80 cm long, not in a school, was sitting in weeds on the bottom in a metre or two of water. Shot near Margaret River in south west WA. I can't say it looks like a salmon or a mulloway. Anyone got a positive ID for me?

My big fish chart and google -fu are failing me.

Help me knowledgeable seabreezers

Ummmm, so you killed a fish not knowing what it was, if its even edible, if its a protected species or the legal size limit for its species ????
In the fishing world thats a big no no.

Butter fish ( Dusky Morwong ) .....Not the oceans finest eating fish, a weed eater , and mushy flesh when cooked......Haven't eaten one since I was a kid, Give it a try anyways.

Many thanks Rabbs, you're spot on.

This was the last fish I ever speared, it was too heavy to carry back the 5km walk back to the car. I never went spear fishing again after that experience - I felt so ashamed, big dopey fish, just sat there.

Spot on as well Adolf, after eating part of it for dinner I'll leave them alone from now on. I was convinced it was a mulloway in the water though! It was only after I got it home and had a good hard look at some ID pictures that the doubt started to creep in.

All that shame came back again today with your post. The one I killed was a lot bigger maybe over a metre long and quite fat. It was a beautiful silver color and must have weighed 20kg - was the biggest fish I ever speared. I just gave it to some people on the beach. Like your one - it was just sitting there looking at me in about two metres of water minding it's own business grazing on weed. I knew them as Butterfish and they were regarded as a european thing to eat - like carp, but not introduced.

Just got back from a gig up north,
5 ft of water and thick with tuskys blue line emperor and snapper,
I couldn't do it, there was no sport in it,
Ended up feeding them from my hand ,
Got a few on the rod though

This is the Morwong you should target Nebbs....Great eating fish, .....Not sure on the size limit over your way.

I've certainly shot a few of those over east Rabbs, just starting to understand the fish over here. The fish ecosystem is a lot more different than I was expecting!

Looks enough like a mulloway especially in weed and moving and so on. I'd have mistaken it for a mulloway.

What is the stripey morwong? The only one I have experience of here in WA is the 'queen snapper' which is really a blue morwong. Not bad eating but really not like pinkie or red...

Looks like a fu-kushima fish.
Probably best not to eat it.

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Rabbs said...
Butter fish ( Dusky Morwong ) .....Not the oceans finest eating fish, a weed eater , and mushy flesh when cooked......Haven't eaten one since I was a kid, Give it a try anyways.

Rabbs is bang on - it's a Mowy. We have them over here in shallow weedy/rocky reefs. I've shot a few with a hawaiian sling but decided to leave them alone after finding out that they live in pairs. They taste ok, although not what you would call a delicacy so I've made a conscious decision not to spear them in future - no matter how curious they can be as it splits up a pair.

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Mark _australia said..
Looks enough like a mulloway especially in weed and moving and so on. I'd have mistaken it for a mulloway.

What is the stripey morwong? The only one I have experience of here in WA is the 'queen snapper' which is really a blue morwong. Not bad eating but really not like pinkie or red...

Banded Morwong...

Don't feel bad about spearing one

Every spearfisher has at least speared one, usually one of their first fish speared

They are very common, I have been told the smaller ones are better to eat, but they are not for me

I would rather feed it to a cat, then eat the cat in a nice curry

how can you mistake that for a mulloway


looks nothing like a mulloway in both skin tone and body shape.

A mulloway for starters doesn't hang around weed areas . a mulluway especially from top down will flash brilliant silvers back at you .

Can't believe you just speared something without having even a slightest clue .

Oh FFS Dusta, give the bloke a break, at least he ate some of it and will probably feed the rest to the cat. They look a decent fish when snorkeling, and many have made the same mistake.

I can clearly see the commercial fishermen from my front yard pulling their nets and they throw 100s of these over the side dead on a weekly basis. If you're gonna flame someone get your sign board out and go down to the fisherman's wharf .