Australian coarse fish

[Bobj]

Just to resurrect the 'redfin' thingo; here is a pic of a reddie, estimated at 50 cm. Don't know which dam it was caught in, but it was in Victoria, Australia.

 

[dant]

Thats the biggest Perch I've ever seen in my life!! I wish they were holding slightly more flank on..

 

It has to be 8 or 9lb's+?

 

Is it Perca fluviatilis? It's not the best picture but it looks like it is..

[Ken L]

India it was.

Fishbase reckons that they're only on the East coast of India but they're wrong. You can catch Barra up as far north as Diu in Gugerat on the West coast of India as well as bangladesh, burma (AKA Myanmar), all though south east asia, indodesia, the phillipines, the solomans and PNG.

They're probably present arround the island nations of the south pacific as well but I've not heared any definate confirmation.

[Bobj]

Thats the biggest Perch I've ever seen in my life!! I wish they were holding slightly more flank on..

 

It has to be 8 or 9lb's+?

 

Is it Perca fluviatilis? It's not the best picture but it looks like it is..

 

Yup. Apparently, it was caught on a "wooly bugger" fly, from what info I can get.

 

Ken L. Get your fishing gear and get out to the Northern Territory.......The barra are going berserk (figuratively speaking )My son and his mate spent an eight hour session on the Mary River and caught 132 barra between them, all released except two; smallest was 59 cm and the biggest went 97 cm.

Edited June 21, 2007 by Bobj

[Ken L]

Bob. I realised that I'd replied to an earlier post as soon as I posted yeasterday but was on my way out the door at the time.

India does it for me as far as the Barra are concerned with much lower prices and a third of the travelling distance. Add in the fact that I know there are wild saltwater Barra present to over 25kg's and it's a hard mix to beat. India will never have the shear numbers of barra that I've seen at places like Mission Beach (If you want to know exactly where, PM me) but they are quality.

 

My next visit to Aus is might be in 2009 and hopefully, I'll meet up with a mate and have a shot at some big greenfish. I had two in front of me on my last trip that must have been 20kg's and neither would so much as look at a lure which was a tad frustrating.

[Bobj]

Another refin , this was 2.7 kg and was caught in Lake Toolando, Victoria.

 

 

Ken L, no worries, mate. I know what you mean about frustrating with the big queenies

Plenty around where I am, but only in the 3-8 kg class.

[Frummo]

I haven't yet read the thread but seeing its title I thought I'd add something. If it's off-topic, sorry. I'll wince when I've read it all through. I lived in Tasmania in the 70's, an amazingly beautiful island, covered in lakes and rivers, many of them very wild. Whether it's changed I don't know, but it was a DESERT where coarse fishing was concerned. There were quite few places with introduced Rainbows - including monsters in Lake Pedder. The native fish are restricted to the Blackfish - a small and unsporting species of which I have caught quite a few until I lost interest - particularly after eating a couple. There's also the Galaxias (sp? memory a bit dodgy here) which we always referred to as the Minnow. Which says it all really. This was slightly offset by the presence of the freshwater lobsters (which I believe may be the full-grown versions of the local "Yabbies" - a sort of Cray). Not exactly a "coarse fish" but to be recommended accompanied by brown bread and beer.

One general comment about fish names in Oz is that they are, or at least were, very inconsistent leading to some amusement and confusion...

[Bobj]

I haven't yet read the thread but seeing its title I thought I'd add something. If it's off-topic, sorry. I'll wince when I've read it all through. I lived in Tasmania in the 70's, an amazingly beautiful island, covered in lakes and rivers, many of them very wild. Whether it's changed I don't know, but it was a DESERT where coarse fishing was concerned. There were quite few places with introduced Rainbows - including monsters in Lake Pedder. The native fish are restricted to the Blackfish - a small and unsporting species of which I have caught quite a few until I lost interest - particularly after eating a couple. There's also the Galaxias (sp? memory a bit dodgy here) which we always referred to as the Minnow. Which says it all really. This was slightly offset by the presence of the freshwater lobsters (which I believe may be the full-grown versions of the local "Yabbies" - a sort of Cray). Not exactly a "coarse fish" but to be recommended accompanied by brown bread and beer.

