ID Please

[CarlRak]

Raiders,

These guys were smashing my plastics last night. Was casting at the mouth of long bay, and I wouldn't even hit the bottom before one of them would take the little 3" minnows. Got 5 in 5 consecutive casts. All caught just before or just on dark, but to pick up the plastic in the wash they must have great eyesight.

Anyone know what they are?

Thanks

Carl

[bharris]

i think their called bullseyes i got some of the back of bear island and asked the guy at matto bait shop

[CarlRak]

Thanks mate

[Black Bandit]

I believe it is a ladder-finned pomfret Schuettea scalaripinnis.

It is not in the bullseye family.

It is in the family Monodactylidae which also contains the silver batfish Monodactylus argenteus

Black bandit

[Jewhunter]

We call them 'Bullseyes' up here.

Found one in the guts of a 4kg snapper that Slinky got on a plastic from Fidos Reef one day.

Cheers,

Grant.

[MikeR]

I know them as bullseyes too.

Find one and you'll find a million. Any of the raiders out there who scuba dive or snorkel will tell you that they live in massive clouds of hundreds to even thousands sometimes.

You'll find them in areas of boulders that has kelp nearby and the school will generally be in the same area all the time (territorial...?).

If you get a few, you can burley them up and put a piece on with some weight, or even send one down as a livey as there are sometimes predators that hang out below the schools.

I've got no personal experience, but I've heard that jewies chase them from below.

Hope it helps. Good luck!

Mike

[CarlRak]

Thanks all.

MikeR: Thanks for the tip, I'll send one down with a hook in its back. Definately hundreds to thousands down there as my plastic (with a relatively heavy head for its size) was getting monstered before it reached the bottom on each cast.