queensland Moses Perch

[Inspiredbyfishing]

Hi everyone,

Moses perch to me are just as likely to be the next catch as any other estuary species but it seems they don't get as much recognition or focus as say the bream or flathead. So that leads me to say what catches you the moses perch, lures, what lures, are they good eating? I have caught some good quantity and quality but never eaten the or seen them caught on lures first hand.

Thanks, Dom

[Tybo]

Moses Perch are great eating, just like any other Lutjanidae. Swampdog fish and chips had them as their special a few weeks back, which I got and was delicious.

Most Moses people catch are the juveniles that grow up in the estuaries, where they seem to school up and be completely voracious. The big boys you catch out on the reefs, my biggest being 54cm which I caught in 90m of water off Double Island Point. I've never really targeted them specifically or caught them on anything other then flesh baits, but generally when you catch one, there's dozens of them down below.

[Inspiredbyfishing]

thanks tybo, hopefully I can crack one on a lures soon

[bersim]

I've never actually targeted them but have caught them on soft plastics and small hardbodies when targeting other fish. They're pretty aggressive from what I've found.

This one was caught in a river when I was targeting flatties and threadies.

James

[Inspiredbyfishing]

nice, that's a big plastics for a small fish.

thanks

[STKE]

You'd find it pretty hard to target them as they tend to be a by~catch species in both river and reef.

Typically where ever you'll find the bream in the river the little bugger moses won't be to far away. Personally they shit me to tears as they are the worst pickers.

[Daryl McPhee]

I catch a fair few legal sized ones consistently over at Amity Point and they are extremely good eating. I mostly get them at night on flesh baits with half pilchards being a quite consistent bait for them.

The one in the photo was from a couple of week over there and I also got a nice stripey which is in the same Family as the Moses Perch (Lutjanidae) and is one of the more underrated reef fish around.

[demarc]

You'd find it pretty hard to target them as they tend to be a by~catch species in both river and reef.

Typically where ever you'll find the bream in the river the little bugger moses won't be to far away. Personally they shit me to tears as they are the worst pickers.

You can easily target them offshore if you know where to look. They like rocky ledges. Biggest ones I have caught are at 1770, they produce some brutes up that way.

[waldo]

If they are legal they are in the esky. 5 @ 25cm doesn't give much of a yield but they are tasty little fish. As others my biggest have come from outside, and like Daryl most come on pillies with cut fish baits also accounting for quite a few.