Lateral lines

[soflabasser]

55 minutes ago, Louise Jenkins said:

We don't weigh fish here just measure them. 

My fish was about 30 kg or so.  No photo.  Brother released it at side of boat accidently as I was getting camera ready.

 

I've got a photo of a friend's 154cm wild barra caught in our river system (Fitzroy River Qld) that would have gone about 35-40kg.  Caught on live herring while fishing for smaller type of fish.

 

A couple of photos.  A 34kg dam barramundi which was 129cm and a wild caught 131cm on a measure mat (most measure mats only go to 120cm).  Note how fat the 34kg fish is compared with the others.  The one from Monduran Dam was a fat fish also. 

 

Barra between 85cm and 100cm are the hardest to handle.  Up to 85cm they've got agility but little bulk.  Over 100cm they've got bulk but little agility (just tow you around).  But between 85 - 100cm they have both agility and bulk and can be a real handful if there's a bit of run in the water.

That is terrible you did not get a picture of your 135 centimeter barramundi but at least you had a witness and have that memory for the rest of your life. Your friends barramundi is a giant along with the other ones you posted. Is the man with the blurred out face in the picture you? If it is that is impressive barramundi you caught. 

55 minutes ago, Louise Jenkins said:

We get Florida based fishermen come here to the Fitzroy to chase barra, saratoga, threadfin and permit on fly.

Australia is one of the best places in the world to go fishing and diving so I am not surprised you meet lots of Floridians since many of them enjoy fishing and diving . Have you caught barramundi while spearfishing? It seems like a fun thing to do but I am not too sure about doing it since so many saltwater crocodiles live in the same water barramundi live in. Going back to the main topic have you used bucktail jigs and other similar jigs for barramundi? 

[Louise Jenkins]

No.  The guy in the photo is my fishing partner Mitch.  I don't class 135cm as a giant barramundi.  I transported one a few years ago that was a genuine wild 100 lb'er as a favour for a fisherman to a local hotel who he supplied.  That fish was 103 lb gilled and gutted.  I had to bend that fish (still alive) considerably to get it onto the back seat of my VW beetle.  Made for an interesting ride with the thing flapping around in the back area though.

 

Mitch's fish was an impoundment one that couldn't be revived when he got it in.  Jacko's 154 cm was released though not tagged.  Also Jacko caught a 148 and 145 cm barra exactly where I got my 135.  In the CBD area of my city (Rockhampton) under the traffic bridge. 

 

Don't spearfish.  Too many sharks in the inshore area.  In the murky estuarine/river water too many crocodiles.  I wouldn't get in the water anywhere in this river especially upstream in the fresh.  A 5.2m estuarine croc was shot up in the freshwater a while ago and he wasn't the only one that I'd seen up there.  Even at a boat ramp I always keeping the boat between me and the river proper.  Attached is a pix of a bit of local wildlife stalking around our boat the other day.  Had eagle-eyed 13 yr old grandson on croc watch.  This guy is about 4m long.

 

Anyway, enough of here.  I'm interested in your bass

[soflabasser]

Saw a couple videos of people spearfishing for barramundi near the shore. They caught some nice ones but I am not sure if I would spearfish the same places they did. I have experience diving with crocodiles, alligators, alligator snapping turtles, and other species of reptiles but those animals are nowhere near aggressive as the saltwater crocodiles you have in Australia.

23 minutes ago, Louise Jenkins said:

Anyway, enough of here.  I'm interested in your bass

I tend to use brightly colored lures or lures that cause lots of commotion when fishing in muddy water. From what I have researched barramundi seem to caught with similar lures. Buzzbaits, propbaits, spinnerbaits, rattlebaits such as the Bill Lewis Rat-L-Traps are examples. Same lures work at nighttime as well.

[Louise Jenkins]

My view is that lure colour depends on turbidity.  If turbidity low then top end colour spectrum lures penetrate water better (green, blue etc).  Can be seen from further away.

