Rock Cod...?

[MaccaPoint Matty]

Hi fishraiders...

Long time reader, first time user..

Firstly best fishing website around, im a keen angler and have been for many years and find that all your tips and reports is helping me to bring home some fish for the missus! Unfortunately I don’t have a boat as yet (I will before next summer) so I usually fish around the McMahons Point area and have had some great luck of late however over the weekend I thought I would hire a boat and go for a drift around Quarantine Bay as a friend of mine landed an 85cm flathead a few weeks back in the same spot, he was actually using a live trev!!!

Unfortunately I only managed a heap of small snappers, a couple of 20cm breams and a 10cm flatty... oh well next time!!

The one decent fish of the day, unfortunately not a keeper was the fish in the attachment... I’m thinking it’s a rock cod of some form but I was hoping you might be able to help me out, at first I thought it was one of those bloody pests, sargent baker!! but then I noticed all the spikes...

Hoping you can help and tell me exactly what it is... it would have measured about 30cm..

Thanks heaps!!

Edited April 8, 2008 by MaccaPoint Matty

[uglystick]

Post a photo so we can have a look.

If its a rock cod its good to make fish soup with it.

[MaccaPoint Matty]

Post a photo so we can have a look.

If its a rock cod its good to make fish soup with it.

Hey uglystick,

as i said first time user... just trying to figure out how to post the pic.

I can't copy and paste the pic, is there any other way to upload it..?

Edited April 7, 2008 by MaccaPoint Matty

[MaccaPoint Matty]

Hey uglystick,

Pic uploaded now mate, the file was too big originally..

Cheers

[MaccaPoint Matty]

Yes it is a a red Rock Cod and as previously mentioned it is good to eat ,just watch out for the pointy bits as this is a type of scorpion fish

Cheers Stewy

Thanks Stewy,

might have to keep one next time for the table...

Cheers

[Rode Cary]

that's the poor man lobster

great for fish soup, but as mentioned by fellow raiders, watch out those spines, bloody hurt

[openflame06]

I've read that the red rock cod and other rock cod are poisonous but i've been handling them with my bare hands. Is that something I shouldnt do? I havent been able to get a definitive answer yet.

[Camoman]

I've read that the red rock cod and other rock cod are poisonous but i've been handling them with my bare hands. Is that something I shouldnt do? I havent been able to get a definitive answer yet.

Keep on doing it and when one of those buggers spikes you you will never handle them with just your hands again. Poor mans lobster wont make you sick from a spike but they bloody hurt..

[Jigholio]

.....Poor mans lobster wont make you sick from a spike but they bloody hurt..

They can make a person very ill indeed. They must be treated with utmost respect. Different folks have different reactions...

"I once had the experience of having a long time fishing friend aboard who boated a 10" fish. It spat the hook and bait, and fell, spines down onto his bare instep. I literally pulled the fish off his foot, leaving a neat row of punctures. Pain was immediate and spectacular; he collapsed to the stage where I had to settle him in the cockpit of my speeedboat 1-S before starting a race for shore and medical attention. He was deeply nauseated and complained of hot & cold flushes; developed chest pains; and his breathing became heavy & laboured. I found his pulse had become erratic; and for the hour's run back he was clearly in severe pain. Alarmed? - I doubt that he was any more frightened than I was. After medical treatment the pain subsided; but his foot remained awfully swollen for two days."

Ern Grant.

What could happen if you were handling one of these, it kicked out of your grip and punctured your chest, right over your heart. Respect this critter! Also like all scorpionfishes they can survive out of water for many hours. Don't ever think it's dead unless it's been intentionally killed.

Knife thru the head & break the spines off with long release pliers, it's then safe to handle.

Hope that's definitive enough for you, Beau

[openflame06]

Thanks guys.

I was holding them around the fins near the gills to remove hooks. They were only tiny things me and a mate caught off the rocks at Crowdy.

At least now I know thats dangerous!

Are they even useful for bait or a feed? Or should I just keep chucking them back?