AAGH! My darn knee just comes good and I still can’t go fishing because of enforced self-isolation. After enviously admiring the photos of David Hall’s New Zealand trip included in this edition, I took a trip down memory lane and looked at memories of some of my old haunts. It was this (and running out of local options) that inspired me to choose the Saratoga as our Know your Fish for this month. Although not a resident of our NSW waters this species is readily available not too far to our north and, hopefully, some members may be tempted to venture up there.

It’s funny how fish are known by different names at different times and in different places. The Saratoga caused a great deal of confusion in the Northern Territory when I caught my first ‘Toga in the sixties. The confusion was caused by those darn Queenslanders who insisted on calling southern Saratoga ‘Barramundi’. The Queenslanders from the Far North referred to northern Saratoga as “Dawson River Barramundi” to differentiate it from the fish we now know as Barramundi (Lates calcarifer) and Territorians adopted the same solution. There was still some fairly robust arguments over which fish was the “true” Barramundi (loanword from the Aboriginal language of the Rockhampton area meaning “large-scaled river fish”) in the local watering holes, especially around closing time.

So, how did “Saratoga” become the accepted name for these ancient fish? Well to make it even more confusing the title of “Barramundi” was also applied initially to the Queensland Lungfish which look similar to Saratoga both in the water and out, especially the body shape and scales. With the scientific name of Neoceratodus forsteri, this was shortened to “ceratodus” but had many anglers calling it “ceratoda” or “ceratoga”. Yep, Queensland and Territory fishermen have a long tradition of calling some fish by their scientific names, unfortunately, often incorrectly. Over the years, this name has been mispronounced, misspelt and transferred from the lungfish to the Saratoga. It kind of stuck and in the mid-1980’s the Qld Fisheries Service officially changed their name from Barramundi to Saratoga. In many parts of the Fitzroy system in Central Queensland Saratoga are still called “spotted Barramundi”.

Our distant member Peter Glasson recently made a presentation to the SE Qld Fly Club and kindly emailed his notes that are presented in the article From our Technical Expert. The article also explains the nomenclature of tippets as well as telling us everything we should know about flylines.

With the current state of the “Lockdown” there may be a dearth of articles from our outings and fly tie nights. If any member has any tales to relate about previous trips or just interesting flies, etc. please forward them to me for inclusion in the Newsletters.

Meanwhile, keep safe until we can fish together again,

Iain

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