There are no sharks anymore....

[Drop Bear]

https://www.facebook.com/667226569/videos/10157878794491570/

I don't know if this link will work but that is a lot of sharks!! 

[Old Scaley]

Note to self: NO MORE SWIMMING BEHIND TRAWLERS!

[Junky]

53 minutes ago, Old Scaley said:

Note to self: NO MORE SWIMMING BEHIND TRAWLERS!

Past time hobby of yours was it? 

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

8 hours ago, Drop Bear said:

https://www.facebook.com/667226569/videos/10157878794491570/

I don't know if this link will work but that is a lot of sharks!! 

I think the number of massive pike has increased too. You would love to catch one, Robbie, as you eat them.

I lost one if my fish today - a 1.5 metre pike came and piked it off the surface. 
 

Cheers Hamish 

[Old Scaley]

Not sure if the pike that Robbie eats grows big enough to do that sort of damage, Hamish. Was it a barracuda?  Although I think barracuda are also known as Pike in some areas?

[GregOug]

58 minutes ago, Old Scaley said:

Not sure if the pike that Robbie eats grows big enough to do that sort of damage, Hamish. Was it a barracuda?  Although I think barracuda are also known as Pike in some areas?

They have to be related at least. They certainly look the same except for the size.

[GregOug]

2 hours ago, AUS-BNE-FISHO said:

I think the number of massive pike has increased too. You would love to catch one, Robbie, as you eat them.

I lost one if my fish today - a 1.5 metre pike came and piked it off the surface. 
 

Cheers Hamish 

Is that a butter bream or a bat fish?

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

1 hour ago, Old Scaley said:

Not sure if the pike that Robbie eats grows big enough to do that sort of damage, Hamish. Was it a barracuda?  Although I think barracuda are also known as Pike in some areas?

Hi Steve 

I’m not quite sure - I will look in my Grandma’s/Uncle’s Grant’s Guide a bit closer. I do believe it was a big pike though - literally looked exactly like the same thing @Andrew_P was pulling up on the bait grounds yesterday except bigger. If it was a barracuda though I wouldn’t be too surprised.

26 minutes ago, GregOug said:

Is that a butter bream or a bat fish?

Hi Greg

It is a Short-Finned Batfish. Unsurprising, after that one they went off the bite! Lol. They have nice white flesh abs the first round tasted really good in a batter tonight (what didn’t taste good was when I spilled hot oil on myself... Lucky it was only a couple drops!).

Cheers Hamish 

P.S. Sorry to hijack this thread  

[ellicat]

Maybe a barracoota, which are like an oversized pike too.

[Old Scaley]

54 minutes ago, ellicat said:

Maybe a barracoota, which are like an oversized pike too.

I think the cootas are more a southern fish. 

[GregOug]

29 minutes ago, Old Scaley said:

I think the cootas are more a southern fish. 

Still. I caught a six foot coota at Bulwer way back before fire was discovered.

[GregOug]

Just now, GregOug said:

Still. I caught a six foot coota at Bulwer way back before fire was discovered.

Actually it was a bit of a waste. No way to cook it.

[Ed.]

55 minutes ago, Old Scaley said:

I think the cootas are more a southern fish. 

When I went to Fiji with the missus about 13 years ago, we had a few days at Oarsman Bay Lodge, at the front of the huts there is a truly beautiful bay there, so wifey and I went for a snorkel and this barracuda started swimming around us. I wasn't an overly big one (about a meter long) but Barracoudas just look really evil when you are in the water with them, so they are also in the tropical waters. I didn't like the way it was looking at us so we slowly back peddled back to shore whilst keeping a eye on it.

[GregOug]

24 minutes ago, Ed. said:

When I went to Fiji with the missus about 13 years ago, we had a few days at Oarsman Bay Lodge, at the front of the huts there is a truly beautiful bay there, so wifey and I went for a snorkel and this barracuda started swimming around us. I wasn't an overly big one (about a meter long) but Barracoudas just look really evil when you are in the water with them, so they are also in the tropical waters. I didn't like the way it was looking at us so we slowly back peddled back to shore whilst keeping a eye on it.

Well, I have read that more people get attacked by barracudas than sharks. And having once bought a six foot couta into the boat and witnessed the absolute chaos that ensued I can totally believe that. It went berserk, trying to attack us from every direction. We jumped on the seats and had to hit it with the donga about a dozen times to subdue it. Very bloody scary. Then, when we had finally placed it to rest, we realised that a six foot couta was not going to fit into a three foot esky so we had to chop it up. What with the couta knocking everything flying trying to get at us, the autopsy needed to fit it in the esky  and the pouring rain happening at the time a lot of abattoirs would have looked a lot cleaner than my boat did after it was all over. Then to cap it all off, when I got home and checked my Grants Guide to Fishes I realised that you couldn’t even eat them! Lol.

[Old Scaley]

So, I think we are talking about different fish here. Barracouta are the southern fish that are a good eating fish and barracuda are the northern fish that is a bit stinky and not a recognised table fish.

[Drop Bear]

7 hours ago, Old Scaley said:

So, I think we are talking about different fish here. Barracouta are the southern fish that are a good eating fish and barracuda are the northern fish that is a bit stinky and not a recognised table fish.

Sounds right. 

We ate a lot of Barracuda in Fiji.

Delicious fish. I even had some sashimi and it was great. 

I think they are often a carrier of ciguatera, especially big ones like Greg caught. 

[Drop Bear]

10 hours ago, AUS-BNE-FISHO said:

P.S. Sorry to hijack this thread  

meh, All good, I love it when that happens. Especially on one that was about a video stolen from Facebook. 

[Ed.]

Here are 2 pics, the first one is a Barracuda and the second is a Barracouta

[Ed.]

The major visual difference is the long dorsal fin  which is absent in the Barracuda and the 'Couta has tail caudlets top and bottom.

[Ed.]

Stuffed up in the posts above, hoping to put them into one post, but anyway not sure what the ranges are that these fish live in, I know the Barracudas are mainly warmer water fish and the Barracouta a more colder water species but they may overlap.

 

[Junky]

Maybe Hamish is referring to the pike eel.

I've caught plenty of them in the rivers and canals around here.

They grow that long.

Horrible things. 

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

Hi all 

Sorry for the late response, I think you are right about it being called a ‘pike’ up here Steve. 
 

Thanks for the pics Ed. I can now see it was a cuda. Junky, what would be really scary is if it was a Pike Eel. I’d never go swimming around here again if a massive Pike Eel would eat fish that you’re pulling up! 
 

Cheers Hamish 

[Drop Bear]

33 minutes ago, AUS-BNE-FISHO said:

Hi all 

Sorry for the late response, I think you are right about it being called a ‘pike’ up here Steve. 
 

Thanks for the pics Ed. I can now see it was a cuda. Junky, what would be really scary is if it was a Pike Eel. I’d never go swimming around here again if a massive Pike Eel would eat fish that you’re pulling up! 
 

Cheers Hamish 

great to see you catching something mate. Enjoy your time up there. 

[Junky]

45 minutes ago, AUS-BNE-FISHO said:

Hi all 

Sorry for the late response, I think you are right about it being called a ‘pike’ up here Steve. 
 

Thanks for the pics Ed. I can now see it was a cuda. Junky, what would be really scary is if it was a Pike Eel. I’d never go swimming around here again if a massive Pike Eel would eat fish that you’re pulling up! 
 

Cheers Hamish 

Haha. 

 

 

A 1.5m cuda would put up a good fight. Maybe put a live out on the surface occasionally.