Mazoney arif di perairan Pulau Kapas

Oleh Osman Lisut

TEKONG yang bagus ialah mereka mahir dan berilmu pengetahuan menjejak lubuk ikan, mengetahui bacaan arus air, masa sesuai untuk memancing, pakar mengenai laut serta memahami kehendak pelanggan, pemancing. Di samping, mampu memberikan perkhidmatan terbaik dan hasil tangkapan lumayan setiap kali menganjurkan trip memancing.
TEKONG yang bagus ialah mereka mahir dan berilmu pengetahuan menjejak lubuk ikan, mengetahui bacaan arus air, masa sesuai untuk memancing, pakar mengenai laut serta memahami kehendak pelanggan, pemancing. Di samping, mampu memberikan perkhidmatan terbaik dan hasil tangkapan lumayan setiap kali menganjurkan trip memancing.

Bagaimanapun, hasil tangkapan tidak menjadi masalah kepada pemancing kerana mereka faham serta akur setiap rezeki datangnya daripada Allah. Walaupun sudah berusaha untuk mendapatkan hasil tangkapan lumayan, namun kalau yang Esa masih enggan memberinya, pemancing reda.

Pada masa yang sama, tekong yang ramah, bertanggungjawab dan mudah berurusan sering menjadi rebutan kaki pancing, memandangkan mereka lebih senang berkomunikasi sama ada di darat ketika membuat tempahan, mahupun di laut ketika turun memancing.

Bagi Mazoney Mohd, 36, (gambar) berkata, pemancing umpama taukeh di atas bot dan apabila tempahan sudah dibuat, menjadi tanggungjawab tekong membawa mereka ke lubuk yang dikehendaki, di samping menyediakan peralatan tambahan seperti yang dikehendaki.

“Menjadi kebiasaan, saya akan bertanya terlebih dulu apa yang ingin dipancing pelanggan. Saya akan mencadangkan masa dan lokasi yang sesuai. Jika ada pemancing mahupun mereka dibawa ke tempat lain, saya akan mengikutnya.

“Namun, pemancing juga perlu akur dengan nasihat tekong dan mengetahui keadaan air terlebih dulu sebelum menempah bot. Jika tidak, sia-sia saja trip yang disertai dan jangan dipersalahkan saya kerana sebelum ini nasihat sudah diberikan,” katanya.

Mewarisi pengalaman daripada bapanya yang juga seorang nelayan bubu suatu ketika dulu, Tekong Mazoney amat arif mengenai perairan Marang terutama di sekitar Pulau Kapas dan Pulau Gemia yang terkenal dengan spesies aruan tasik, jemuduk, ebek dan kerapu.

Walaupun ikan berkenaan tidaklah bersaiz mega berbanding perairan lain, namun aksi ganas aruan tasik dan ebek sudah cukup meletihkan kaki pancing yang baru-baru berjinak-jinak dalam hobi berkenaan.

Mazoney berkata, walaupun tugasnya sepenuh masa adalah memasang bubu di perairan berkenaan, namun jika ada tempahan atau rakan memintanya membawa kumpulan pemancing, beliau tidak akan menolaknya.

“Itu juga rezeki... kalau hendak harapkan hasil tangkapan bubu kadang kala tidak mencukupi. Lebih-lebih lagi musim tengkujuh di mana nelayan tidak turun ke laut dan menghabiskan masa di rumah memeriksa dan membaiki bubu atau jaring rosak,” katanya.
Selain menggunakan peralatan moden untuk mengesan ikan di dasar laut serta kedalaman air, Mazoney dapat menggunakan gerak rasa dan hati untuk mengesan sesuatu sama ada buruk atau baik yang bakal berlaku. Ini satu rahsia baginya yang tidak boleh dikongsi dengan orang lain.

Beliau berpegang kepada amalan merendah diri dan bertanggungjawab ketika berada di laut. Sikap begini sekali gus memberi kepuasan kepada pemancing dalam semua aspek sambil terus membantu tekong untuk mendapatkan lokasi yang terbaik.

Mereka yang ingin merasai pengalaman memancing di sekitar perairan Marang (Pulau Kapas) boleh menghubungi 019-9637879.


Source:   Joran

What Makes the Trout in Ecuador Look Like Salmon?

Billboards and advertisements depicting huge and beautiful rainbow trout announce to travelers in much of the Ecuadorian Andes that fishing is one reason to come here. Photo by Alastair Bland.

A crisp, clear stream flows out of Cajas National Park on a 20-mile circuitous route down to the town of Cuenca—but few fish live in these wild waters. Yet the Quinuas River Valley it forms is a hot destination for sport fishermen. They come by the hundreds each weekend, mostly from Cuenca, seeking the most popular game fish in the world: the rainbow trout.
“What kind of trout live in here?” I ask a young man who serves me coffee at Cabana del Pescador, the campground where I have stayed the night. I am only curious how locals refer to the species Oncorhynchus mykiss, which is native to North American and Siberian streams that enter the Pacific but has been introduced to virtually all suitable habitat on earth. In Ecuador, the species first arrived in the 1960s.
“Normal trout,” he says.
I aim to catch a few fish today and have them for dinner, but I move on, up the road, looking for a happier place to fish. The pond here is muddy, surrounded by concrete and a chain-link fence. Trouble is, I won’t find much better. This valley, though populated by a few wild trout in the streams and lakes of Cajas National Park, is a busy center of aquaculture. Trout farming is generally considered a clean and sustainable industry, though it isn’t always pretty. For a stretch of seven or eight miles downstream of the park, nearly every roadside farm has a handful of concrete-banked pools on the premises, fed by stream water and swarming with trout about 12 inches long.

The trout ponds at Reina del Cisne restaurant and fishing club. Photo by Alastair Bland

Up the road, after passing a half dozen possible fishing sites, I pull in to one called Reina del Cisne, at kilometer 21. It is a restaurant and sport fishing “club,” as the sign tells visitors. I have coffee—Nescafé, as always—inside. When I am finished, I ask if there is an opportunity to fish here, and the teenage waiter beckons me to follow. “It’s 50 cents to rent a pole,” he says. “Then, we weigh the trout, and you pay $2.25 per pound.” The biggest fish in the ponds out back are more than ten pounds, he tells me.
He pulls one rod from a heap of several dozen—a broomstick-like pole with a stout line tied to the end and a silver barbed hook at the tip. He quickly mixes up a bucket of bread dough to use as bait, drops a hunk into a shopping-style woven basket and hands me my tackle.
“What kind of trout are these?” I ask, still fishing for local lingo.
“Salmon trout. They have red meat,” he says. He adds, “Good luck,” and returns to the restaurant.
For an angler who has fished in the Rockies and the Sierra Nevada and Alaska and New Zealand, this is a sad comparison, and I feel a strange desire to either cry or laugh hysterically. This would make a perfect opportunity for kids, but I know what real fishing, in real waters, is. Here, I have three ponds to choose from—two of them rectangular, concrete basins, the other a muddy, oval-shaped pool 30 feet across with grassy banks. I flick a piece of dough into this most natural-appearing of the options. Several trout dart from the murk as the white ball vanishes in an instant. I bait my hook and fling it into the middle of the pond, slightly embarrassed that I am participating in what locals advertise as pesca deportiva—or “sport fishing.” A similar flurry of fish attack and strip the hook. I re-bait and try again and this time hook instantly into a feisty rainbow. I drag it in and onto the bank, whack it cold with a stick and drop it in my basket. One down, and in another five minutes I have a second fish. I could take more but, frankly, this isn’t fun or engaging. A year ago exactly I was cycling around New Zealand, casting flies at wild trout six times this size and immeasurably more thrilling to catch—wary, elusive, picky and beautiful. The challenge of enticing one to strike made success an accomplishment. Best of all was the experience of being there, fish or none, standing in crystal clear waters surrounded by green meadows and the tall peaks of the Southern Alps. Indeed, fishing is largely about interacting with the environment, and if one catches no trout on an expedition into the mountains, something else is still gained.
But no matter how big a fish one may pull from a concrete-lined pond, using dough balls for bait, the experience feels as hollow as shopping in a supermarket. While I’m here, I hope I might tangle with an eight-pounder, but no such beast shows itself. I wonder if perhaps they tell all guests that giant trout live in these ponds to encourage business. But back inside the restaurant, my hosts show me the de-boned meat of a 14-pounder caught the day before. The meat is thick and heavy and a delicious-looking salmon red. I ask what the trout eat. “Natural food,” owner Maria Herrera tells me.