 

If turbidity high, then bottom end colour spectrum lures penetrate water better (red, orange, yellow).

 

Unless the bass can see the lure straight up, then lateral line allows fish to get close where eyes take over for the strike.

 

Do bass have "party trick" eyes for operating in low light water (higher turbidity) or are the waters clear enough that bass have not developed eyes for low light?

[WRB]

Is it winter down under? Black bass Vision topic could go on indifinately without any resolution until someone can ask the fish how the brain interprets the color spectrum their eyes are capable of seeing which is a very broad range. Big eyes located near the top of the head allows Black bas to see nearly 360 degrees around them with the ability to turn very sharply to see anything that maybe in small blind zones. Bottom line Black bass are sight feeders that use all their senses.

Tom 

[Louise Jenkins]

Thanks Tom and Sofflabasser

 

Yep.  Its sure winter here.  Overnight temp got down to 13 C the other night ( 55F).  Water temp is currently 21C ( 70F).  Day temp 26C (80F).  Was 44.5C last summer (112F).

 

I don't know how much scientific work has been done on your bass.  I have always thought that there were either LMB or SMB and that black bass came from Papua New Guinea.  Apparently not 'cos you guys have your own version of black bass (I'm learning).

 

Some fish evolve with little "tricks of evolution" to assist them in their environment.  Barramundi have 3 eye cones for 3 colours plus eye "rods" for monochrome.  PLUS they have a eye party trick for light in general.  They can see very well even in turbid water.  I can't find much in the way of scientific investigation for bass (yet).  Maybe you guys can point me in the right direction.

 

Can I put something up on here (some writings of mine) that would explain things a whole lot better?  Idea is to trigger something that you guys might be able to expand on with your experience.

[hawgenvy]

I've heard the bass LL can sense between 1 and 80 Hertz. And it can give precise information about current direction. As far as terminology, US black bass, including largemouth and small mouth varieties, aren't even true bass, and rather are in the "sunfish" family. The term "bass" is thrown about casually and no longer has much meaning. Whatever black bass there are in New Guinea may be more honestly bassy than are our North American bass wannabes. And in Louisiana largemouth bass are called green trout. Obviously, they are not trout either. Well, maybe we should stick to the awkward taxonomic species' names. But even the latin name for largemouth bass, "Micropterus salmoides," seems misleading, bringing to mind salmonidae (trout and salmon), which are clearly unrelated.

[Louise Jenkins]

Tell me please.

 

What sort of turbidity levels do you guys encounter when bass fishing?  I've got some samples with turbidity levels attached.  

 

I'd like to know if what I found in respect of turbid water and colour penetration is of significance to the US bass scene.  Top photo is 15 NTU, next one is 20 NTU, 3rd one is 25 NTU and bottom one is 120 NTU (minor flood).

[Louise Jenkins]

Hawgenvy

 

Thanks for the reply.

 

The Papuan Black Bass is a member of the snapper family (not a bass).  Can be a really nasty customer if handled incorrectly.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lutjanus_goldiei

 

A fishing partner of mine here in Aus holds the world record for a Papuan black bass.  91 cm and 47 lbs.  Take a finger off easily.  Don't know how official that record really is but it's certainly a big mean fish.  Destroys heavy gear.

 

Look up on you-tube.  Lots of Aussies and some US people visiting PNG just to go chasing these things.  Its one of those bucket list things people want to do.  Told my mate (Bluey Helmuth - look him up) that I'd probably end up in cooking pot or something so i'm not going.  Live on the mother boat for a week or so but everybody has to go pay respects to the local tribes along the rivers and ask permission to fish in their waters.

 

Chinese have been giving local natives aluminium boats of 4-5 metres, motors and nets to gain influence.  In return, natives sell the net catches to visiting Chinese traders.  Can understand that as natives live a pretty basic (but happy) lifestyle.  The most prized objects anyone can give them are screwtop clear plastic water bottles.  They have no portable water containers.