BabyShark

Thanks everyone for replying. I prefer snakes to these parasites. All species of fish mentioned will be throwbacks for me, just in case there's a doctor onboard!

I don't even want to look at it let along put it on a hook. I'm totally grossed out by them. If I knew this was in the fishes mouth, I would have thrown it back!

@recurve I'm in Port Stephens and the water is about 21deg, so I'm not sure about water temperature. This is the first time I've seen one before.

Thanks @Berleyguts I'm with your wife, I'm not eating it! I wonder why its called a "doctor"? It's a parasite!! I still want to vomit!

So I went for a quick flick this morning in the bay and caught a nice trevally. When I got it home I put it in the sink and noticed something in its mouth moving slowly. I pulled it out and saw another bigger one in its mouth. I googled it and found out they are a crustacean parasite that eat the fishes tongue, then continue to suck it's blood and it then replaces the fishes tongue. Ive never seen or heard of anything so disgusting, it's put me off eating the fish! Has anyone else came across them and nearly vomited? https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/phenomena/2013/02/28/tongue-eating-fish-parasites-never-cease-to-amaze/

@Scratchie yes there was plenty of fish out at Broughton, it was just fabulous. The water was bubbling with the king fish (or tuna?) on the chase. The snapper must have been hungry and not picky too. I was giving the kids little guidance with the rod (except stop winding it in as they do with every little nibble, and take turns!) and we just drifted nicely. I've never chased bigger fish, nor would I know what to do. And I'd be worried if my 6yo old hooked a tuna as he'd probably get pulled in....He was nearly wet when he hooked the snapper in the photo! We left you plenty of snapper for your next fishing trip 😁

@kingie chaser he likes crab, especially when you can make a claw talk when you pull the tendon!

Hi! We're still pulling up plenty of blue swimmers in Port Stephens. Caught one of the biggest ones I've seen this week, along with 4 other decent crabs in one crab pot... could barely fit in the cooking pot! Good luck 😊

@Yowie could you upset that little face?! He has no problem if it's a flathead or a whiting, they're not as pretty 🤣

@nutsaboutfishing haha, sorry about the name! At the time of coming up with a name that song was stuck in my head too! Hope you have a great weekend 😊

Being Mother's day tomorrow, hubby took the family out to Broughton for an early treat. I was keen to fish being my first time to Broughton as I usually fish from shore in the bay. But with hesitation, my fishing rod was taken over by our two kids 6 and 9, but their joy was priceless. Every cast (but two or three), we pulled in a snapper (soft plastics, nuclear chicken minnows and poddy mullet in banana prawn). We caught 10, most were suitable for the table, and I was thinking of steamed snapper with ginger and shallots for dinner with every fish reeled in. But no snapper for dinner tonight. My 6yo boy decided their spots were too pretty and we had to put each one back....the sacrifice mother's make for their kids! Happy Mother's day to all the wonderful mums out there, and to everyone else make sure you call your mum tomorrow!

Kokonda is one of my favourites, even better with chilli. If you like Japanese food, fresh bonito sushimi is lovely also. Thinly sliced, and I like it dipped in a paste of soy sauce and wasabi mixed together. But I think I'll go kokonda next time bonito comes my way. Thanks for the tip @recurve

Nice catch! It didn't look too windy where you were either @Scratchie ... We might head out tomorrow, thanks for the inspiration!

Rah, apparently octopus can squeeze out of any space as long as their tooth can fit through as their body just squishes....incredible (but gross!) creatures!

A crazy story, the thought of catching octopus still makes me shudder.... Two summers ago I pulled up a big octopus that had smashed the crabs that were in the crab pot. I decided to take the octopus for dinner in lieu of blue swimmers. And since my parents were visiting (they ran a restaurant for 30years) I thought octopus should be on the menu. Well, the octopus had other ideas. It would have had an arm span close to 1m, I wondered how it got in the trap but it soon let me know it wanted out. I was in a kayak, pot sitting on the nose and it's tentacles were at me. I started hitting it with the paddle and it suctioned onto the paddle. I was screaming as I was sure it was trying to attack me. Got the paddle free off it's suckers and amazingly without tipping the kayak or losing the trap, got back to shore where my kids and mother in law were watching in fits of laughter. A bit shaken by the ordeal and not trusting this slippery sucker, managed to plop it into a bucket with lid on top and tied two plastic bags around it. Drove home and sat the bucket at the backdoor. A short time later, mum put her hand up to start prepping dinner. With knife in hand ready (after me telling her about my ordeal), she untied the bags, lifted the lid "it's not in here!". We frantically started looking everywhere. Checked the car, not there. I had images in my mind that the octopus had escaped in my mother in laws house as that was the only other place I left the bucket unattended while getting the kids in the car! But it somehow got passed the dog, got under the gate and started heading down the driveway, walked about 15-20m. I guess it was heading in the direction of the beach. I learnt that octopus truly are escape artists and will never take an octopus for dinner again!

Thanks for the great tips Berleyguts and Scratchie! Our kids are 8 and 6, and can swim if they fall off the jetty! Soldiers point and Wanda head are our regular go to, since it's just at the door step or just down the road. Roy Wood sounds promising especially if it's out of the wind. My kids actually prefer the smaller whiting, I fry them up whole and they love eating the fins and tails! Yes, have nibbled on a cooked prawn while waiting for a fish 😂. As mentioned by Noelm as prawns being the "general purpuse" bait, I think that's where I've been going wrong by my kids standards of catching the wrong fish! Over the last few weeks we've caught snapper, bream, shovel nose, trevally, and plenty of Flathead on cooked prawns off land, but not one whiting! And we also need to venture out of Salamander/Soldiers point maybe with some worms or try the stick lures. Thanks!

Good tip, thanks Noelm. Funny about nippers at night! Any tips for catching beachworms? We've found them too tricky to pull up.

Thanks heaps for the tips Anthony. I should try and venture off to that side of the Bay. I'm Soldiers point way, so Fingal seems so far away😂 but will give it go since we're on school holidays. The northwesterly has been wild lately, is there anywhere that's protected from these gale force winds?

Hello Green hornet, Yes, we have a yabby pump our own. The kids enjoy the yabby hunt just as much (if not more) than fishing. I have to admit I've been a bit lazy pumping yabbies, the kids are a bit too little still to pump properly so they pick them up while I get the work out! And unfortunately, hubby is just not into fishing or pumping yabbies (booo!). So another good reason to try sticks. Thanks for the id on the lure.

Should be easy enough to track down. Thanks

Great, thanks so much! Even better that there's no need to rebait over and over again with the kids. I've never used stick baits before but will definitely now. What size and type? Thanks again 😊

Hello! Regular raiders reader, first time poster 😊. We've started to do a bit more fishing as the kids are older and keen (yay!). This is the first time fishing in winter, and different types of fish we've been pulling up in our regular spots has been a lot of fun! I had no idea trevally come into the bay, caught a 50cm off shore. Plenty of Flathead about also. Anyhow, the main reason for this post is how tips on catching whiting in the bay. My kids love eating whiting. We caught them in summer, but have not caught any this winter even though they are meant to be around... I guess that's why they're called winter whiting! I've been using prawn, nippers, and using more soft plastics recently. I'm far from a fishing expert and not fussy on my fish, but I'm fearing my kids are losing interest in fishing as dinner isn't whiting 😂. I know whiting for most people is a by-catch, but if I don't catch whiting soon that'll probably be the end of fishing days for me! So any tips on targeting whiting in Winter in Port Stephens off land would be appreciated. Thanks!