Maria Herrera, in the dining room of her restaurant Reina del Cisne, stands with a young employee and the de-boned meat of a 14-pound trout taken from the stocked fish tanks in back. Photo by Alastair Bland.

Down the road, at kilometer 18, I visit a government-run fish hatchery. I roll down the dirt drive, across the stream on a wooden bridge and up a short rise to the facility. I introduce myself to two men in yellow slickers, ankle deep in a muddy concrete basin full of thrashing foot-long trout. The station director, Lenin Moreno, tells me that more than 8,000 adult fish live here. He and his colleague, Ricardo Mercado, are currently trying to get an exact head count in a tank swarming with, they guess, about 300 fish. They take a break and show me to the laboratoria—the hatchery. In the trays and tanks of this covered, concrete-walled facility, 1.3 million juveniles are produced each year and sold to aquaculture operations in four provinces, Moreno tells me.
Outside, they show me a rectangular basin teeming with huge rainbows, green-backed, red-sided beauties that remind me of the two-foot-long giants of New Zealand. Visitors may come here to buy these trout, Moreno tells me. The fish go for $1.50 per pound.

Five- and six-pound rainbow trout cruise through the waters of a 6- by 30-foot concrete basin at a government trout hatchery and farm at kilometer 18 on the Cuenca-Cajas National Park highway. Photo by Alastair Bland.

I ask if the meat is red like salmon. “No—it’s white,” Moreno tells me. “But at the fish farms they feed the trout pigment.”
This doesn’t surprise me. The rainbow trout I grew up on were generally white-fleshed fish. Only occasionally on family camping trips as we cleaned our catch would we discover with excitement that the trout had natural pink meat, which tends to be richer and fattier than paler flesh. But in Ecuador’s many fish markets, I have not yet seen a trout fillet that wasn’t colored like salmon, and I’ve suspected all along that this attractive color (which I’ll admit has drawn my wallet from my pocket more than once) was artificially induced. I recall seeing the fillet of a trout caught in New Zealand just outside the outflow of a Chinook salmon farm that was clearly affected by such pigment—probably either synthetic astaxanthin or canthaxanthin, both used in most commercial salmon farming operations (and the latter of which may cause retinal damage). The trout had presumably been eating pellet feed that escaped from the salmon pens, and the meat was partially colored, patchy red and white like a tie-dyed shirt. Yuck.
I poached my farm-caught trout in cheap Chilean Sauvignon Blanc at my hostel in Cuenca, just off the main street of Calle Larga. The meal was fine and exactly what I had been aiming for when I plunked that ball of dough into the pond at Reina del Cisne. But the fish didn’t quite taste up to par. Because although pink-fleshed trout are a sure catch in the mountain fishing ponds of Ecuador, something else, less easy to describe, native to places like Montana and British Columbia, may evade you with every fish landed.

Neither native nor wild, these small rainbow trout were pulled from a stocked pond in Ecuador, where the species was introduced in the 1960s. Photo by Alastair Bland.

Read more: http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/adventure/2013/02/trout-fishing-in-ecuador/#ixzz2L3W5D0sD
Follow us: @SmithsonianMag on Twitter

More Fishing News: http://gofishtalk.com

Mokhtar tawar pakej ke OFB

Oleh Tamizam Abd Karim

APABILA disebut OFB, ramai pemancing kurang arif atau tidak tahu apa maknanya. Tetapi dengan menyebut Rumah Api - One Phantom Bank (OFB) - Permatang Sedepa maka pasti ramai yang tahu mengenainya. Rumah api ini yang berada di tengah laluan kapal kira-kira 27 batu nautika dari jeti Pelabuhan Klang menjadi nadi pergerakan kapal yang menyusuri Selat Melaka.
APABILA disebut OFB, ramai pemancing kurang arif atau tidak tahu apa maknanya. Tetapi dengan menyebut Rumah Api - One Phantom Bank (OFB) - Permatang Sedepa maka pasti ramai yang tahu mengenainya. Rumah api ini yang berada di tengah laluan kapal kira-kira 27 batu nautika dari jeti Pelabuhan Klang menjadi nadi pergerakan kapal yang menyusuri Selat Melaka.

Rumah api berfungsi sebagai pedoman kapal dagang supaya tidak tersasar di laluan yang salah. Di kawasan rumah api OFB terdapat sebuah bangkai kapal karang yang tersadai di beting pasirnya. Kawasan itu dikatakan tumpuan ikan selain di sekitar tiang konkrit rumah api itu sendiri.

Menyedari ramai pemancing bermasalah untuk mengunjungi rumah api ini, Mohd Nazami Mokhtar Abdul Aziz (gambar), menyediakan pakej memancing ke OFB sejak beberapa tahun lalu. Beliau yang lebih dikenali sebagai Tekong Mokhtar menawarkan perkhidmatan membawa kaki pancing berkunjung ke rumah api berkenaan. Bot gentian kaca 42 kaki itu mampu membawa 10 pemancing biasanya mengambil masa sejam 15 minit untuk tiba ke tempat terbabit. Sampan gentian kaca jenis pancung itu boleh bergerak dengan kelajuan maksimum 25 batu nautika sejam.

Selain rumah api, kapal karam menjadi destinasi pilihan tekong Mokhtar untuk membawa kaki pancing menduga ikan di kawasan itu. Antara ikan yang lumrah ialah talang, alu-alu, jenahak dan kerapu di samping tenggiri, gerepoh dan aruan tasik yang kadang-kadang turut menjadi habuan pemancing. Waktu malam pula sambil memancing, pengunjung berpeluang mencandat sotong yang gemar bermain cahaya dari rumah api berkenaan.

Bagi kaki yang tidak tahan mabuk laut, OFB adalah tempat yang sesuai bagi muka baru berjinak dengan aktiviti memancing di laut. Selain itu ikan selar, tamban dan cencaru turut digemari kaki pancing menggunakan set mata apollo yang di pancing dari rumah api. Selain ia dijadikan umpan hidup pilihan, ikan-ikan ini turut popular sebagai ikan hidangan. Sambil menunggu ikan besar menyentap umpan, hasil memancing apollo turut memberi kepuasan buat pengunjung.

Bagi tekong seperti Mokhtar, beliau biasanya akan memberi tunjuk ajar dan nasihat kepada pemancing mengenai peralatan dan program memancing ke OFB ini. Persiapan seperti bekalan makanan, minuman, perubatan, keselamatan dan peralatan memancing boleh dirujuk kepada beliau jika pertama kali ingin mengunjungi lokasi cukup popular di kawasan Lembah Klang ini. Tekong Mokhtar boleh dihubungi: 019-3477766.


Source:  http://joran.bharian.com.my/

Ghani pandai memasak, tahu lubuk karang

Oleh Nuri Angkasa

BAGI anak kelahiran Kampung Mukut, Pulau Tioman, Dazali Abdul Karim, 50, atau lebih dikenali sebagai Tekong Ghani, beliau tidak menolak hakikat bahawa laut banyak mengajarnya menjadi manusia sejati yang tabah menghadapi sebarang cabaran.
BAGI anak kelahiran Kampung Mukut, Pulau Tioman, Dazali Abdul Karim, 50, atau lebih dikenali sebagai Tekong Ghani, beliau tidak menolak hakikat bahawa laut banyak mengajarnya menjadi manusia sejati yang tabah menghadapi sebarang cabaran.

Beliau yang membesar dalam keluarga nelayan ketika kecil bersama adiknya, Rosli yang juga tekong menjadikan pantai dan laut Kampung Mukut serta Kampung Asah sebagai padang permainan sekali gus tempat mencari rezeki.

Ghani yang memperoleh ilmu laut daripada orang tuanya, sanggup berdepan dengan cabaran seperti angin kencang, ribut dan gelombang besar bagi mengejar cita-cita untuk menjadi seorang pelaut yang terkenal.

Berkat ketabahan dan kecekalan, Ghani kini mampu menarik nafas lega kerana beliau antara tekong yang disegani di perairan Pulau Tioman dan Pulau Pemanggil. Sebagai tekong, keselesaan pemancing yang dibawanya serta menjaga keselamatan mereka perlu diutamakan.

“Jangan sesekali berjanji dengan laut. Sebab itu, saya sentiasa memberi ingatan kepada pemancing supaya mengutamakan keselamatan,” kata Ghani sambil mengakui bahawa pemancing yang dibawa ada bermacam ragam. Namun sudah menjadi tanggungjawabnya memahami dan memberi teguran ketika mereka berada di atas bot demi keselamatan.

Tekong Ghani, seorang yang pendiam tetapi tidak lokek dengan ilmu laut dan sering membantu pemancing dalam semua hal.

