Darwin City Council workers have captured the Fannie Bay Monster - an estuary cod blamed for terrorising swimmers in a popular swimming hole.

Described by news services as 'rogue' and 'enormous', the cod tipped the scales at 5kg and measured 75cm.

Sick of its diet of brine shrimp, the fish had a nibble on a swimmers foot a couple of weeks ago - causing authorities to hunt it down.

See photos of the man-eater here.

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Our Christmas Island contact Mark Rochfort sent through an email this week with some of the latest captures from his guiding operation - Shorefire Charters.

The email was light on words, but the fish certainly do the talking. His Spanish clients had some great jigging action, with a 50kg big eye tuna (above) the highlight. A 35 kg yellowfin (below) was also taken popping.

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This media release arrived from Recfish Australia during the week, and will be of particular interest to those anglers who have fished the Coral Sea or dream of doing so one day.

Recfish Australia, the peak body for Australia's more than 3 million recreational fishers believes that the sector has no choice but to take their concerns to parliament. The motion by Senator Boswell to have the declaration of the Coral Sea Conservation Zone disallowed reflects the frustration that fishers are feeling about their inability to engage in marine park planning processes.

Recfish Australia's policy on marine protected areas states that any declaration of no fishing zones must be risk based and have sound, peer-reviewed scientific evidence demonstrating the impact of recreational fishers.

Recfish Australia is opposed to a Coral Sea Heritage Park that would lock all fishers out of the Coral Sea as proposed by the Pew Environment Group and other organisations. "There is no logic or science behind the proposal. It is based on a fundamental opposition to all forms of fishing and we cannot allow such patent environmental extremism to go unchallenged." said Len Olyott, CEO of Recfish Australia.

Marine reserves that include sanctuary areas to lock out "extractive users" such as recreational fishers are habitually used as a method to protect biodiversity both in Australia and elsewhere. Australia is signatory to an international agreement to have a representative system of marine protected areas in place by 2012. Australia already has a staggering 68 million hectares in marine reserves and recreational fishers are already banned from large sections of these areas.

Australian fisheries are incredibly well managed and over half of the fish caught by recreational fishers are released alive. Many species are tagged and recreational fishers contribute significantly to the scientific research of iconic species such as marlin and tuna.

Additionally, recreational fishing is a significant component of the economies of regional centres and estimates of expenditure range between 1 and 2 billion dollars.

Recreational fishing is a healthy, active, outdoor activity that the whole family can enjoy and is an integral part of Australian culture. With over a quarter of all Australians fishing at least once a year that translates into a lot of votes.

"Anti-fishing extremists use any mechanism at their disposal to turn the public and politicians against recreational fishers and its time that recreational fishers did the same." said Olyott. "If we cannot have our voice heard in the consultation process we must resort to the political process and let our elected representatives lobby on our behalf."

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 Here's a preview of this week's Sunday Times fishing column...

METROPOLITAN

Doug Jones's success when fishing the Three Mile out from Scarborough is indicative of the excellent skippy fishing on offer. Jones bagged three skippy over 50cm long with the best 55cm.  He also nabbed a small pink snapper and lost a dhufish near the boat as well as watching sharks in his berley trail. Skippy are active right along the One and Three Mile from Floreat north. Some boaties scored their bag limit of quality sand whiting close to shore with Quinns a hot spot. Squid have boosted catches. Near Little Island was productive for squid with some caught from inside Mindarie Marina.  Weed beds between the One and Three Mile Reefs have also produced. The Fremantle rock walls are continuing to prove fruitful for squid chasers and Cockburn Sound is another terrific area. Deep sea opportunities have been limited by sea and weather conditions. 

Shore fishers at Yanchep accounted for some nice size tailor to 1.5kg while odd salmon to 5kg continue to surprise. Floreat, Trigg and several northern spots also turned up a few tailor.

Ascot Waters to Windan Bridge held a few back bream in the Swan with Nedlands another promising spot. Some tarwhine are coming from the Blackwall Reach area.

MANDURAH

When the opportunity exists boating parties are doing okay on the outside of the Five Fathom Bank and the James Service Reef with skippy the mainstay of the catch and samson fish and pink snapper about at times. Skippy were also the major species caught at the Dawesville Cut but the odd king george whiting proved a bonus. The swells have proven too much for shore anglers to the south of Mandurah. Some locals are turning to the rivers for their fishing fix with bream to 44cm featuring.

KALBARRI

One feature for Kalbarri anglers is that the Murchison is a good fall-back when the weather turns nasty and the local bream are coming to the party with better size fish upstream but fair numbers near town. Mulloway offer another attractive option with one caught in the river near town recently weighing 28.5kg. Others registered about the 10kg mark and numbers of soapy sized mulloway have been encountered further up river. Near the  mouth tailor were landed and the occasional shark created hectic action. Yellowfin whiting catches from the shore towards the mouth have included some good size fish.

Another option for local fishers was the continuing presence of top-quality garfish. Some of the gars are the renowned "storm" gardies and the Red Bluff and Wittecarra Creek area is best to try for them. A few tailor around 40-45cm have been landed there too, with skippy and dart about at times. The coastal gorges hold large tailor, mulloway and skippy but conditions need to be safe to try there for them.

Few have been brave enough to head offshore, but one group fished the Sand Patch and brought back pink snapper and dhufish. They reported plenty of bait schools and the odd tuna.

EXMOUTH

Bottom fishing has been excellent offshore while marlin and sailfish are causing a large amount of excitement - especially off North Murion Island where water in the 60 to 130 metre range has produced billfish activity. Wahoo and yellowfin tuna added to the action.

Squid from inside Tantabiddi Reef were a feature and have also been caught caught both  north and south of the marina. Shore angling for whiting is slower than usual but there are occasional bream about. Spangled emperor were a hit at the tip of the Cape and giant trevally are expected to hit the Oysters soon. 

More Exmouth reports can be viewed here.