Spanish mackerel (Scomberomorus commerson), also known as Narrow-barred mackerel, are a highly prized sport fish on light tackle. Spaniards are a pelagic species that frequent reef habitats between deeper oceanic waters and the mainland. Fast swimmers and predatory in nature, they make scorching high-speed runs when hooked and often display impressive aerobatics. Read More »
According to both the Australian Museum and Wikipedia the Silver Drummer grows to about 80cm in length and a maximum weight of 1.1kg, however a Queensland spear-fisherman has officially recorded a 6.8 kg specimen. There are also several photographs on the internet of fish approaching 7kg and these are clearly silver drummer and cannot be confused with the much larger black drummer. Read More »
The Mulloway is the common name for Argyrosomus japonicus (previously called Argyrosomus hololepidotus), which are found in coastal waters from Rockhampton in Queensland to North West Cape, Western Australia (excluding Tasmania). In the tropical north it is replaced by the Black Jewfish Protonibea diacanthus. Read More »
I first came across the Blue Bastard in the Gulf of Carpenteria. It was a fairly common catch on bait and was then known as “Slatey Bream” because of their colour which was thought to be slightly bluer if they inhabited shallower water. Read More »
The Long-Toms belong to the needle fish family, the same family as garfish and flying fish.
They are long, slender fish that can skip over the water for long distances. The Stout Long-Tom is the member of the species found in our local estuaries. Read More »
The common coral trout (Plectropomus leopardus), is more correctly known as the leopard coral grouper, also leopard coral trout, blue-dotted coral grouper or spotted coral grouper. In Australia it is found at Beacon Island in Western Australia, the Ashmore and Cartier Islands in the Timor Sea, around the tropical north coast as far south as Sydney. Read More »
The titan triggerfish (Balistoides viridescens) is a large distinctive triggerfish with a dark heavily scaled body, a deep groove in front of each eye, a naked area around the lips, and about five rows of small forward-curving spines on either side of the caudal peduncle. Read More »
The existence of bonefish in Australia was probably first recognised when surf anglers fishing along the Queensland coast caught “oversized sand whiting” exceeding 2kg in weight. While superficially similar to sand whiting, bonefish are easy to tell apart in a variety of ways including only having one dorsal fin, a more robust body and a more underslung mouth. Read More »
The Giant Trevally, or GT, is the largest trevally of the Indo-Pacific Region growing to a verified size of 170 cm (67 in.) and a weight of 80 kg (176 lbs.) Read More »
There are two different sub-species of Australian permit, Trachinotus Blochii and Trachinotus Anak. Considered one of the worlds premier light tackle game fish and fly fishing targets, it was many years before these fish came to prominence in Tropical Australian waters. Read More »