Selain itu, beliau pandai memasak. Sesetengah pelanggan yang dibawanya menggelarkan beliau sebagai Chef Ghani, tukang masak nombor satu ketika di laut dan tekong cemerlang kerana bijak mencari lubuk atau karang semula jadi yang tiada bertanda.

Beliau melakukan pendekatan berpindah jika lokasi tidak dapat memberi kepuasan pemancing selepas 30 minit bot berlabuh.

“Kita kena cari lubuk atau karang yang ada ikan sampai jumpa untuk berlabuh,” kata beliau membuat pengakuan yang sekali gus mencerminkan keikhlasan hati yang tentunya dapat mengikat kepercayaan pemancing.

Kepada pemancing yang berminat untuk mendapatkan khidmat Tekong Ghani boleh menghubungi: 013-6094623


Source:  http://joran.bharian.com.my/Current_News/Joran/News/Tekong/20080314092024/Article/index_html

Boat, outdoor shows open Thursday at I-X Center

By D'Arcy Egan, The Plain DeThe Plain Dealer

Boat, outdoor shows open Thursday at I-X Center, with Lake Erie walleye in spotlight

Lake Erie's legendary walleye fishing will be featured at both the Cleveland Outdoor Adventure

 

Show and the Mid-America Boat Show, both opening Thursday at the I-X Center. Max Hartman, 6, reeled in this trophy walleye while late-season walleye fishing on Lake Erie with his dad, fisheries biologist Travis Hartman of the Ohio Division of Wildlife. The youngster can forever boast he once caught a walleye longer than his arm - or even his leg. Travis hartman

The Cleveland Outdoor Adventure Show and the Mid-America Boat Show both open Thursday at the I-X Center in Cleveland. They are independent shows, with separate admissions, but do have something in common: Lake Erie walleye.
Walleye are the premier game fish around here, driving boat sales and supporting a $2 billion fishing and tourism industry. As expected, both shows focus on the area's favorite fish. The boat show runs through Monday, while the outdoor show wraps up Sunday.
President Ken Alvey of the Lake Erie Marine Trades Association, producer of the Mid-America Boat Show, says about 75 percent of the boats sold by Northeast Ohio dealers will at one time or another launch on Lake Erie.
"The majority of boats sold here are designed for Lake Erie fishing," Alvey said. "It's not only good for boat sales, which are finally on the upswing this year, but critical for local tourism, and the success of area bait and tackle shops, hotels, motels and restaurants."
Travis Hartman, a fisheries biologist at the Division of Wildlife's Sandusky Fish Research Unit, expects this year's walleye fishing to be about the same as it was in 2012, even with reports of poor walleye reproduction and a shrinking walleye population.
"Lake Erie drives the bus when it comes to statewide license sales and angling effort, a reason the Division of Wildlife has an Erie-centric point of view," Hartman said. "Our 2012 (netting) surveys are done, and I don't see much difference in the walleye population for 2013," said Hartman. "If the weather cooperates, we should see lots of walleye in the 16- to 20-inch range caught around the Western Basin throughout the summer. The prime areas for trophy walleye will be from Kelleys Island to Conneaut."
A little more than 400,000 walleye were caught in 2011, a slump caused by extreme weather, lots of wind and rain and an algal bloom not seen since the 1960s. Good fishing weather in 2012 jump-started a walleye fishing resurgence. The annual catch jumping to about 1 million fish, the average over the last decade.
"The walleye fishing may never again be like the 1980s, when you could catch a limit in a couple of hours. The fishing is still be pretty good these days, depending on the weather, of course."
There has been a change in what Lake Erie anglers want from the big lake. A couple of decades ago, walleye ruled. These days, the annual Lake Erie catch is made up of about a 50-50 mix of walleye and yellow perch, a popular panfish with a liberal daily bag limit of 30 fish.
The Cleveland Outdoor Adventure Show will have a wealth of deer and turkey seminars and a trophy deer contest, as well as a mix of fishing seminars. New this year will be kayak fishing and fly casting clinics with Eric Lindstrom of The Backpackers Shop in Sheffield. The legendary Spence Petros returns to talk fishing; Carl Bachtel tackles ice fishing and crappie angling; and guide Pete Alex has the corner on walleye fishing tactics.
For youth anglers, the trout pond is back, and it's free.
Headlining the walleye seminars at the Mid-America Boat Show are Mark Brumbaugh, Jim and Rich Stedke, Gary and Nicholas Zart, Scott Stecher and Hartman. They'll team up for the Walleye College on Saturday from 2-5 p.m. The Bass College on Jan. 20 from 1-4 p.m. features Jonathan Shoemaker, Bryan Coates and Joe Balog. Lance Valentine has seminars on boating electronics.
The boat show is giving away 100 rods and reels to youngsters attending the Saturday Kids Fishing Clinic on Jan. 19 at noon.


Full Article:  http://www.cleveland.com/outdoors/index.ssf/2013/01/boat_outdoor_shows_open_thursd.html

Alaska Fishing. Monster Halibut, fishing with Saltwater Safari out of Se...

Mancing dipelantar minyak 9-12 Apr 2011

Punggah dua dozen tenggiri tuas

Oleh Abu Bakar Ali

(DARI kiri) Tekong Wan Ahmad, Cikgu Mi, penulis dan Sidek menunjukkan tenggiri yang dipancing di tuas dalam perairan Yan, baru-baru ini.

YAN: Angin bertiup perlahan diiringi ombak kecil. Ini keadaan yang paling digemari pemancing dan nelayan untuk menguji beberapa tuas (unjam) di sekitar perairan daerah ini yang popular dengan tenggiri.
YAN: Angin bertiup perlahan diiringi ombak kecil. Ini keadaan yang paling digemari pemancing dan nelayan untuk menguji beberapa tuas (unjam) di sekitar perairan daerah ini yang popular dengan tenggiri.

Penulis bersama tiga rakan dari Petaling Jaya iaitu Haji Yusof, Kamal dan Sidek berkesempatan mengunjungi tuas di sini ditemani Tekong Wan Ahmad yang juga anak jati Yan bersama Cikgu Mi.

Sebenarnya hasrat hendak ke tuas sudah lama dipendam. Namun ketiadaan hubungan (tekong atau pemancing yang dikenali), membuatkan ia hanya sekadar perancangan. Sehinggalah, apabila seorang kenalan baik yang secara kebetulan pernah ke sana, memberikan nama dan nombor telefon Tekong Wan Ahmad kepada penulis untuk dihubungi.

Dalam perjalanan kami memasang angan-angan hendak menarik seberapa banyak tenggiri. Ini kerana sebelum itu ada pemancing pernah mendapat lebih 10 ekor tenggiri jika kena air dan umpan.

Justeru, langkah pertama sejurus bot bergerak ke lokasi ialah mencari umpan hidup yang menjadi kegemaran tenggiri.

Setibanya di tuas pertama, kelihatan sekumpulan burung camar berlegar-legar di atas buluh menandakan terdapat anak ikan atau umpan di situ. Apa lagi, penulis dan rakan-rakan tidak sabar-sabar menghulur pancing apollo bagi mencari selar kuning, kembung dan cencaru.

Hampir penuh tong Coleman 54 Qt dan pada masa yang sama, penulis sempat menghulurkan belon bagi teknik pancing apungan. Ternyata usaha itu tidak sia-sia, tidak sampai lima minit, belon pecah yang menandakan ada ikan sudah mengena.

Akhirnya tumpas seekor tenggiri. Selepas ditimbang beratnya kira-kira 4 kilogram (kg). Ini sudah cukup memuaskan hati kami. Dalam asyik membicarakan tangkapan penulis, giliran joran Kamal pula diragut tenggiri.

Selepas hampir lapan jam memancing, penulis bersama rakan kembali ke jeti. Apabila dikira, kami memperoleh 24 ekor tenggiri dengan berat antara 4 hingga 8 kg seekor. Kami menganggap trip mencatatkan tangkapan paling lumayan.

Kami kemudian dipelawa ke rumah Tekong Wan Ahmad untuk mandi dan menikmati juadah petang sebelum meneruskan perjalanan pulang ke ibu negara.



Sumber Artikel:  Joran
More News: www.GoFishTalk.com

Pak Hitam jadi pilihan pemancing

Tekong

KUALA BESUT: Sebut saja Pelantar Minyak, terbayang kaki pancing akan kehebatan tekong Abdul Ghani Ahmad @ Pak Hitam, yang pakar mengesan lubuk ikan merah, jenahak, kerapu, jemuduk, ebek dan sebagainya.
KUALA BESUT: Sebut saja Pelantar Minyak, terbayang kaki pancing akan kehebatan tekong Abdul Ghani Ahmad @ Pak Hitam (gambar), yang pakar mengesan lubuk ikan merah, jenahak, kerapu, jemuduk, ebek dan sebagainya.

