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?
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.
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
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...
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.
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...
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 .
