, Ian and mate Tony also caught and released this 82 cm dusky. Ian scored himself one of our long sleeve fishing shirts for his efforts.
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This lovely mulloway was caught by Jayde Parrey out of the Hunter River. On her second attempt casting hard bodies she was able to land this 77.2 cm which we aged at 5 years old. For her donation, Jayde scored herself a $50 gift voucher from Tackle World Port Stephens.
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Graham Johnson has been catching some great mulloway around the mid-north coast and donating the frames to the RAP. One of his donations, a 115 cm mulloway, was aged at 7 years. For his efforts he won a $50 gift voucher to Rocks Marine Bait and Tackle.
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Angus McCook donated samples from multiple species to the RAP including this 62 cm dusky flathead while attending a spearfishing event at Port Stephens. RAP staff were at the event to collect samples from competitors making donating the frames nice and easy. Angus' flathead was aged at 5 years old.
The sectioned otolith below clearly shows each year band.
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Omar Ekermawi landed this great mulloway, pictured above, out of Botany Bay. His fish measured 83 cm and was aged at five years. For his efforts Omar won himself one of our RAP long sleeve fishing shirts. The sectioned otolith image to the right clearly shows the five-yearly growth rings.
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Reminder of new species being added to the RAP!
In addition to Mulloway, Kingfish, Snapper, Dusky Flathead, Spanish and Spotted Mackerel, in 2022 we are also now collecting frames for Blue Spotted Flathead and Pearl Perch!
 
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How can you get involved with the RAP?
Donate your frames
If you're interested in citizen science and are lucky enough to catch a Mulloway, Kingfish, Snapper, Dusky Flathead, Tailor, Black Bream, Spanish or Spotted Mackerel of any legal size, donate your fish frame at any participating drop-off point.
Join the Keen Anglers or tagging program
If you're an avid angler and would like to join the RAP team we are looking for anglers to join the Keen Angler Program and Mulloway Tagging Program. Please send us an email to find out more.
Monthly prize draws
All fish frame donations made to the RAP program gain one entry into the monthly prize draw for one of five $50 gift vouchers at selected tackle stores or a RAP long sleeve fishing shirt. Our lure promotion for all Mulloway donations is still running, so if you catch and donate a Mulloway frame you will win a Halco hard body lure.
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