Nama lelaki berusia separuh abad ini bukan saja sering bermain di bibir kaki pancing, malah pakej menariknya menjanjikan hasil tangkapan amat lumayan, menjadi penarik hingga menyebabkan beliau sering ditempah.

Ini terbukti sehingga Jun depan, bot beliau sudah ditempah kaki pancing sama ada dari Lembah Klang, Johor Bahru, Kelantan, Terengganu dan Pahang. Malah, pemancing Singapura juga turut mendapatkan khidmatnya untuk memancing di sekitar pelantar Minyak.

Pak Hitam berkata, beliau aktif menjalankan pakej memancing sejak 1999 selepas diminta seorang rakan kerana dia ketika itu tak boleh membawa kaki pancing kerana kurang sihat.

“Sebenar saya hanya tekong nelayan yang sekadar menangkap ikan di perairan yang jauhnya lapan batu nautika dari pantai Kuala Besut. Bagaimanapun, selepas menjadi tekong bidang terjun, saya terus bergerak aktif menawarkan pakej memancing.

“Pengalaman luas dengan perairan Kuala Besut, ditambah pula dengan memiliki lebih daripada 200 lubuk ikan bersaiz XL, menjadikan saya orang pilihan pemancing. Tidak pernah ada orang merungut atau melahirkan rasa kecewa apabila pergi memancing dengan saya, rata-rata memuji dengan hasil tangkapan di lubuk yang dibawa,” katanya.

Antara lokasi kegemarannya ialah Karang Luas, Karang Wahab, Unjam Pak Hitam, Karang Haji Rahman, Lubuk 10 minit dan banyak lagi. Malah kewujudan spesies ikan tenggiri, kerapu, merah, ebek, tambak dan banyak lagi ikan bermutu di kawasan karang di sini mampu memberi kepuasan kepada pemancing dan nelayan amnya.

Bot kayu sepanjang 50 kaki berpangkalan di jeti nelayan Kuala Besut, biasanya mengambil masa lebih 12 jam untuk ke destinasi dan selesa dengan membawa 10 pemancing pada satu trip.

Menariknya Pak Hitam ialah, sepanjang perjalanan ke destinasi utama, beliau akan singgah di beberapa unjam atau karang laut bagi mencari umpan. Jika bernasib baik ikan besar boleh didapati.

Jika ada pemancing ingin merasai tarikan ganas merah pucat bersaiz besar, hubungi Pak Itam: 019-9403715.



Sumber Artikel:   Joran
More News:  www.GoFishTalk.com

Ikan Langkawi tak habis dipancing

Tekong

Ikan Langkawi tak habis dipancing

Oleh Nuri Angkasa

Khuzaimi Kassim

PULAU Legenda Mahsuri, Langkawi menempatkan puluhan pulau yang menjadi mercu tanda bagi nelayan untuk mencari rezeki. Gugusan pulau itu menjadi rahsia bagi mereka kerana di lokasi inilah nelayan tempatan mencari makan.
PULAU Legenda Mahsuri, Langkawi menempatkan puluhan pulau yang menjadi mercu tanda bagi nelayan untuk mencari rezeki. Gugusan pulau itu menjadi rahsia bagi mereka kerana di lokasi inilah nelayan tempatan mencari makan.

Tekong kelahiran Pulau Tuba antara yang mempunyai pengalaman luas di laut sebelah sini. Malah mereka meneroka hingga ke sempadan perairan negara jiran Thailand. Namun bagi seorang anak muda yang lahir di pulau itu - Khuzaimi Kassim, 40, atau dikenali sebagai Tekong Mee, menganggap laut adalah sumber rezeki yang tidak pernah habis walau sebanyak mana penghuninya dikaut para nelayan.

Tekong Mee yang sudah beristeri dan mempunyai tiga anak masih lagi memberi harapan pada laut. Pulau yang dihuni spesies ikan karang itu menjadi tempat beliau menimba rezeki. Beliau juga seorang pelaut bersemangat tinggi.

Beliau yang ditemui di Langkawi baru-baru ini, melahirkan harapan untuk mengembangkan khidmat membawa pemancing di sekitar pulau di perairan gugusan pulau itu yang pastinya akan dapat menjamin kepuasan memancing. Beliau mempunyai beberapa buah bot gantian kaca yang boleh memecut laju ke lokasi berdekatan. Selain itu, beliau turut memiliki bot nelayan yang boleh membawa pemancing lebih jauh dengan muatan 10 pelanggan pada satu masa.

Seperti tekong lain, Khuzaimi akan sentiasa memastikan pelanggan yang dibawa mendapat kepuasan memancing dan pulang membawa hasil tangkapan lumayan. Pada masa sama, beliau tetap sentiasa menitik beratkan keselamatan pemancing ketika di laut.

Beliau disenangi pelanggan kerana sifatnya yang peramah dan rajin menunjuk ajar teknik memancing yang berbeza antara satu negeri dengan negeri yang lain.

“Lokasi di sini kalau kena lubuknya kita tak payah pindah randah kerana ikan berkumpul dalam satu kumpulan yang banyak dan tidak cepat melarikan diri ke lubuk yang lain. Cuma kita mesti melabuhkan umpan dengan pantas,” kata Tekong Mee sambil mengharap untuk membawa penulis ke lubuk ikan jenahak bersaiz besar.

“Ikan di perairan Langkawi tak habis dipancing. Kita tak payah pergi ke negara jiran,” kata Tekong Mee menutup cerita sambil tersenyum memandang penulis yang mengerti dengan senyuman anak pelaut itu. Pemancing yang mahu khidmat beliau boleh menghubungi: 012-4043250/012-4820250.


Sumber Artikel:    http://joran.bharian.com.my/Current_News/Joran/News/Tekong/20090206100408/Article/index_html

Murray cod

Murray Cod
Conservation status
Critically Endangered (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Actinopterygii
Order:	Perciformes
Family:	Percichthyidae
Genus:	Maccullochella
Species:	M. peelii
Binomial name
Maccullochella peelii (Mitchell, 1838)

This article is about the Australian freshwater fish. For other uses, see Cod (disambiguation) and Murray (disambiguation)

The Murray cod (Maccullochella peelii) is a large Australian predatory freshwater fish of the Maccullochella genus and the Percichthyidae family. Although the species is a called cod in the vernacular, it is not related to the northern hemisphere marine cod (Gadus) species. The Murray cod is an important and charismatic part of Australia's vertebrate wildlife and is found in the Murray-Darling river system in Australia. The Murray cod is the largest exclusively freshwater fish in Australia, and one of the largest in the world. Other common names for Murray cod include cod, greenfish and goodoo.
The scientific name of Murray cod derives from an early Australian fish researcher with the surname McCulloch and the river from which the explorer Major Mitchell first scientifically described the species, the Peel River. This was for a number of years changed to M. peelii peelii to differentiate Murray cod from Mary River cod, which were designated as a subspecies of Murray cod. However, as of 2010 Mary River cod have been raised to full species status (M. mariensis) ^[2] and thus Murray cod have reverted simply to M. peelii.
Murray cod populations have declined severely since European colonisation of Australia due to a number of causes including severe overfishing, river regulation and habitat degradation and are now a listed threatened species. However, they once inhabited almost the entire Murray-Darling basin, Australia's largest river system, in very great numbers.
A long-lived fish, adult Murray cod are carnivorous and mainly eat other fish. The species exhibits a high degree of parental care for their eggs, which are spawned in the spring and are generally laid in hollow logs or on other hard surfaces. Murray cod are a popular angling target and aquaculture species. Often available through the aquarium trade, they are also a popular aquarium species in Australia.

 Description

A Murray cod, displaying characteristic mottled green colouration. The fish was carefully released after the photo.

