Documentary about Blowfish
Hi all,
Never posted on here before but here goes. My name is Rob and I'm studying film at uni and we're making a documentary about blowfish in the Swan River with the angle of how annoying they are and what a pest they are to our favourite fishing spots. I am looking for anybody, male or female, preferrably a little older and with lots of character who is willing to give up there time for a couple of hours so we can interview them about their experiences with catching blowfish. Just answering simple questions like do you think the blowfish in the Swan River are out of control? What do you think should be done? What do you do when you catch a blowfish? pretty simple stuff. Also if you are older or know someone who older who fished the Swan River 'back in the day', and could tell a few stories about what it used to be like fishing the river before the blowies took over that would be golden. Let me know if you are interested in sharing some stories on camera and helping out a fellow fisherman. Cheers!
Rob
P.S. Filming would be low key, only a crew of 4 people, probably down the river somewhere with a nice background. Nothing too intimidating.
Hobie-Wan
Posts: 119
Date Joined: 04/10/08
That is a great idea, and I
That is a great idea, and I hope you post the video here when you're done so we can all see it. I don't know of any old timers to reccomend to you though.
Will you will cover how the Swan River used to be freshwater until C.Y. O'Connor and others blew up the sill at Fremantle, allowing the ocean to come in, and turning a fresh river into an estuar? So really, little that is in the Swan now (apart from maybe Black Bream?) is actually 'native' to the system, beacuse it was changed from fresh to saltwater by man.
All these people at the department of environment who talk about returning blowies to the river cos they are part of the ecosystem are full of shit in my opinion, beacuse they wouldn't be in there if it was fresh water!.
If we are going to have a man-altered estuary, we might as well have one that fishes well and isn't full off blowies!
Again, I look forward to seeing this.
John the Pom
Posts: 182
Date Joined: 22/10/09
That's an interesting
That's an interesting thought Hobie-Wan, what would the river have been like?
I think you don't have to look too far to find out - just go to Moore river and there is a perfect, if smaller, example.
It might be worth sticking that in your documentary and comparing the two habitats, thne discuss how blowies aren't native to the Swan as has been mentioned. Would make a good introduction and some great shots.
Also, for anyone who is interested, the Moore river might soon end up like the Swan if money get's it's way and the proposed development and marina appear on the river banks.
http://www.savemooreriver.org/friends-of-moore-river/proposed-development.html
A travesty if there ever was one.
Robb
Posts: 7
Date Joined: 04/05/10
Yeah I will try post it on
Yeah I will try post it on here when its done if I can. Not sure about the history of the Swan as much. Its only a short film so it'll be hard to get all that in it. Cheers anyways!
Robb
Posts: 7
Date Joined: 04/05/10
Do you guys have any
Do you guys have any websites that talk about how the river is man-made? and relating it to the blowfish?
JohnSorrell
Posts: 137
Date Joined: 28/07/09
hmmmm.....
Imagine the swan without blowfish? Recon there'd be any bream left?
anyways... Here's some useful info about blowfish & the swan river... Hope it helps.
http://www.fish.wa.gov.au/docs/pub/FactSheets/Fisheries%20Fact%20Sheet%209%20-%20BlowFish.pdf
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swan_River_(Western_Australia)
Maybe try around local jettys ... youll get some awesome footage of young blokes really deforming these things... piling them up... and leaving them to rot in the sun for the next person to deal with the smell... awesome stuff...
Oh yeh.. and they make great golf balls if you need to practice your golf swing. :)
Gone Fishing...
Robb
Posts: 7
Date Joined: 04/05/10
Cheers for links!! Good
Cheers for links!! Good stuff. Do you know which jettys are particularly full of blowies? We'll probably film some at point walter, chidley point and maybe at the canning bridge. Any other spots where you've seen these piles of blowies? i wanna film that! haha...
TAPOUT
Posts: 885
Date Joined: 27/01/06
Pump And Pop. Thats all
Pump And Pop. Thats all there good for.
Faulkner Family
Posts: 18167
Date Joined: 11/03/08
they also make a loud pop
they also make a loud pop when they get run over by trucks and buses on the canning bridge .
. going back 25 years ago you could actually fish at canning bridge during the day and get bream not blowies
RUSS and SANDY. A family that fishes together stays together
Robb
Posts: 7
Date Joined: 04/05/10
That's what I'm looking for!
That's what I'm looking for! Someone who remembers the river fishing before all the blowies. Willing to talk about it on camera? no pressure!
Faulkner Family
Posts: 18167
Date Joined: 11/03/08
not my sort of thing .
not my sort of thing . sorry. all i know is that when i fished there as a kid you hardly ever got blowies compared to now. also the river was clean and you could actually see the bottom at canning bridge.
RUSS and SANDY. A family that fishes together stays together
DhuBoi
Posts: 896
Date Joined: 25/05/09
interesting proposal wat are
interesting proposal wat are you studying at university rob ? does this have anything to do with a new program focussed on blowfish in the swan river ?
living is fishing
Robb
Posts: 7
Date Joined: 04/05/10
No nothing to do with that.
No nothing to do with that. I'm studying Film and TV so it's part of my documentary unit. But hey if its successful maybe someoen will take notice and do something?? we can only hope... :)
tailor marc
Posts: 2979
Date Joined: 27/09/06
Im keen for interview if you
Im keen for interview if you like. Im the blowfish king...
They fight amoungst each other for the chance to get on my hook...
My photography pictures... http://westernhorizonsmedia.wordpress.com/
Robb
Posts: 7
Date Joined: 04/05/10
Hey marc yeah sounds great!