One general comment about fish names in Oz is that they are, or at least were, very inconsistent leading to some amusement and confusion...

 

How dare you call our freshwater, yabbies "lobsters"...... Crays, yes, jilgies, yes, lobbies, yes, marron, yes.......but lobsters?? And "a sort of cray"??? Never!

The yabby of Qld is called the redclaw and grows to about .75 lb and is even better tucker than the southern yabby.

Have to agree with the rest of your post, blackfish are quite uncommon now, thanks to the trout and carp, or is that crap? The galaxids are just holding their own in creeks that have few trout.

[john frum]

How dare you call our freshwater, yabbies "lobsters"...... Crays, yes, jilgies, yes, lobbies, yes, marron, yes.......but lobsters?? And "a sort of cray"??? Never!

The yabby of Qld is called the redclaw and grows to about .75 lb and is even better tucker than the southern yabby.

Have to agree with the rest of your post, blackfish are quite uncommon now, thanks to the trout and carp, or is that crap? The galaxids are just holding their own in creeks that have few trout.

Hi Bobj

When I was in Tas there weren't any Carp that I knew about. Hard to call them Cr@p given that the local river here contains some beautiful smallish wild carp that haven't taken over so far. As an aside when I was a kid - 40+ years ago - the idea of Carp in a river would have been laughed at.

 

Re Yabbies, Crays, Lobsters; in Tas at least the local saltwater "Rock Lobsters" are distinguished by having tiny claws - a mate of mine has a "Cray" boat on the NW coast there - happy memories of eating them fresh out of the sea! The freshwater lobsters - about a pound or two as far as I recall - have sizeable claws and a beautiful blueish tinge. I used to trap them in a river deep in the rainforest (had a small tin mining bush operation at the time) until we had half a dozen or so in a 44 full of rainwater, then a big feed! Very nice with fresh mutton-bird to follow when in season - they always resembled an Anchovy-flavoured Pigeon to me. I used to think that the lobsters might be grown-up Yabbies but you indicate that they're a separate species; or do you? The Tasmaniacs always refer to the big "Lobsters" in the rivers as "Lobsters" not "Yabbies" btw. Confused? I am.

 

Never mind Cr@p - what about Rainbollox Trout? A plague but at least you can eat them. And what about Pedder? - an amazing criminal blunder to flood it like that. The Hydro's still at it of course - they'd flood the whole b00dy island if there was a buck in it.

[Bobj]

Hi Bobj

When I was in Tas there weren't any Carp that I knew about. Hard to call them Cr@p given that the local river here contains some beautiful smallish wild carp that haven't taken over so far. As an aside when I was a kid - 40+ years ago - the idea of Carp in a river would have been laughed at.

 

Re Yabbies, Crays, Lobsters; in Tas at least the local saltwater "Rock Lobsters" are distinguished by having tiny claws - a mate of mine has a "Cray" boat on the NW coast there - happy memories of eating them fresh out of the sea! The freshwater lobsters - about a pound or two as far as I recall - have sizeable claws and a beautiful blueish tinge. I used to trap them in a river deep in the rainforest (had a small tin mining bush operation at the time) until we had half a dozen or so in a 44 full of rainwater, then a big feed! Very nice with fresh mutton-bird to follow when in season - they always resembled an Anchovy-flavoured Pigeon to me. I used to think that the lobsters might be grown-up Yabbies but you indicate that they're a separate species; or do you? The Tasmaniacs always refer to the big "Lobsters" in the rivers as "Lobsters" not "Yabbies" btw. Confused? I am.

 

Never mind Cr@p - what about Rainbollox Trout? A plague but at least you can eat them. And what about Pedder? - an amazing criminal blunder to flood it like that. The Hydro's still at it of course - they'd flood the whole b00dy island if there was a buck in it.

 

 

A great misnomer, the "lobster", there are NONE in Australian waters, including salt water. Same as the Americans and "buffalo"

Now, who would be a mug and stick his hand down a muttonbird hole??? Some exceptionally large and dangerous tiger snakes in 'them thar holes'

Yes, the Peddar was a bit of a stuff-up; governments do that in the name of progress. Same thing with the Ord River dam, Lake Argyle. The water does not help anyone, except a few small tourist businesses.

Never been partial to trout......except the coral trout.