ellicat

@DropBear it’s the top of the spine where it meets the skull. Love the cracking sound

Is that the spine or the otoliths coming out? either way i am intimidated by those cutters!! 

Haha I remember the incident with the old one-
Me with a decent snapper on which ended up being just a decent head after being grey suited and you Sh!tting bricks as the low battery warning was on and having me grab the drone as the boat drifted......🤣🤣

So here’s a bit of interesting info. In my report I said the hussar measured 50cm on the boat. In the lab the frame measured 48cm total length. Fish do shrink after death, especially when placed on ice. There have been numerous studies done in Australia showing this, including on Qld species like coral trout. Fish can shrink around 2cm in the first 48 hours. Cool hey!

Some more pics

Ok my mate Tyson whipped the ear bones (called otoliths) out of the Moses and hussar today. Otoliths are like our ear bones - they help fish stay upright in the water and hear sounds. You might have heard or seen the “jewels” from mulloway - these are their otoliths. They come in all shapes, sizes and thicknesses depending upon the type of fish’s habitat and behaviours. 
They sit in a cavity under the brain (slightly behind and above the top of the eye) so depending on the species of fish you can access them from the top (by scalping the fish) or from underneath. For the hussar and Moses Tyson cut away the gills and went from underneath. 
We use bone cutters to prise open the cavity, and the otoliths can be plucked with some fine tweezers. 
Some species’ otoliths (ie mackerel, tailor, bream) can be viewed whole under a microscope, but fish like snapper, pearl perch, mulloway, red emperor, Moses and hussar need to be set in a block of polyester resin and a thin slice cut using a low speed saw. The slice is then mounted on a slide and viewed under a microscope. 
The otolith displays growth rings (like in the trunk of a tree) and show periods of fast growth (wide, clear material) and slow growth (narrow, opaque rings) that corresponds with annual cycles. There’s a bit of science to determine whether a fish species lays down annual rings, but generally this applies for most fish. 
So now we have the otoliths of these two fish out, we have a bit more work putting them in blocks and slicing them before we can estimate their age. 
I’ll post the next steps as I get round to them. 

Blame the BRONCOS, Cowboys, Titans, Warriors, Bulldogs, Knights, Manly, Eels, Tigers, Panthers, Raiders... I do😂  The usual losers have turned into winners and the usual winners have turned into losers. 🤔... may be not the Doggies, they`re being consistent 🤣

Headed out from Mooloolaba last week in some nicer weather. Well it might have been a bit too nice as the fish weren’t playing the game! Fished hard all day for a couple of tuskies, Maori cod, Moses, a nice snapper and the biggest hussar I’ve ever seen!
Between 6 of us on two boats we kept about 20 reefies for the day. 
Conditions were so nice my spearo mate was foaming at the mouth to jump in, even after we saw a decent shark on one of the spots! 
Brilliant day on the water nonetheless. 
Mmmm fish tacos!

Another test video. Loving this Spark drone. 
A little clip from Wivenhoe spillway and a quick flyby on Bribie Island yesterday. 

674241EB-8B95-4D02-A278-B2AB234309B4.MP4

ROUND 5     
Thursday, April 11
 Broncos  16 v 22  Wests Tigers
OMG!!  after watching this game, it just dawned on me how SH!T the Cowboys played in round 2  ...
 Friday, April 12
 Titans 30 v 24 Panthers
WOW. the Broncos, Cowboys and Titans are all in the 4 on equal points... Shame it`s the bottom 4
 Cowboys 12 v 18 Storm
and the Storm keeps on keeping on
 Saturday, April 13
Rabbitohs 28 v 24 Warriors
Bunnies managed to hop away with this one.... May be a good bye, that`s all folks from Greg Inglis tomorrow
 Knights 18 v 26  Sea Eagles
Last week the Dragon slew the Knight, this week the Knight was pecked to death by a water bird...
 Sharks 16 v 30 Roosters
Sharks be grateful the Roosters eased up on them...
  Sunday, April 14
Dragons 40 v 4 Bulldogs
Dawgies... short leashed again
 Raiders 19 v 0 Eels
Eels were gutted and smoked!

What sort of fishing ? Are you looking for a feed or just some sport ? Fresh or salt water ?
It's a big place with plenty of options.

Ummmm okay! Broncos are stuffed Cowboys are a bit lazy and Storm are amazing as normal.... Titans how the hell did they win today! 
 

My 4th team is Storm so that last one was a bit of a hard pick... I can't see Titans winning really but hey its a footy tipping thingo and I will loose anyhow so
GO THE QUEENSLANDERS
Closest colour to maroon I could find....

So I have decided that I will only ever tip with my head and not my heart this year... 
I am also cutting down on drinking and eating better...

What sort of fishing ? Are you looking for a feed or just some sport ? Fresh or salt water ?
It's a big place with plenty of options.

ROUND 5      *all times AEST = Qlder time*
Thursday, April 11
Broncos v Wests Tigers
7.50pm at Suncorp Stadium (CHANNEL 9/FOX SPORTS)
 Friday, April 12
Titans v Panthers
6pm at CBus Super Stadium (FOX SPORTS)
Cowboys v Storm
7.55pm at 1300Smiles Stadium (CHANNEL 9/FOX SPORTS)
 Saturday, April 13
Rabbitohs v Warriors
3pm at Sunshine Coast Stadium (FOX SPORTS)
Knights v Sea Eagles
5.30pm at McDonald Jones Stadium (FOX SPORTS)
Sharks v Roosters
7.35pm at Shark Park (FOX SPORTS)
 Sunday, April 14
Dragons v Bulldogs
4.05pm at Jubilee Stadium (CHANNEL 9/FOX SPORTS)
Raiders v Eels
6.10pm at GIO Stadium (FOX SPORTS)

Tough weekend missing 3 GP tips.

I hate golden point for fixtures. Fine with it in the finals.
 

Tough weekend missing 3 GP tips.

I hate golden point for fixtures. Fine with it in the finals.
 

The offshore edition of the pike eel 😁
 

Tough weekend missing 3 GP tips.

I hate golden point for fixtures. Fine with it in the finals.
 

I hate golden point for fixtures. Fine with it in the finals.
 

round 4 
Thursday April 4, 2019
Roosters 36 v 4 Broncos
Roosters looked fresh after that opposed training session...
 Friday April 5, 2019
Warriors 26 v 10 Titans
Warriors had a game plan, and the Titans played to it...
 Panthers 9 v 8 Tigers
WTF!!!!  The Tiggers halves, took the pressure of Penrith and put it all on their own team at 11 minutes out, by going into panicked mentality, field goal mode
 Saturday April 6, 2019 
Sea Eagles 13 v 12 Rabbitohs
56% completion rate and win in a ‘pot-a-thon’
 Cowboys 12 v 30 Raiders
Opportunity lost? ... should 2017 have been the start of the post Thurston and Scott era
 Eels 24 v 12 Sharks
Eels won over an under strength Shark`s side... a win is a win
 Sunday April 7, 2019 
Storm 18 v 16 Bulldogs
 Good game... reduced interchange bench told on the Dogs in the end.
Knights 12 v 13 Dragons
3 rd ‘pot-a-thon’ game this round...  Now that the live sport betting sucker gimmicks have been taken out of the televised games, is it time to go back to, 80 minutes with scores locked... both teams were equal on the day, 1 point each.