DS wrote:

...What kind of "big" fish do you have where you are at in Australia?

Our freshwater fish are nothing like the monsters you have over there mate...ours tend to be a tad smaller, although in days gone by (late 1800 - early 1900) the Murray Cod could be caught measuring up to 5' long and weighing 120 lb.

The Garfish found in my neck of the woods are not all that big...


5 cm to 20 cm common length, 32 cm maximum standard length.


10 cm to 15 cm common length, 22 cm maximum standard length.


15 cm to 20 cm common length, 30 cm maximum standard length.

The best table fish (in my mind) in Australia is the Barramundi...beautiful juicy white flesh.


Their bodies can reach up to 1.8 meters (5.91 feet). Biggest line-caught barramundi is 44.6 kg at Lake Monduran QLD.

Check out the following link for the fish of Australia. Plenty of good information in there mate.

Australian Fish

Cheers, Vince

Elvis wrote:

tend to make you not want to go "skinny dipping" in those waters!!

All of a sudden I find myself crossing my legs!
Don

Cheers, Vince

Of course most fish eat worms not snakes so some are safer than others LOL.

Gar are one of the "cleanest" freshwater fish there is. That is, as far as what they eat. That's one reason why there meat is considered to be a delicasy in a lot of restaurants....

D/S

Yep...Gar are a beautiful table fish as they are top feeders...a bit like our Bream who feed off the sides of things like bridge pylons and jetty supports etc.

I must admit, I've never actually targeted Garfish, but I reckon the way to cook them (the small ones that is) would be to butterfly them, dip each butterfly filet in a beer batter, stack them two or three thick (to give it a bit of body) and flash fry them like Japanese tempura. That is how I like to do Whiting filets because the smaller species ends up only about 4" or 5" long max.

Cheers, Vince

My wife and I went gar fishing Tuesday and managed to land 6...

WOW...your garfish are a wee bit bigger than ours DS. I take it yours are freshwater fish too from the colour...and the background.

Ours are saltwater and only about 6" - 8" long and silver in colour.

Great catch there mate, and Mrs DS looks pretty happy, although she is holding that gar a little dainty and carefully.

awesome photos. good to see you are getting out. its the 2nd week of trout season here and I havent wet my line yet

Vince wrote:

WOW...your garfish are a wee bit bigger than ours DS.

Ok, Vince, I won't classify these as "big". You need to go back to the beginning of this post and refresh your memory. The first one the misses caught was 50". I've had a 6-footer "strike" me while rowing. The record is around 15'. Heck, it looks like our gar hatch bigger than yours.

slimjim wrote:

Vince wrote: WOW...your garfish are a wee bit bigger than ours DS. Ok, Vince, I won't classify these as "big". You need to go back to the beginning of this post and refresh your memory. The first one the misses caught was 50". I've had a 6-footer "strike" me while rowing. The record is around 15'. Heck, it looks like our gar hatch bigger than yours.

Yup, yer right mate...a quick check confirmed my forgetfulness. I'll get myself a bag full of uppercuts out right after I finish here.

Going back over your post mate...have you ever given any thought to tanning a bit of that fish skin and making a belt out of the leather? Seen it done out here and the leather is quite unique.

Hey nice fish! Never seen one before, thanks for the photos. You're a cute couple-o-fishers too. I'm with Vinnie, I think a hat band outa that gar skin would be cool. I need one too. Just bought a new hat and the hat band is a skinny fake leather stupid looking no class.....I need a new hat band.

The scales on that fish look similar to a carp but they're square not round and also similar to a snake skin, which would make a great hat band. I think you should go into the hat band business and make me one.


really I do
Suz

Gar-skin holsters/bandoliers for the Ruger Supreme Hunter's!

OOooo ya ya a Gar skin holster with matching cowboy boot toes and heels (and of course hat band) how bad can you get?

Vince - the biggest gar caught this round was 44" and quite heavy for it's size...

Yes, Terry is holding her gar that way because she just got her fingers sliced from those teeth...

These are freshwater gar and were caught below one of our dams here in Oklahoma...


Elvis - I would trade you a gar fishing trip for a trout fishing trip...

I think if we make another gar fishing trip next week, I'll take my fly rod and see what happens....


Suz - I'll try to make you a gar hat band if you seriously want one. How wide and how long do you want it???


Stovepipe - it might take a couple of gar to make a holster big enough for your Ruger Supreme Hunter - hunting handgun....


We kept an eye on one gar that had a very "gold" coloration to it and what was even more impressive was that this fish was well in excess of 5 feet long with a very wide girth. This is by far the biggest gar we have seen around here and it will be our #1 "target" on our next fishing trip. Other fisherman have seen this same gar and all agree that this fish will easily exceed 50 lbs. and I really hope that my wife can be the one to get on the end of her line. I'll post the results of our next trip and let you know what happens....