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Forums > General Discussion   Shooting the breeze...

Fish ID please?

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Created by nebbian > 9 months ago, 28 Mar 2016
nebbian
WA, 6277 posts
28 Mar 2016 5:54PM
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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

lotofwind
NSW, 6451 posts
28 Mar 2016 9:03PM
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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.


Rabbs
251 posts
28 Mar 2016 6:11PM
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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.


nebbian
WA, 6277 posts
28 Mar 2016 6:16PM
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Many thanks Rabbs, you're spot on.

adolf
1862 posts
28 Mar 2016 7:23PM
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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.

nebbian
WA, 6277 posts
28 Mar 2016 8:06PM
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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.

adolf
1862 posts
28 Mar 2016 8:28PM
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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.

cauncy
WA, 8407 posts
28 Mar 2016 8:28PM
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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



Rabbs
251 posts
28 Mar 2016 8:30PM
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This is the Morwong you should target Nebbs....Great eating fish, .....Not sure on the size limit over your way.

nebbian
WA, 6277 posts
28 Mar 2016 9:19PM
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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!

Mark _australia
WA, 22787 posts
28 Mar 2016 9:28PM
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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...


VB MAN
1156 posts
28 Mar 2016 9:51PM
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Looks like a fu-kushima fish.
Probably best not to eat it.

Sailhack
VIC, 5000 posts
29 Mar 2016 1:08AM
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Select to expand quote
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.

Rabbs
251 posts
29 Mar 2016 5:10PM
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Select to expand quote
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...

p train
VIC, 2629 posts
30 Mar 2016 9:59PM
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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

dusta
WA, 2940 posts
31 Mar 2016 8:53AM
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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 .





kk
WA, 947 posts
31 Mar 2016 5:53PM
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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 .



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Forums > General Discussion   Shooting the breeze...


"Fish ID please?" started by nebbian