Fish bites: Latest trailerable boats teased

Bonito Boats has teased the first version of its 620XT Express offshore fishing boat to feature a coloured hull. 

Looking pretty in a pastel blue, the “XT” denotes this gains Bonito’s performance pack, meaning it has a strengthened transom to take a higher-output outboard engine. Backing up the performance is a long-range 380-litre fuel tank. 

East Coast Boats has teased the first look of its new 765 Hardtop hitting the water with a water test on the Gippsland Lakes – we can tell by the Paynesville-based Floating Tin Shed, a mobile sound stage, moored in the background. 

What we can’t tell is what is powering this boat, other than to say it is twin Suzukis hanging off the back of it. The first completed boat is expected to be delivered by the middle of this year.

Meanwhile, New Zealand-based Dreadnort Boats has shown the first images of its V4250CC. This centre console boat is what Dreadnaut claims will be the largest volume 4.25-metre model on the market, as well as the strongest and most stable.

The boat will sit on a custom trailer.

Victorian anglers will soon know if a two-year trial of wearing life jackets at high-danger rockfishing sites will result in the permanent introduction of the initiative.

Under the trial, rock fishers were required to wear at least a Level 50S-rated life jacket, commonly used for dinghy sailing, paddleboarding and wake boarding, with children required to wear at least a Level 100 life jacket rated for offshore boating whether they were fishing or not.

However, while the trial is officially ended and the results yet to shape how rock fishers look after their safety, the rules for life jacket use will remain in place for the foreseeable future.

The trial has also identified four new high-danger locations including Jump Rock near Lorne, and Phillip Island’s Sunderland Bay, Kitty Miller Bay and Cowries rock platform.

As well, all rock platforms along a more than 40-kilometre stretch of coastline between Point Nepean and West Head near Flinders will be deemed high-risk and fishers must wear a lifejacket.  This includes rock platforms at Fingal Beach where a rock fisher died late last year.

High-risk zones at Punchbowl Rocks and Potters Hill Road, near San Remo, will be extended to include all rock platforms between Bore Beach and Kilcunda.

Existing zones at Pyramid Rocks on Phillip Island, Artillery Rocks (west of Lorne), Sheoak Falls (south of Lorne) and Cape Bridgewater (near the blowholes car park), remain classified as high risk, requiring life jackets.

Victorian Fisheries Authority chief executive Travis Dowling said the life jacket rules would remain in place “while we review the data and consider preventative measures”.

“We know lifejackets save lives and we urge rock fishers to wear one no matter where they are right along the coast because no snapper is worth your life,” he said.

Waters in the south-east corner of South Australia have been closed to recreational fishers after abalone viral ganglioneuritis (AVG) was detected in wild abalone at Port Macdonnell.

This is the first time the disease has been detected in South Australian waters and follows on from an outbreak that was contained in Victoria last year.

In response, the South Australian Department of Primary Industries and Regions has placed restrictions on abalone fishing on a 20-kilometre stretch of coastline running from Nene Valley in the west to the South Australian/Victorian border in the east and extending 5.0 nautical miles out to sea.

Fishers cannot fish from shore or a boat, anchor a boat, use hoop traps or bait nets, hauling nets or abalone levers, or collect abalone, rock lobster, sea urchins or any other invertebrate, alive or dead.

Anyone who sees a sick abalone, or signs of abalone deaths anywhere in SA, can call the Fishwatch Hotline on 1800 065 522 or submit a report through the SA Fishing app to report it.

Queensland’s second Spanish mackerel seasonal closure kicks off from today, with east coast waters south of latitude 22 degrees south off limits until Friday, March 22.

The new seasonal closures will help rebuild fish stocks after they were assessed as overfished. Spanish mackerel is recognised as a high-quality eating fish that is also rated highly as a hard-fighting sports fish.

The closures are put in place to protect the species during its peak spawning period where they aggregate in large schools.

Queensland’s Spanish mackerel stocks will be managed under a six-year management plan that ends in 2028.