Fish species I caught in Australia

twoutes · June 18, 2007, 14:25:16 CET

Hi my name is Joe, and l live in Australia. We are very fortunate here to have a good variey of fish species. I wish to share with you some of the species l have caught here in Australia, and if you wish the methods that we use. Maybe you can adapt some of the methods to your fishing in Malta. This is not about how big the fish are but, the diversety of fish in both fresh and salt water.I would like to start with the fish in my profile photo. This is a Snapper which are caught commonly in our bay up to 13kg. We catch the larger ones using squid and pilchards for bait, but the smaller sweet tasting ones up to 1kg are caught on a shell fish we call 'Pipi'. They are great to catch because of the big runs they take when hooked.

skip · June 18, 2007, 17:08:37 CET

Nice fish

twoutes · June 19, 2007, 00:29:57 CET

Thanks Skip... The snapper here come into the bay to Spawn from the open seas from August throught till February. You can find big schools of them on your depth sounder. When you mark them along the bottom is the best time because they are feeding, and you can really score heaps of fish. Luckily there is a bag limit of ten per angler, and most people do the right thing. We use a rig with a small running sinker, and a heavy leader with the hook right at the end. We need to get the bait on the bottom but with mininum weight so that the fish feels no resisitance when it makes its run with the bait to get away from the rest of the school, hence the large run they make...A little bit like seaguls when you through them food scraps.The smaller snapper are great to catch on light gear with say 4lb line.

twoutes · June 23, 2007, 23:38:42 CET

While fishing for snapper it's important to move the bait after a while unless you want to catch a banjo shark or other types of rays. Theses are the vacum cleaners of the bay, cleaning out any scraps off the bottom that they can find. I have had many long battles with stingrays reaching the size of my kitchen table ( 6feet diameter ). Mainly because l didn't want to get spooled, and have to buy new fishing line. I must admit though, its alot of fun chasing them around the bay with the boat trying to retrieve light line. Bango sharks can reach a length of about 5 feet here, though the bigest my father and l have caught is only about 4 feet, as you can see in the photo attached.

twoutes · June 28, 2007, 14:12:48 CET

A few times a year we take our boats up north to N.S.W. and fish out of Bermagui, which is a very popular spot for people with trailer boats to venture out and catch marlin. This is because the continental shelf comes within 20km of the coast and is accessable to small boats, in fact l caught my very first Striped Marlin of 75kg from here out of my 16ft boat with only a 40hp outboard on it. Besides marlin there is a variety of tuna, and other pelagic fish to be caught, not to mention the many species of sharks. One of the most common tuna at Bermagui is the Striped Tuna, which is very simular to a Bonito but has less srtipes and no teeth. We sometimes use striped tuna as Marlin Bait by slow trolling them at about 3knots (depending on currents) alive using a 'Bridal Rig'. This is a very visual way to catch Marlin because you can see your bait swimming the whole time and watch a large marlin take it. GREAT STUFF!!! Attached are a couple photos of Striped marlin we caught on very little skitred lures we call Christmas trees, as they are cover with shinny strips of tinsel.

twoutes · June 30, 2007, 08:15:34 CET

In Cairns, if you want some quick action, just put on a small yellow fin tuna for bait. We call them 'Jelly Beans' because the marlin swallow them down like lollies. These baits normally only last a few minutes before something takes them....usually a large shark but hopefully a bigger Marlin. I once caught a Black Marlin estimated at 800lb using a live yellow fin tuna as bait. We saw some really hot action that day!

kempy · June 30, 2007, 12:18:35 CET

wow what nice fish you caught ...

twoutes · June 30, 2007, 16:35:42 CET

Thank you!! As l keep saying, we are very lucky to have so many opportunities for great fishing here. But, remember.. we to are an island, but much bigger and sourounded each side by oceans and seas. Malta is a much, much smaller island in the medeteranean sea surrounded by many countries, yet you still seem to catch some good fish, from what l gather from this Fishing Forum. It really is a credit to you all.

twoutes · June 30, 2007, 23:36:51 CET

Striped Marlin....What can l say? This to me is the most favorite fish to catch here. As l mention previously l caught my first Marlin a fair few years ago....or should l say the Marlin caught me! By that l mean since that day l have been caught up about Marlin. There habits, migration and whatever else l can learn about them. I can't get enough. My office pays tribute to them with the many pictures and statues l have on display. One thing I truly like about them is their abilty to give you a fight. Not only their acrobatic jumbs, but their long slugs down deep. Some times it can be a real challenge to get them to the boat.

kempy · July 01, 2007, 01:05:50 CET

man they are very nice fish some thimg to be very proud of

twoutes · July 02, 2007, 05:42:07 CET

Cairns really is a great spot to fish with the many varites of fish to catch on the Great Barrier Reef. Without trying to metion the hundreds of species you can catch of the bottom, some of the fish we catch while trollong 'Rapal Lures' are Mack Tuna, Spanish Mackerel, Barracutta, Giant Trevelly,and occasionaly a Long Tom

twoutes · July 02, 2007, 05:47:52 CET

Spanish Mackrel, and Giant Trevally GT

sergio · July 02, 2007, 12:54:08 CET

wow man. im really impressed . i knew that australia has some very good fishing grounds but catching a marlin on a 16 foot boat is damn impressive. i wish we had fish as big as that here in malta ! but alas, the mediterranean is heavily overfished , so a large fish is a rarity

twoutes · July 02, 2007, 13:44:08 CET

Hi Sergio. Nice to hear from you. There are a few places in NSW that when the currents are right fishermen catch Marlin and Tuna off the rocks. They actually use childrens blow up pools as live bait tanks, and use party balloons as floats to get theit live baits away from the rocks. One guy caught a Black marlin off the rocks that was about 120Kg. His problem was to get his Marlin out of the sea because he was so high up. Luckily he was able to call in a boat that was passing by to take his marlin ashore for him. Also at a place called South West Rocks juvenille marlin are caught within 1 km off the beach. Some fishermen fish out of small aluminium boats and kyaks. Its CRAZY!!!

twoutes · July 03, 2007, 00:34:52 CET

I see lots of listings on this forum about 'Lumpuki'. We catch them here as well, but more so as a by catch while fisihng for Marlin. They are great sports fish to catch as they change colurs and jump well out of water during the fight. They are the quickest growing fish in the sea. I am sure that some large ones are caught in Malta as well? Check out the attached photos of one we caught on live 'Slimey Mackrel' bait we had rigged up for a Striped marlin we saw lurking around. The 'Dolphin Fish' attacked the bait with no mercy, and the marlin swam away dissapointed.