finally fished somewhere different than Aldinga last week and hit up the barges. Ive pretty much decided I wont fish there again. I could not believe the bad etiquette and lack of common sense by fishos that anchored up. We were there very early (2nd boat out) . By 7am there was probably another ten boats out. Nearly every boat that came out after us seemed to anchor up within an inch of us (or someone else), fail to anchor properly hence drift over peoples lines. Others motored behind us and through our lines or come flying past at a rate of knots rocking the crap out of every ones boats. One guy even anchored up 5 meters from stern of our boat .

Totally amazed by what we witnessed in a couple of hours we bailed to brighton .got 40 crabs, 20 gar and a doz squid and had a laugh .

Anyone encountered this loon-icy at the Barges.

aldingabeachfisho wrote:


No-one afected by snapper fever would do that would tbey

I dont norammly like fighting fire with fire, but maybe next time someone anchors close to your stern, it's time for your anchor to "drag " a bit

Burly sling shot.

Wow ABF, you must have struck a good day! I've seen sinkers thrown and cast at other boats, collisions whilst under power as well as anchor drag, Anchor ropes in props, you pretty much name it. Had the same thing happen at other drops. you pull a fish and no-one else does, you can pretty much guarantee that at least one boat will up anchor and set up right on top of you. Snapper fever has nothing to do with it AFF. It's boaties / fisho's who have no idea what they're doing and generally try to sit on top of someone who LOOKS like they do.

I agree with Rickster. Burley Slingshot should do the trick.

Doesnt have to be snapper fever Boyi, but mix any "frenzy" to get a particular fish with ppl who have NO manners or much idea and dont give a flying and thats what happens.

Unreal that in arelativeley small place like Adelaide and in an even smaller community of boaters, that these guys think they can get away with it.


Rickster wrote:


with full squid sacks

It's boaties / fisho's who have no idea what they're doing and generally try to sit on top of someone who LOOKS like they do.

Hit the nail on the head there

Sometimes I can't help but laugh. It's sad really. I sat back about 50 metres from the other boats on this drop a couple of weeks ago. I got fish, they didn't. But as soon as the first one came over the side, a boat upped anchor and came across and sat within a few metres of me. Needless to say, he did not fare well.

I have seen similar behaviour from a Pro boat not so long ago. Two Charter boats on a reasonably well known deep water drop and a pro boat rocked up. He was there for perhaps 15 or 20 minutes before he 'dragged' anchor pretty much colliding with the charter boat. I think they missed by no more than 2 or 3 inches before the pro pulled away.

Then there are the 'No Light' fraternity. Came across a few boats over the years with no lights on. Crazy stuff.

As for any type of species fever.... well, I guess it does contribute to the problem at hand to a degree.

Barges have forever been a dogs breakfast as the actual barges themselves are relatively small

and to be on the money you need to be on the spot marked X!

The first guys out there do the hard yards and get set up and of course the next ten boats are constantly jostling for position!

Unfortunately Metro Fishing, with the pressure on to justify the tens of thousands of bucks to own, and maintain your expensive boats and gear makes people feel they HAVE to catch a big snapper or bag limit of whatever species

Not a lot of Anglers go out simply to enjoy a day relaxing on the water and not caring if they bag out or not IMO.

I have some anger issues in relation to this topic

I really hate to be so negative, but it really does seem like the majority of metro boaties are ignorant, brainless and dangerous.

From boatramp ettiquette and attitude, and everything in between.

In fact the last time a nice polite sensible boatie anchored near me, I was really happy and surprised...... Oh yeah.... Untill he captured and kept three undersized mulloway .

All you can do ABF, is move away and have a fun fish and a laugh, Leaving the idiots to damage themselves, their boats and their so called fishing experience

I think there is good reason why they say 10% of anglers catch 90% of the fish

tonyb wrote:


Thats the unforunate/ almost "neccessary" mind set for many I think and with the cost of boating it can happen very easily

If an owner was able to pay cash for their boat, maybe that wouldn't happen

tonyb wrote:


You're probably right there too Tony.
When I bought my first boat, it was with dreams of bagging out every time etc, and the costs of owning/ buying/ running it soon meant the fish almost became the means to justify an end, thereby putting myself under pressure to catch all I could!

Nowadays I try to be a bit more chilled about it

Good onya for movin away abf! better time enjoyment trouble free fishin away from crowds 4 sure !

Hi All,

We were out at the barges Saturday and there may have been 5 boaties out there when we arrived. Even as a novice boatie I ensured to navigate around the cluster of boats slowly and set anchor 20m away from the nearest boat, within in hour more boats arrived, one guy just steamed right into the centre of the boats, set anchor, another guy arrived and sat 5-10m in front of me and another just kept trawling up and down for 20mins trying to find his "spot" amongst all the other boats regardless of the annoyance he was causing. So after about 90 mins of being there we just upped anchor and went over to the Blocks carried on fishing with only another 2 boats out there and plenty of space! you would think as boaties we would know what annoys us and try not to do it to others wouldn't ya!

Fishnut!

We were out on the barges last summer on a balmy Saturday, in the late afternoon. The conditions were near perfect with it being hot and the water glassy. I counted 27 boats at one stage. It was obvious where the wrecks are, by how the boats were anchored. However, why do guys find it necessary to drive into the pack of boats whilst they are hunched over their sounder looking at the wreck, then motor around the outside of the pack, then through the centre, then do a figure eight through the boats, then reverse, then forward again, then zig zag around a few more boats..... Isn't it obvious where the barge is? What's the point of trying to locate "the fish", when you can only anchor where a vacant spot is anyway?

It seems when the conditions are right you get plenty of turkeys acting like this, and with the amount of tracffic it seems like it's going on every 5 minutes. I can appreciate not everyone is an expert, but for gods sake, stake out a spot, do a "pass" so you can check you're not going to anchor on the wreck, then anchor. Sounding over and over the spot a dozen times doesn't increase your chances of you catching anymore fish!

looks like this is a common thing and im not alone, might leave the barges for the weekend warriors. I guess im also spoilt being only 4km from my driveway to my snapper spot and the only time its busy is when we have 3 in the boat (which was once).

aldingabeachfisho wrote:


Obviously not too far out mate from Aldinga! I'll have to keep an eye out for you when my boat gets delivered in 2 weeks.

Good thing about my job is that I get days off mainly during the week, so it should never be too busy out on the popular spots.