Murray cod are a large grouper-like fish with deep, elongated bodies^[3] that are round in cross section. They have a broad, scooped head, and a large mouth lined with pads of very small needle-like teeth. The jaws of the Murray cod are equal, or the lower jaw protrudes slightly.^[4][5][6]
The spiny dorsal fin of Murray cod is moderate to low in height and is partially separated by a notch from the high, rounded soft dorsal fin.^[5] Soft dorsal, anal and caudal (tail) fins are all large and rounded, and are dusky grey or black with distinct white edges.^[3][6] The large, rounded pectoral fins are usually similar in colour to the flanks. The pelvic fins are large and angular and set forward of the pectoral fins. The leading white-coloured rays on the pelvic fins split into two trailing white filaments,^[5] while the pelvic fins themselves are usually a translucent white or cream, tending toward opacity in large fish.
Murray cod are white to cream on their ventral (belly) surface. Their back and flanks are usually yellowish-green to green, overlain with heavy darker green, but occasionally brown or black, mottling. The effect is a marbled appearance sometimes reminiscent of a leopard's markings. Colouration is related to water clarity;^[6] colouration is intense in fish from clear water habitats. Small to medium sized Murray cod from clear water habitats often have striking and very distinct colouration. Very large fish tend towards a speckled grey-green colouration.^[7]

Size

Murray cod are large fish, with adult fish regularly reaching 80–100 centimetres (32–39 in) in length in all but the very smallest waterways. Murray cod are capable of growing well over 1 metre (3 ft) in length and the largest on record was over 1.8 metres (6 ft) and approximately 113 kilograms (250 lb) in weight.^[5][8][9] Large breeding fish are rare in most wild populations today due to overfishing.^{[10][11][12][13]}

 Related species

Murray cod push significant distances into upland river habitats

Murray cod continue a pattern present in Murray-Darling native fish genera of speciation into lowland and specialist upland species: Murray cod are the primarily lowland species and the endangered trout cod are the specialist upland species. The pattern is slightly blurred in the cod species because, being adaptable and successful fish, Murray cod push significant distances into upland habitats, while the now endangered trout cod stray (or did stray, before their decline) well down the upland/lowland transition zone, which can be extensive in Murray-Darling rivers. Nevertheless, the basic pattern of speciation into a primarily lowland species and a specialist upland species is present.^[7]
Murray cod, like a number of other Murray-Darling native fish species, have also managed to cross the Great Dividing Range at least once through natural river capture events, leading to several species and sub-species of coastal cod. The best known are eastern freshwater cod of the Clarence River system in northern New South Wales, and Mary River cod of the Mary River system in south eastern Queensland, both of which are endangered but survive today. Coastal cod were also found in the Richmond River system in northern New South Wales and the Brisbane River system in southern Queensland, but are now extinct.^[6][14]

Taxonomy

In the 1800s and early 1900s, commercial fishermen, recreational fishermen, riverside residents and some fisheries scientists (e.g. Anderson, Stead, Langtry) distinctly recognised two species of cod in the southern Murray-Darling basin, Murray cod and trout cod or "blue nose cod". Taxonomically however, confusion abounded. Only one species of cod was taxonomically recognised, the Murray cod (then named Maccullochella macquariensis, after an early Australian fish researcher with the surname McCulloch^[15] and the Macquarie River in New South Wales where the holotype was captured^[15]) and as trout cod declined into near extinction over the 1900s the distinction between the two species was eroded and finally questioned. In the 1970s early genetic techniques confirmed forever that trout cod were a separate species and further showed that the original "Murray cod" specimen was in fact a trout cod. Following the rules of scientific classification, the name M. macquariensis remained with the original specimen, now known to be the trout cod, and a new name, M. peelii, for the Peel River^[15] where the new holotype was captured, was coined for the Murray cod. Subsequently, two further cod were identified as separate species, the eastern freshwater cod (M. ikei) and the Mary River cod (M. mariensis).^[6][2]

 Range

The Murray cod is named after the Murray River. The Murray River is part of the Murray-Darling basin in eastern Australia, Australia's largest and most important river system, draining approximately 14% of the continent.^[3][16] The Murray cod's natural range encompasses virtually the whole Murray-Darling Basin,^[4][5] particularly the lowland areas, and extending well into upland areas — to about 700 m (2,297 ft) elevation in the southern half of the basin and to about 1,000 m (3,281 ft) in the northern half of the basin.^[6]

Distribution of Murray cod^[4][5]

Consequently, Murray cod inhabit a remarkably wide variety of habitats, from cool, clear, fast-flowing streams with riffle-and-pool structure and rocky substrates in upland areas to large, slow flowing, meandering rivers in the extensive alluvial lowland reaches of the Murray-Darling Basin.^[3][5][8][9]

A small Murray cod from a run in an upland river

Murray cod have died out in many of their upland habitats, particularly in the southern Murray-Darling basin, due to a combination of overfishing, siltation, dams and weirs blocking migration, pollution from arsenic-based sheep-dips, mining and in some cases, introduced trout stockings, which causes competition between juvenile Murray cod and introduced trout species.^[9]

Age

Murray cod are very long-lived, which is characteristic of many freshwater native fish in Australia.^[6] Longevity is a survival strategy in variable Australian environment to ensure that most adults participate in at least one exceptional spawning and recruitment event, which are often linked to unusually wet La Niña years and may only occur every one or two decades.^[6] Murray cod are the most long-lived freshwater native fish in Australia.^[3] The oldest Murray cod aged yet was 48 years of age,^[17] and the even larger specimens of years past leave little doubt that the species can reach considerably greater ages, of 70 years or more.^[9]

 Diet

The Murray cod is an apex predator that will eat almost anything smaller than itself, including finned fishes such as introduced carp, goldfish, redfin, native golden perch, bony bream, eel-tailed catfish, western carp gudgeon and Australian smelt, and crustaceans such as yabbies, shrimp and Murray crayfish. A recent study has confirmed that fish compose the majority of the diet of mature Murray cod in lowland river and impoundment habitats, and that Murray cod are apex predators in these habitats.^[18] Murray cod have also been known to eat ducks, cormorants, freshwater tortoises, water dragons, snakes, mice and frogs. The observations of the recreational fishermen fishing for Murray cod with surface lures at night reveal that the popular description of Murray cod as a demersal ambush predator is only partially correct. While this behaviour is typical during the day, at night Murray cod are active pelagic predators, venturing into shallow waters and frequently taking prey from the surface.^[19]

 Reproduction

Murray cod reach sexual maturity between four and six years of age.^[9][20][21] Sexual maturity in Murray cod is dependent on age.^[20][21] Therefore, roughly 70% of wild river Murray cod, with their slower growth rate, have reached sexual maturity by 50 centimetres (20 in) in length. Wild Murray cod in impoundments like Lake Mulwala, with their faster growth rates, do not reach sexual maturity until they are well over 60 centimetres (2 ft) in length.^[9][20][21] This data strongly indicates that the 60 centimetres (20 in) size limit for Murray cod is inadequate and should be increased substantially to allow greater chance of reproduction before capture.
Large female Murray cod that are in the 15–35 kilogram (35–80 lb) range are the most important breeders because they produce the most eggs and for other reasons;^[9] research is now showing large females in most fish species are also important because they produce larger larvae with larger yolk sacs, and are also more experienced breeders that display optimal breeding behaviours.^{[13][22][23][24]} Such large females may also have valuable, successful genes to pass on.^[13] All of these factors mean the spawnings of large female fish have far higher larval survival rates and make far greater reproductive contributions than the spawnings of small female fish.^{[13][22][23][24]}
Female Murray cod, upon first reaching sexual maturity, will have egg counts of no more than around 10,000. Very large female Murray cod can have egg counts as high as 80,000–90,000,^[8] although a recent, very large 33 kg specimen yielded an egg count of 110,000 viable eggs.^[13] Egg counts in female Murray cod of all sizes are relatively low compared to many fish species.^[13][25]
Murray cod spawn in spring, cued by rising water temperatures and increasing photoperiod (daylight length). Initially, fish biologists working with Murray cod considered spring floods and temperatures of 20–21° Celsius (68-70°F) to be necessary^[25] and that spring flooding is critical for successful recruitment (i.e. survival to juvenile stages) of young cod by providing an influx of pelagic zooplankton and early life-stage macroinvertebrates off the flood plain into the main river channel for first feeding, but more recent research has shown Murray cod breed annually, with or without spring floods, and at temperatures as low as 15° Celsius (59°F).^{[5][9][20][21][26]} Additionally, recent research has shown abundant epibenthic/epiphytic (bottom dwelling/edge clinging) prey in non-flooded lowland rivers,^[26][27] traits in Murray cod larvae that should allow survival in a variety of challenging conditions,^[28] and a significant proportion of Murray cod larvae feeding successfully in non-flooded rivers.^[28][29]
Latest research has also shown that Murray cod in fact live their entire life cycle within the main channel of the stream. Earlier ideas that Murray cod spawn on floodplains, or that Murray cod larvae feed on floodplains, are incorrect. Murray cod breed in the main river channel or, in times of spring flood, the inundated upper portion of the main channel and tributary channels, but not on floodplains. Murray cod larvae feed within the main river channel or, in times of spring flood, on the inundated upper portion of the main channel and the channel/floodplain boundary, but not on the floodplain.^[30]
Spawning is preceded by significant upstream migrations if high spring flows or floods allow. Radio-tracked Murray cod in the Murray River have migrated up to 120 kilometres (75 mi) upstream to spawn, before returning to exactly the same snag they departed from, an unusual homing behaviour in a freshwater fish.^[30] Decades of observations by recreational and commercial fishermen suggest such spring spawning migrations are common across the Murray cod's geographical range.^[6] Spawning is initiated by pairing up and courtship rituals. During the courtship ritual a spawning site is selected and cleaned — hard surfaces such as rocks in upland rivers, and logs and occasionally clay banks in lowland rivers, at a depth of 2–3 metres (6–10 ft), are selected. The female lays the large adhesive eggs as a mat on the spawning surface, which the male fertilises. The female then leaves the spawning site. The male remains to guard the eggs during incubation, which takes six to ten days (depending on water temperature), and to guard the hatched larvae for a further week or so until they disperse. Larvae disperse from the nest site by drifting in river currents at night, and continue this behaviour for around four to seven days.^{[9][20][21][26][31][32][33][34]} During this dispersal process larvae simultaneously absorb the remainder of their yolk sac and begin to feed on pelagic zooplankton, small, early life-stage macroinvertebrates and epibenthic/epiphytic (bottom dwelling/edge clinging) microinvertebrates.^[28][29]
This information shows that the relationship between river flows and Murray cod recruitment are more complex than first thought, and that in less regulated rivers, Murray cod may be able to recruit under a range of conditions including stable low flows. (Significant recruitment of Murray cod in low flow conditions in less regulated lowland rivers has now been proven.) This information also suggests that non-river-regulation related causes of degradation are playing a larger role in the survival and recruitment of Murray cod larvae than first thought; competition from extremely large numbers of invasive carp larvae are negatively affecting the survival and recruitment of Murray cod larvae to a much greater degree than first thought;^[35] and that decades of overfishing is playing a far larger role in the current state of Murray cod stocks, through depletion of spawning adults, than first thought.^[10]
These findings do not mean that river regulation and water extraction have not had adverse effects on fish stocks. Rather, river regulation has been a major factor in the decline of Murray cod and other native fish.^[4] Thermal pollution is also a major problem (see below), there is evidence that strong Murray cod recruitment events (which may be important for sustaining Murray cod populations over the long term) can result from spring flooding, and copious evidence that the health of Australian lowland river ecosystems generally rely on periodic spring flooding.^[10][36] Also, due to the regulation of most of the rivers in the Murray-Darling river system, mainly for irrigation purposes, only exceptional spring floods manage to "break free". The long term viability of wild Murray cod, other native fish species and river ecosystems, in the face of this fact, are of great concern.^[10]

