North Australian FISH FINDER TM forums

Hey guys,
Went out for a fish with a mate of mine 'Roger' in and around East Arm on Thursday, the tides were big and we wanted to take full advantage of them. We cruised up one creek and at first there wasn't a great deal of surface action going on; the tide was certainly ripping through on the way out and if you saw this kind of water colour and movement in any other river system you could have sworn they'd be big fish cruising around, alas...nothing.
As the tide continued to drop, the action picked up. We had small schools of mullet, bait fish and jelly prawns boiling up on the surface; something which you'd usually associate with tuna schools on the chew, yet it was Barra and threadfin. Both species were so brazen with their feeding tactics that you'd occasionally see their backs fully exposed from the water as they lunged for a full mouth of food. Suffice to say, we landed and tagged 4 Barra, dropped 4 Barra and had a few takes from suspected threadies. With all the action we saw around us you'd think we would have killed it that day; but no, all they seemed to be interested in was those little jelly prawns...so in a way, I think we were pretty lucky to land the fish we did.
Besides the Barra, I did land one fish which I totally did not expect to ever catch and catch in the circumstances I did.
I was trolling a red head little lucifer and Roger a black and gold lucfer. As we trolled I doing my best to subdue the pain in my legs from a massive legs gym session I had on Tuesday. The pain was ridiculous, I could barley step up onto the casting deck and back down again, you'd think I was 80 years old the way in which I was getting around the rest of the boat. Anyway, so we're there trolling along talking about fish; Roger mentions this fish, a mother in law fish that he's seen in and around the area. He goes on to say that he's seen a few and some big specimens. He's tried to catch them, as they'd probably be a great fight, going off what's he's noticed with their physical attributes, but he's never been able to do so on bait let alone lure. So, while dealing with the pain in my legs, my rod goes off. I think to myself "sweet, finally a fish", at first I think it's a Barra, then it starts to fight all weird. It runs hard and then drops dead and becomes a heavy weight, it then takes off again with a few head shakes and then stops dead in it's tracks. Next thing that pops into my head is that it's a Powertail, oh well, might as well get it in to check it out. The stop start chaotic fight goes on for another 5 mins or so; the water is only 8 feet deep, but due to the discoloration, you couldn't see cr.p if your life depended on it. Eventually I get it near the surface; expecting to see a sh*ty Powertail, I'm taken back a bit by not a Powertail, but a rather robust looking fish, silver in colour with a faded vertical black band, blubbery lips, a massive eye (not far of a 20c piece in size) and it's torso was thick and deep. I'd liken it to the bastard child of a Bream and PNG Black Bass. I turn to Roger and say "holy sh!t mate, what is that", he responds with "mate, thats on of those mother in law fish". He nets the fish and brings it aboard, all the time with my lucifer hanging from it's mouth. I'm looking at this thing and think "that's actually one of the more prettier mother in law fish I've seen" as usually they are a really crappy colour. We removed the hooks, took a few pics and released it. As the fish swims off Roger goes on to say "I've never seen anyone catch one of those fish on a lure and in such shallow water" I promptly respond "so although it's a sh!ty fish to catch, the circumstances in which is was caught makes it a unique capture?", he replies "absolutely".
We didn't have much more luck after that; plenty of action on the surface, but nothing to grace our rods. We called it a day and headed back as the wind picked up. We hoped that if this rain would continue, the fishing would just keep getting better and better in the coming months....lets just hope.

Cheers

Buzz

Brown Sweetlips ? Maybe?

Thats what Matt said. Although it had blubbery lips, it certainly had some teeth.

Its a blubber lip bream. They are reasonably common to catch on lures up the creeks.

Mostly known on ID pages as brown sweetlip, but is called blubberlips or blubberlips bream by many fishos.

I'd never seen one before this, it's usually just Barra and Flathead.
It was like catching a meter + Powertail Powertail; epic in size, not so epic when the realisation of what it is hits you.

Are they good eating? I am guessing not as a 'mother in law' fish...

Apparently not, that said I wasn't going to try it. Knowing my luck, they're probably delicious.

well if it is the same species as the grassy sweetlip....

Good write up mate.

Mother in law fish! I never ate one but heard they taste like cardboard.

balou wrote:Good write up mate.

Mother in law fish! I never ate one but heard they taste like cardboard.

Thanks balou,
Cardboard, very politically correct there hahahha I would have just said it taste like SH!T

disco wrote:well if it is the same species as the grassy sweetlip....

I believe you are thinking of painted sweetlip, which is another of the so-called mother in law fish. Aka slatey bream.

Grassy sweetlip are another fish again, a member of the emperor family and quite good to eat.

Stonker!

Good on ya,

Cheers

Bit of an ugly bugger , but the fish looks cool , shame about the taste

Looks like a mother in law fish... Ugly and is not cool...