Hey marc yeah sounds great! I was thinkin of doin the interviews probably one saturday coming up? How does that sound? Let me know your schedule is like and we'll work around that. Also where were these pictures taken? I wanna go there and film!
Goodz
Posts: 2332
Date Joined: 20/07/09
hahahah great pics marc!
hahahah great pics marc!
sea-kem
Posts: 15097
Date Joined: 30/11/09
Mate I used to fish the swan
Mate I used to fish the swan every saturday morning in the early 80's. I would catch the bus to town , buy a big handful of river prawns at the fish shop on Barrack st (gone now) and head down to the Narrows bridge. Their was this old guy who had coke cans as handlines set up accross the top of the bridge and was always there with his dog. He showed me how to catch the tailor (not bonies) that used to swarm there.Also yellow eyed mullet and a few flathead from time to time. There were bugger all blowies back then.Golden days
Love the West!
carnarvonite
Posts: 8682
Date Joined: 24/07/07
Pests
Can remember going on school holidays to the grand parents in late 50's and catching heaps of the buggers around the wharves in Freo where the granfather worked as a wharfie
sea-kem
Posts: 15097
Date Joined: 30/11/09
Those pests you refer to ,
Those pests you refer to , Freo supporters?
Love the West!
carnarvonite
Posts: 8682
Date Joined: 24/07/07
Buggers
Millions of blowies with heads on them like Eagle supporters in the making.
Gave us great pleasure to put them on the loco tracks
joe amato
Posts: 731
Date Joined: 21/12/08
used to love fishing in the swan
i have been fishing the swan river since i was 3 yrs old with my dad and can remember getting plenty of flathead around 1 kg +,big bream up to 2kg,big dinner size flounder till about 1997 and up to 2- 4 mulloway a night ranging from soapies to monsters aswell as big swan river cobbler up to 2 kg plus,aswell as big king prawns in the shallows in mosman bay aswell as river prawns,now days you are lucky to get the occasional mulloway but i will try to get 1,last 1 i caught was 16kg 6yrs ago,if you want to contact me,i would be happy to help,hate the blow fish scurge that become a plague from the mid 90's
Goodz
Posts: 2332
Date Joined: 20/07/09
Is there such a thing as
Is there such a thing as animal cruelty if a blowie was the victim? Curios...
SandGroper84
Posts: 329
Date Joined: 06/02/10
i get sick of seeing blowies
i get sick of seeing blowies dead on the banks of the river/s even bridges, i dont mind people killing them, but atleast put them in the rubbish bin, its just as bad as people letting the bait/lure packets or rubbish in general just blow away in the wind, keep this country beautiful people, doesnt matter where you go in the world there is trash, clean up after yourselves. sorry if that gets peoples goats up, but it gets mine up even more when i see dead blowies and trash everywhere i go, yeh they are a pest, but they are also a fish. Some people dont like it when a marlin is killed so wats the difference? they both have heart beats and need to eat to survive. TAPOUT i dont think many people would like it if we got a airline pumped up someone and stomped on them and watched guts come out of any hole they can possible come out of.
Love this Country!
stilly
Posts: 341
Date Joined: 10/08/09
with sandgroper
imo the blowie problems start when you take out the larger size ones in the population by being a heartless moronic p#$ck and killing for no apparent reason inwhich blowies breed in plague proportions
SandGroper84
Posts: 329
Date Joined: 06/02/10
Even if every single person
Even if every single person in perth was to go on a blowie killing spree you would even touch the sides, best to get over the fact that they are there and always will be, i hate em as much as the next bloke, i just dont see the point in killing them, its like catfish in the creeks in the pilbara, they steal livies and they give you the shits, but ya cant get rid of em. be humain and let em go, if you cant do that atleast have the decentcy to pick them up before you leave and throw them in the bin. wats worst than a person that takes undersize fish? a f#@kin litter bug. Theres only one australia people keep it clean.
Love this Country!
SandGroper84
Posts: 329
Date Joined: 06/02/10
sorry that was meant to be
sorry that was meant to be "wouldnt even touch the sides"
Love this Country!
carnarvonite
Posts: 8682
Date Joined: 24/07/07
Reason??
For some reason there was a period during the late sixties / early seventies that there was hardly a blowie to be seen let alone caught.The shortage was blamed on smaller southern bluefin tuna biting the tails off them as heaps of them were washing up on the beaches minus their tails, whether it was true or not was never proved.
We only get their super sized brothers up here and they can be a real pain as well.
SandGroper84
Posts: 329
Date Joined: 06/02/10
carnarvonite, ive heard a
carnarvonite, ive heard a simular thing only was dolphins doing it, thats word of mouth though
Love this Country!
flangies
Posts: 2551
Date Joined: 11/05/08
Honsu tells me they make
Honsu tells me they make prime snapper bait! He had his serious face on too!
SandGroper84
Posts: 329
Date Joined: 06/02/10
ive heard billfish eat them
ive heard billfish eat them to help regurgitate anything bad in there guts, word of mouth though, nor west blowies that is
Love this Country!
flangies
Posts: 2551
Date Joined: 11/05/08
More like, they eat the
More like, they eat the blowie and then the blowie eats anything in its guts. Then regurgitate the blowie :)
Alan James
Posts: 2251
Date Joined: 30/06/09
Billfish do eat them
I thought more so sails. The toxins within the blowie makes them as high as a kite. I have no information as to whether its addictive.
SandGroper84
Posts: 329
Date Joined: 06/02/10
people drink beer, even
people drink beer, even fish would have to let their hair down so to speak, dont think id have a go at a blowie in a pipe/bong though :P or have a chew on 1 for that matter
Love this Country!