 Conservation

Murray cod were originally the most common large native fish in the Murray-Darling basin. Contrary to some fishery department literature, the first serious declines in Murray cod were caused by overfishing — extremely severe overfishing. In the latter half of the 1800s and the early 1900s, Murray cod — very large, very long-lived fish — were caught in unimaginable numbers by both commercial and recreational fishermen. For example, one commercial fishing operation commenced on the Murray River near Echuca in 1855, targeting Murray cod over hundreds of kilometres of river, and yet within eight years, grave concerns over the sustainability of this operation, and complaints about the near-absence of Murray cod in their heavily fished grounds, were being raised in the main state newspaper, The Argus.^[37] And yet fishing effort continued to increase in the region so that in the late 1880s and early 1890s, between 40,000 and 150,000 kg of mostly Murray cod (between 7,500 and 27,000 fish, at an average weight of 5.5 kg) were caught near Echuca.^[37] Similarly, in 1883, more than 147,000 kg of Murray cod were sent to Melbourne from just one river town (Moama).^[8] By the 1920s Murray cod had been overfished to the point where large-scale commercial fishing operations were no longer feasible.^[8][9] Recreational fishermen took similarly excessive hauls during this era, using rods and reels, handlines, setlines, drum nets, gill nets and even explosives, with hauls often either wasted or illegally sold. Perhaps this extreme overfishing and its impacts of wild Murray cod stocks is best summarised by a short article in the Register News (a South Australian newspaper) in 1929:

In [the last] 29 years 26,214,502 lbs (nearly 11,703 tons) [11,915,683 kg] of Murray cod has been eaten by the people of Melbourne. The Superintendent of Markets (Mr G. B. Minns) included these figures in a statement he made today pointing out that the supply was declining. In 1918, the peak year, 2,229,024 lbs [1,045,010 kg] was received at the market, but since 1921, when 1,101,520 lbs [501,145 kg] was sent to Melbourne, supply has decreased. Last year [1928] it was only 551,040 lbs [250,473 kg].^[38]

Incredibly, 20 years later the aquatic ecologist J.O. Langtry was still compelled to criticise the extremely heavy, lawless, fishing pressure, in the form of both uncontrolled small-scale commercial fishing and rampant illegal fishing, he was confronted with in all reaches of the Murray River he investigated in 1949–1950.^[32]
Indeed, a thorough reading of historical newspaper articles and historical government reports reveals that the whole history of wild Murray cod between the mid–1800s and the mid–1900s was one of citizen agitation, government inaction, and ongoing stock decline. For decade after decade, riverside residents, commercial fishermen, recreational fishermen, local fisheries inspectors, fish retailers and others agitated in newspapers and other fora about the evidently, continuously declining Murray cod stocks, to be met in turn either with government denials, or conversely, with various ineffective inquiries into Murray cod stocks and fisheries, and various ineffective control measures. For decade after decade, debate about excessive fishing pressure, number of fishermen, number of nets, net mesh size, bag limits, minimum size limits and take of small cod, closed seasons and the taking of spawning cod full of eggs during spring, and other sundry issues, raged on and on without proper resolution, with fishing regulations either not amended, or amended and largely unenforced and completely ignored, and with heavy commercial, recreational and illegal fishing pressure continuing unrelenting and unabated. The end result was a Murray cod population, initially unimaginably abundant, continually fished down and down and down without pause, until in the early to mid 20th century a number of other factors such as river regulation (listed below) emerged to drive the species even further into decline. All of these drivers of decline have left this iconic Australian fish in a perilous situation. There are now grave concerns for the long term survival of wild Murray cod populations.^[39][40][10]

An example of extreme, severe, overfishing of Murray cod in the late 1800s, which cause the first strong declines in the species. Such catches were typical for the period.

Although angler effects are sometimes disregarded in the overall picture today, recent population studies have shown that while all year classes are well represented up to the minimum legal angling size (now 60 centimetres in most states), above that size, numbers of fish are dramatically reduced almost to the point of non-existence in many waters.^[12][39] Some emphasis has been made of the results of two small surveys which suggested a majority of Murray cod are released by anglers. However, there are valid questions as to the representativeness of these surveys, these surveys do not explain the dramatic disappearance of large numbers of young Murray cod at exactly the minimum size limit, and most importantly, any emphasis on these surveys miss the fundamental point — as a large, long-lived species with relatively low fecundity and delayed sexual maturity wild Murray cod populations are extremely vulnerable to overfishing, even with only modest angler-kill.^[12][39] A tightening of fishing regulations for wild Murray cod, as referred to above, and a switch by fishermen to a largely catch and release approach for wild Murray cod would alleviate this problem.^[12]
Another issue is that Murray cod caught and released in winter, while developing their eggs, or in spring prior to spawning, resorb their eggs and do not spawn.^[9][31][41] This may be a minor issue compared to some of the other threats facing Murray cod, nevertheless, concerned fishermen try to avoid catching wild Murray cod at these times.^[6] At this point in time a closed season is in place for the spring spawning period, during which anglers are not allowed to target Murray cod, even on a catch and release basis.
State Government Fisheries departments support Murray cod populations by stocking with hatchery bred fish, especially in man made lakes.^[39] Important issues affecting restoration of cod populations, such as the need for spring floods and excessive angler take, although yet to be addressed,^[39] will be dealt with in the National Recovery Plan when it is completed.^[42]

