My fourth oz report

[Snatcher]

Our transfer bus from Cairns Airport dropped us off at our apartment in Port Douglas on the evening of 02 November. I left the women to unpack the cases and I dived over the road to Coles(its the oz equivalent of Morrisons) to get some grub,beer/wine and most importantly some fishing bait!!!!

 

Their Deli dept had sold out of fresh prawns so I settled for a couple of loaves of white,cut,wholemeal bread - healthy options In the past I had done fairly well fishing with bread whilst overseas so was hoping the fish would oblige the next morning.

 

I arrived at the jetty on the harbour just after sunrise to find another angler already fishing.As I tackled up beside him we got chatting,as anglers do,and found out that he was on holiday with his girlfriend and they came from Melbourne. Jeremy said that he had already taken(and returned) two decent bream on squid. I was just having a titter at the bell on the end of his rod when it started ringing out out that bream No 3 was chewing on his bait!!! After a good little scrap here is a shot of the fellah

 

 

I started to catty out some loose bread to what appeared to be a shoal of mullet out in the middle of the channel. I slowly worked the shoal in towards me with careful use of the catapult.As I got them close to the jetty I was amazed by the size of them.

 

 

Jeremy said he had never used bread as bait before and was keeping a close eye on the proceedings.Well my main line was 15lb mono and I really thought it may put the fish off but gave it a go anyway. I hooked a bit of crust onto a no 8 hook with a BB shot pinched about a foot away and cast out amongst my loose offerings. Five or six times mullet nosed the bait and turned away but finally one did take it and we had real "fireworks".I started to climb down the stairs to get closer control over the fish when it dived around a pylon of the jetty and line was cut off. Damm and blast

 

Jeremy was well impressed and blagged some bread off me to give it a go.Now he was using 30lb mono and I thought no way will those mullet be decieved with that line.Wrong John,first cast seen him hook into a good mullet.Now on his gear he really gave it some stick

 

 

I was about to go down the stairs and "hand" it in when Jeremy decided just to haul it in. I thought to myself that hook will surely pull out John - wrong again!!!

 

 

It was the first time I had seen a large scaled mullet and was well impressed with them

 

 

I kept the loose feed going in and was determined to get a mullet for myself.The mullet were just starting to nose the bread again when a cheeky little bream zoomed to the front of the queue and here he is in all his glory!

 

 

Amongst the shoal of mullet I could see a diffent type of fish but was not too sure what they were,anyway one eventually took the bait and what a scrap it gave me.I walked down the jetty stairs and handed the rod around two pylons whilst still playing the fish. I prayed to God I did not drop the rod in. Anyway Jeremy handed the fish out for me.It was a spotted batfish(my thanks to Vagabond for identifying it for me)

 

 

It really was a pretty fish but check out those spines!!!

 

 

Things died down after that and I blagged a bit of squid off Jeremy to try.At this point Jeremys girlfriend arrived to pick him up and I decided to go for the "one last cast". I got a little tap tap and struck into a puffer fish.Now I was fairly sure that these were quite poisonous and I managed to shake it off the hook with the careful use of some long nosed artery forceps.

 

Well I was really chuffed with my first Port Douglas shore session and vowed to return again the next morning

Edited December 20, 2008 by Snatcher

[Bobj]

It was a spotted batfish(my thanks to Vagabond for identifying it for me)

 

 

It really was a pretty fish but check out those spines!!!

 

 

Things died down after that and I blagged a bit of squid off Jeremy to try.At this point Jeremys girlfriend arrived to pick him up and I decided to go for the "one last cast". I got a little tap tap and struck into a puffer fish.Now I was fairly sure that these were quite poisonous and I managed to shake it off the hook with the careful use of some long nosed artery forceps.

 

Well I was really chuffed with my first Port Douglas shore session and vowed to return again the next morning

 

Good one, snatcher. Unfortunately, Vagabond misidentified the spotted fish; it is the spotted scat, or spotted butterfish (scatophagus argus), according to Grant's Guide To Fishes.

http://www.amonline.net.au/fishes/fishfacts/fish/scargus.htm

They grow to about 13 inches and, although fairly acceptable as a table fish, the flesh deteriorates very quickly if not bled immediately after capture.

Now,had you cut the mullet up for bait, you two could have caught some estuary cod (goldspot), and maybe a few qld mackerel.

The pufferfish is what we call the toadfish, or toado an they are poisonous. Jimmy Cook, on his voyage of discovery,ate one of the giant toados and nearly lost his life...

[Snatcher]

Hi Bobj,Dave actually gave me three names for that fish - I just quoted the first one. They were spotted batfish/sicklefish and butterfish. Keep checking the reports,lots of different species coming up

[Guest tigger]

Love these threads Snatcher, very interesting.

[Bobj]

Hi Bobj,Dave actually gave me three names for that fish - I just quoted the first one. They were spotted batfish/sicklefish and butterfish. Keep checking the reports,lots of different species coming up

Ah, now I see the reason; the spotted batfish/sickle fish/butterfish is similar (drepane punctata)

 

http://www.fishbase.com/Summary/SpeciesSum...esname=punctata

[Snatcher]

Hi have dropped a large clanger Dave correctly identified that fish as a spotted scat,just checked up on Daves PMs - sorry team. The spotted batfish does figure in a later report though

[Kingyfisher]

Hi Snatcher, didn't realise you were on here too !

Loads of fun fishing with you in Sydney,lets do it again ! So sorry that my dodgy knot cost you a very nice Yellowtail Kingfish,now THAT would have been a Photo & right under the "coathanger" too!

[Vagabond]

Vagabond misidentified the spotted fish; it is the spotted scat, or spotted butterfish (scatophagus argus), according to Grant's Guide To Fishes.

 

Have been touring Texas and have only just seen this.

 

That Bobj, is what they call an unwarranted assumption.

 

Snatcher sent me pics of both spotted scat AND spotted batfish and I correctly identified both at the time.

 

I gave the identifications in the form of a numbered list of captions. The captions seem to have got mixed somehow

 

The spotted batfish will no doubt turn up in a later report. Its quite a different head shape to the scat.

 

Ah, I see Snatcher has now said he mixed the lists up. No worries John - these things happen.

Edited December 21, 2008 by Vagabond

[Guest Jan V]

Keep the threads coming, John!!!!

[captain cojones]

great stuff snatch! keep them coming mate!!