 Effects of river regulation

The Murray River and southern tributaries originally displayed a pattern of high flows in winter, high flows and floods in spring, and low flows in summer and autumn. The breeding of Murray cod and other Murray-Darling native fish was adapted to these natural flow patterns. River regulation for irrigation has reversed these natural flow patterns, with negative effects on the breeding and recruitment of Murray cod. The Murray and most southern tributaries now experience high irrigation flows in summer and autumn and low flows in winter and spring. Small and medium floods including the once annual spring flood-pulse have been completely eliminated.^{[4][5][39][43]}
It is estimated that flows at the river mouth by 1995 had declined to only 27% of natural outflows.^[44] The probability of the bottom end of the Murray experiencing drought like flows had increased from 5% under natural conditions to 60% by 1995.^[44]
Thermal pollution is the artificial reduction in water temperatures, especially in summer and autumn, caused when frigid water is released from the bottom of reservoirs for irrigation demands. Thermal pollution inhibits both the breeding of Murray cod and the survival of Murray cod larvae, and in extreme cases inhibits even the survival of adult Murray cod.^[6]
The rare floods that do break free of the dams and weirs of the Murray-Darling system have their magnitude and duration deliberately curtailed by river regulators. Increasing research indicates this management practice is very harmful and drastically reduces the general ecosystem benefits and breeding and recruitment opportunities for Murray cod and other Murray-Darling native fish species these now rare floods can provide.^{[4][5][39][43]}

 Physical barriers to fish movement

Dams, weirs and other instream barriers block the migration of adult and juvenile Murray cod and prevent recolonisation of habitats and maintenance of isolated populations.^[6] Additionally, recent study has proven approximately 50% of Murray cod larvae are killed when they pass through undershot weirs.^[45]

 Habitat degradation / siltation

Hundreds of thousands, perhaps more than a million, submerged timber "snags", mainly River Red Gum, have been removed from lowland reaches of the Murray-Darling basin over the past 150 years.^[46] The removal of such a vast number of snags has had devastating impacts on Murray cod and river ecosystems. Snags are critical habitats and spawning sites for Murray cod. Snags are also critical for the functioning of lowland river ecosystems — as one of the few hard substrates in lowland river channels composed of fine silts snags are crucial sites for biofilm growth, macroinvertebrate grazing and general in-stream productivity.^[39][46]
Vegetation clearing and cattle trampling river banks create severe siltation, which fill in pools, degrade river ecosystems and make rivers and streams uninhabitable for Murray cod.^[5] This is exacerbated by removal of riparian (riverbank) vegetation which causes siltation and degrades river ecosystems in many ways.^[6]

 Overfishing

While extremely severe commercial and recreational overfishing in the 1800s and the early 1900s caused the first strong declines of Murray cod, overfishing by recreational fishermen, aided by inadequate fishing regulations, continues today and remains an extremely serious threat to Murray cod. The current size limit of 60 centimetres in most states is inadequate now that scientific studies have documented average size at sexual maturity in Murray cod.^[12] This and catch data and computer modelling exercises^[12] on wild Murray cod stocks indicate measures such as raising the size limit to 70 centimetres and reducing the bag and possession limits from 2 and 4 fish respectively to 1 fish are urgently needed to maintain the long term viability of wild Murray cod populations. At this point there are no immediate moves to implement these reforms.

 Introduced carp

Evidence is mounting that there is serious competition for food between larval/early juvenile introduced carp and larval/early juvenile native fish.^[35] Introduced carp dominate the fish faunas of lowland Murray-Darling rivers; the sheer amount of biomass carp now take up, and the large numbers of larvae carp produce, causes serious negative effects on river ecosystems and native fish.^[35]

 Introduced pathogens

Murray cod have soft skin and fine scales that leave them vulnerable to infection from exotic disease organisms. The following exotic disease organisms all seriously affect wild Murray cod; all have been introduced by imports of exotic fish. Chilodenella is a single-celled, parasitic protozoa that infects the skin of Murray cod and has caused a number of serious kills of wild Murray cod. Saprolegnia is a fungus that frequently infects Murray cod eggs and the skin of Murray cod that have been roughly handled through poor catch and release technique. (It is essential that Murray cod intended for release are not put down any hard, dry, rough or hot surfaces, e.g. boat gunwhales, boat floors, dry grass, dry rocks, gravel banks, dry towels or mats, etc.) Wild Murray cod populations across their range suffer extremely severe infestations of Lernaea or "anchor worm", a parasitic copepod that burrows into the skin of Murray cod. Severe Lernaea infestations probably causes the death of many more adult Murray cod than commonly recognised. Ebner^[18] reports a young adult Murray cod seemingly killed by severe Lernaea infestation.

 Relationship with humans

Statue of a Murray cod in Tocumwal, New South Wales

Murray cod play a very important role in the mythology of many Aboriginal tribes in the Murray-Darling basin,^[4] and for some tribes, particular those living along the Murray River, Murray cod were the icon species.^[47] The myths of these tribes describe the creation of the Murray River by a gigantic Murray cod fleeing down a small creek to escape from a renowned hunter. In these myths, the fleeing Murray cod enlarges the river and the beating of its tail create the bends in it. The cod is eventually speared near the terminus of the Murray River, chopped into pieces, and the pieces thrown back into the river. The pieces become all the other fish species of the river. The cod's head is kept intact, told to "keep being Murray cod", and also thrown back into the river.



^{Source: http://wikipedia.org}

 

FISHING HOLIDAY IN THAILAND

FISHING HOLIDAY IN THAILAND TEAK TREE LAKE CHIANG MAI FISH SPECIES: The choice of species available for the angler to target in the Kingdom of Siam is second to none, with a diverse array of fish species from Thailand, Amazonia, India, China and the rest of the world.

	Common Name African Walking Catfish / Sharptooth Catfish Local Name Pla Duk Scientific Name Hybrid Clarias Macrocephalus x Gariepinus Family Claridae - Airbreathing Catfishes Teak Tree Lake Record IGFA World Record 36kg / Hennie Moller - 05 Dec 1992 Orange River South Africa
	Common Name Alligator Gar Local Name Pla Gar Scientific Name Atractosteurus Spatula Family Lepisosteidae - Gars Teak Tree Lake Record IGFA World Record 126.55kg Bill Valverde 02 Dec 1951 Rio Grande Texas USA
	Common Name Arapaima / Pirarucu Local Name Pla Tjon Amazon Scientific Name Arapaima Gigas Family Osteoglossidae - Bonytongues Teak Tree Lake Record IGFA World Record 130kg Jakub Vagner 17 Aug 2008 Amazonia Brazil
	Common Name Barred Sorubim / Tiger Catfish Local Name Pla Tiger Scientific Name Pseudoplatystoma Fasciatum Family Pimelodidae - Long-whiskered catfishes Teak Tree Lake Record IGFA World Record 16.17 kg / Gilberto Fernandes 26 Apr 2008 Amazon River Brazil
	Common Name Black Shark Minnow / Black Carp Local Name Pla Ka Scientific Name Labeo Chrysophekadion Family Cyprindae Teak Tree Lake Record IGFA World Record 4.58kg Gavin Clarke 25 July 2009 IT Lake, Ban Pong, Thailand

	Common Name Catfish Shark Local Name Pla Sayu Scientific Name Pangasius Conchophilus Family Pangasiidae - Shark catfishes Teak Tree Lake Record IGFA World Record 2.69kg Natalie Carter 25 Mar 2010 Kong Mae Lai, Thailand
	Common Name Catla Carp / Catla Catla / Kaho India Local Name Pla Caho India Scientific Name Catla Catla Family Cyprindae Teak Tree Lake Record IGFA World Record 15.17kg Jean-Francois Helias 02 Jan 2009 IT Lake, Ban Pong, Thailand
	Common Name Chao Phraya Local Name Pla Tepa Scientific Name Pangasius Sanitwongsei Family Pangasiidae - Shark Catfishes Teak Tree Lake Record IGFA World Record 41kg Alan Boon 02 July 2009 Gilhams, Krabi, Thailandl
	Common Name Chinese Silver Carp Local Name Pla Tjin Scientific Name Hypophthalmichthys Molitrix Family Cyprindae Teak Tree Lake Record IGFA World Record 32kg Chongdae Lim 21 Apr 2006 Andong-S, Kyung Sanbok-Do, Korea
	Common Name Featherback Clown Local Name Pla Klaey Scientific Name Chitala Chitala Family Notopteridae - Featherbacks or Knifefishes Teak Tree Lake Record IGFA World Record 6.12kg Nick Fusco Dec 16 2008 Lake Clarke Shores, Florida, USA

	Common Name Featherback Giant Local Name Pla Satu Scientific Name Chitala Lopis Family Notopteridae - Featherbacks or Knifefishes Teak Tree Lake Record IGFA World Record 9.08 kg / Anongnart Sungwichien-Helias 21 Apr 2006, Srinakarin Dam, Thailand
	Common Name Featherback Grey Local Name Pla Tchalat Scientific Name Notopterus Notopterus Family Notopteridae - Featherbacks or Knifefishes Teak Tree Lake Record IGFA World Record Vacant
	Common Name Featherback Spotted Local Name Pla Klaey Scientific Name Chitala Ornata Family Notopteridae - Featherbacks or Knifefishes Teak Tree Lake Record IGFA World Record 6kg Terry Maher 22 Feb 2003 Srinakarin Dam Thailand 6kg Bruce Dale 16 Mar 2003 Bung Sam Lang Lake, Thailannd
	Common Name Firewood Catfish, Achacubo Local Name Pla Planicip Scientific Name Sorubimichthys Planiceps Family Pimelodidae - Long Whiskered Catfishes Teak Tree Lake Record IGFA World Record 16kg Gilberto Fernandes 3 Dec 2011 Rio Amazonas, Amazonas, Brazil
	Common Name Goonch \ Giant Bagarius Local Name Pla Kaey Scientific Name Bagarius Yarrelli Family Sisoridae - Sisorid Catfishes Teak Tree Lake Record IGFA World Record Vacant
	Common Name Gourami Local Name Pla Let Scientific Name Osphronemus Goramy Family Osphronemidae - Gouramies Teak Tree Lake Record IGFA World Record 5.6kg Nattaphol Wangwongwiwat 10 Oct 2004 Bung Sam Ran Lake, Thailand
	Common Name Java Barb / Silver Barb Local Name Pla Tapien Kao Scientific Name Barbonymus Gonionotus Family Cyprinadae Teak Tree Lake Record IGFA World Record 2.31kg Jean-Francois Helias 30 Sep 2008 Teak Tree Lake, Chiang Mai, Thailand

	Common Name Juliens Golden Price Carp Local Name Pla Yissok Thai Scientific Name Probarbus Jullieni Family Cyprinidae Teak Tree Lake Record IGFA World Record Vacant
	Common Name Lau Lau, Piraaiba Local Name Pla pireeba Scientific Name Brachyplatystoma Filamentosum Family Pimelodidae - Long-Whiskered Catfish Teak Tree Lake Record IGFA World Record 155kg Jorge Masullo De Aguiar 29 May 2009 Rio Solimoes, Amazonas, Brazil
	Common Name Mad Barb Local Name Pla Ba Scientific Name Leptobarbus Hoevenii Family Cyprinidae Teak Tree Lake Record IGFA World Record 6.00 kg Lok Kwang Wong Aug 2002 Bung San Lang Lake, Thailand
	Common Name Mahseer Thai Local Name Pla Wien Scientific Name Tor tambroides Family Cyprinidae Teak Tree Lake Record IGFA World Record 12.00 kg Mohamed Zanudin Bin Ibrahim 24 Jul 2001 Jeram Besu,Benta, Pahang, Malaysia
	Common Name Marbled Catfish, Jundia Local Name Pla Duk Marble Scientific Name Leiarius Marmoratus Family Pimelodidae Teak Tree Lake Record IGFA World Record 11.68 kg Russell Jensen 23 Jan 2008 Travessoa, Brazil
	Common Name Marbled Goby Local Name Pla Boo Sai Scientific Name Oxyeleotris Marmorata Family Eleotridae - Sleepers Teak Tree Lake Record IGFA World Record 2.37 kg / John Merritt 1 Oct 2008 Teak Tree Lake, Chiang Mai, Thailand
	Common Name Mekong Catfish Local Name Pla Buk Scientific Name Pangasianodon Gigas Family Pangasiidae - Shark Catfishes Teak Tree Lake Record IGFA World Record 84kg Rob Maylin 28 May 2008 Gilhams, Krabi, Thailand

	Common Name Mrigal / Small Scale Mud Carp Local Name Pla Nuan Tjan Scientific Name Cirrhinus Cirrhosus Family Cyprinidae Teak Tree Lake Record IGFA World Record 4.11kg Steve Wozniak 14 Aug 2009 Teak Tree Lake, Chiang Mai, Thailand
	Common Name Oxeye Tarpon Local Name Pla Ta Ruak Scientific Name Megalops Cyprinoides Family Megalopidae Teak Tree Lake Record IGFA World Record 2.99kg Neil Schultz 14 May 2000 Tide Island, Australia
	Common Name Pacu / Pirapatinga Local Name Pla Pacu Scientific Name Piractus Brachypomus / Colossama spp. Family Characidae - Characins Teak Tree Lake Record IGFA World Record 19.95kg Todd Ewing 19 Mar 2000 Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, USA
	Common Name Redtail Catfish Amazon Local Name Redtail Scientific Name Phractocephalus Hemioliopterus Family Pimelodidae - Long-Whiskered Catfish Teak Tree Lake Record IGFA World Record 55kg Gilberto Fernandos 28 Dec 2008 Rio Amazonas, Brazil
	Common Name Redtail x Tiger Catfish / Sorubim Hybrid Local Name Redtail Tiger Scientific Name Pseudoplatystoma Hybrid Family Pimelodidae - Long Whiskered Catfishes Teak Tree Lake Record IGFA World Record N/A (Hybrid)
	Common Name Ripsaw Catfish, Niger Catfish Local Name Pla Razorback Scientific Name Oxydoras Niger Family Doradidae - Thorny Catfishes Teak Tree Lake Record IGFA World Record 21.50 kg Gilberto Fernandes 13 Mar 2010 Amazonas, Furo Do Curari, Brazil

	Common Name Rohu / Indian Carp Local Name Pla Yissok Tet Scientific Name Labeo Rohita Family Cyprinidae Teak Tree Lake Record IGFA World Record 12.5kg Pakron Suwannaat 08 Jul 2003 Dan Tchang Dam, Thailand
	Common Name Siamese Carp / Kaho / Giant Barb Local Name Pla Caho Scientific Name Catlacarpio Siamensis Family Cyprinidae Teak Tree Lake Record IGFA World Record 52kg Terry Robert Maher 12 Mar 2004 Bung Sam Lang Lake, Thailand
	Common Name Soldier River Barb Local Name Pla Takok Scientific Name Cyclocheilichthys Enoplos Family Cyprinidae Teak Tree Lake Record IGFA World Record 3.4kg Gavin Clarke July 14 2010 IT Monster Lake, Ban Pong, Thailand
	Common Name Striped Catfish Local Name Pla Sawai Scientific Name Pangasius Hypophthalmus Family Pangasidae - Shark Catfishes Teak Tree Lake Record IGFA World Record 21.3kg Jakub Vagner 9 May 2009 Bung Sam Lang Lake, Bangkok, Thailand
	Common Name Suckermouth Catfish Local Name Pla Joker Scientific Name Hypostomus plecostomus Family Loricariidae - Armored catfishes Teak Tree Lake Record IGFA World Record 1.20 kg Dirk A. Mueller, USA Nov 2002 Bung Sam Lan Lake, Thailand
	Common Name Tambaqui Local Name Pacu Dam Scientific Name Colossoma Macropomum Family Characidae - Characins Teak Tree Lake Record IGFA World Record 32.4kg Jorge Masullo de Aguiar 25 Aug 2007 Lago Grande Amazonas, Brazil
	Common Name Thai Catfish Shark Local Name Pla Sawai Noo Scientific Name Helicophagus Leptorhynchus Family Pangasidae - Shark Catfishes Teak Tree Lake Record IGFA World Record 2.10kg Jean-Francois Helias 9th Jan 2010 Teak Tree Lake, Khua Mung, Chiang Mai, Thailand
	Common Name Tilapia Local Name Pla Nin Scientific Name Oreochromis Niloticus Family Cichlidae - Cichlids Teak Tree Lake Record IGFA World Record 6.10kg Sarel Van Rooyen Jul 2002 Zimbabwe

	Common Name Tricolour Shark Minnow Local Name Pla Ang Mai Scientific Name Balantiocheilos Melanopterus Family Cyprinidae Teak Tree Lake Record IGFA World Record 0.99 kg 13 Aug 2009 Jean-Francois Helias Teak Tree Lake, Chiang Mai Thailand
	Common Name Wallago Leerii / Great Black Sheatfish Local Name Pla Ituk Scientific Name Wallago Leerii Family Siluridae - Sheatfishes Teak Tree Lake Record IGFA World Record Vacant
	Common Name Yellowcheek Carp / Kanyu Local Name Pla Bambusa Scientific Name Elopichthys Bambusa Family Cyprinidae Teak Tree Lake Record IGFA World Record Vacant
	Common Name Zig Zag Eel Local Name Pla Krating Dam Scientific Name Mastacembelus Armatus Family Mastacembelidae - Spiny Eels Teak Tree Lake Record IGFA World Record Vacant