Seasons for fish...?

[Oz98]

Hello everyone, I've heard allot about fishes being caught most at certain seasons, times of year, however everywhere I look there seems to be some sort of grey area with no source that's black and white so to speak.

do fish really have seasons?

Apologies for the novice question!

Cheers, oz. 

Edited November 19, 2018 by Oz98

[savit]

Yes. Google : 'fishing calendar au', and then switch to images. Look for the ones from AU websites, preferably local NSW websites.

[Oz98]

1 minute ago, savit said:

Yes. Google : 'fishing calendar au', and then switch to images. Look for the ones from AU websites, preferably local NSW websites.

Great thank you shall do now!

[Volitan]

On 11/19/2018 at 3:37 PM, Oz98 said:

Hello everyone, I've heard allot about fishes being caught most at certain seasons, times of year, however everywhere I look there seems to be some sort of grey area with no source that's black and white so to speak.

do fish really have seasons?

Apologies for the novice question!

Cheers, oz. 

Yes, most fish species have some variation in seasonal abundance. It’s never black and white, however.

An example is salmon. These are most abundant in winter when large numbers migrate here from places further south. However there are lesser numbers of salmon here year round too, so you will catch a few in summer as well.

Then there are other species where the pattern is almost black and white, but never quite. An example is mahi mahi. These will follow the North-South flowing warm water current - so will arrive in Sydney area when the water temperature is at its peak and stay around till the water cools. Finding one of these here in winter would be very rare indeed, but it has happened.

then there are other species which don’t do long distance migrations but move seasonally from deeper to shallower water. An example is kingfish, which become active in estuaries in the summer months. However they never fully leave the area, just retreat to deeper offshore reefs. Being always around, they can show up at any place at any time. However if you want to target them you will be well advised to fish by the seasons rather then chance your luck on a rare occurrence happening.

Every fish species is different and there are many influencing factors. For example, each year the water temperatures and the strength of current flows are different. These factors and many others makes it hard to predict fish population dynamics from the calendar.

Very complex place, the ocean.

[Oz98]

7 minutes ago, Volitan said:

Yes, most fish species have some variation in seasonal abundance. It’s never black and white, however.

An example is salmon. These are most abundant in winter when large numbers migrate here from places further south. However there are lesser numbers of salmon here year round too, so you will catch a few in summer as well.

Then there are other species where the pattern is almost black and white, but never quite. An example is mahi mahi. These will follow the North-South flowing warm water current - so will arrive in Sydney area when the water temperature is at its peak and stay around till the water cools. Finding one of these here in winter would be very rare indeed, but it has happened.

then there are other species which don’t do long distance migrations but move seasonally from deeper to shallower water. An example is kingfish, which become active in estuaries in the summer months. However they never fully leave the area, just retreat to deeper offshore reefs. Being always around, they can show up at any place at any time. However if you want to target them you will be well advised to fish by the seasons rather then chance your luck on a rare occurrence happening.

Every fish species is different and there are many influencing factors. For example, each year the water temperatures and the strength of current flows are different. These factors and many others makes it hard to predict fish population dynamics from the calendar.

Very complex place, the ocean.

Thank you very much that is a thorough explanation of a complex topic.

Ahh so there's also these key factors it's make sense now!

Absolutely the ocean is a mysterious place, always great to be suprised 

 

[wazatherfisherman]

Is there a particular species you are interested in, or looking to target?

[Oz98]

I'd really love to target Mahi Mahi and red scorpionfish this summer!! ☀️🐬 🌊 

[wazatherfisherman]

18 minutes ago, Oz98 said:

I'd really love to target Mahi Mahi and red scorpionfish this summer!! ☀️🐬 🌊 

Well you are in luck as they are available in summer -the Scorpion or Red Rock Cod are available most of the year but aren't generally a targeted species, more a 'by-catch' and a lot of people don't keep them. Personally I reckon they taste great, but you need decent sized ones to get a decent feed from as they are "a big head and small body". Got a good way of cooking them if you're interested? Mahi Mahi are usually around in numbers after Christmas and are fairly easy to catch offshore

[Oz98]

3 minutes ago, wazatherfisherman said:

Well you are in luck as they are available in summer -the Scorpion or Red Rock Cod are available most of the year but aren't generally a targeted species, more a 'by-catch' and a lot of people don't keep them. Personally I reckon they taste great, but you need decent sized ones to get a decent feed from as they are "a big head and small body". Got a good way of cooking them if you're interested? Mahi Mahi are usually around in numbers after Christmas and are fairly easy to catch offshore

That's great news I shall definitely keep any legal ones I catch, as for the Mahi Mahi fingers crossed!

Sure I would love to hear your recipe for them. 

[wazatherfisherman]

3 minutes ago, Oz98 said:

That's great news I shall definitely keep any legal ones I catch, as for the Mahi Mahi fingers crossed!

Sure I would love to hear your recipe for them. 

It's pretty easy recipe- scale and fillet them (the heads have nice meat but it's hard to get at it unless you bake them whole) put the fillets in a saucepan in cold milk and bring to the boil on the stove, as soon as the milk comes to the boil turn the stove down and simmer for about a minute and a half then take off the stove but leave the fillets in the milk to cool, then pour into a dish and place in fridge for about 20 mins. Drain all the fluid off and pat dry with a paper towel. The flesh will just fall off the skin. We usually mix it with either a blue swimmer crab or a lobster (if you're rich enough!) and it takes on the flavour- or just have it cold or add to a cooked pasta. Done this way it's called "poor mans lobster"/ Enjoy! For all those who don't keep them you should try this- you won't be chucking them back any more!

[Oz98]

5 minutes ago, wazatherfisherman said:

It's pretty easy recipe- scale and fillet them (the heads have nice meat but it's hard to get at it unless you bake them whole) put the fillets in a saucepan in cold milk and bring to the boil on the stove, as soon as the milk comes to the boil turn the stove down and simmer for about a minute and a half then take off the stove but leave the fillets in the milk to cool, then pour into a dish and place in fridge for about 20 mins. Drain all the fluid off and pat dry with a paper towel. The flesh will just fall off the skin. We usually mix it with either a blue swimmer crab or a lobster (if you're rich enough!) and it takes on the flavour- or just have it cold or add to a cooked pasta. Done this way it's called "poor mans lobster"/ Enjoy! For all those who don't keep them you should try this- you won't be chucking them back any more!

That's sounds fantastic I will be trying this when I get my hands on some

any salted added? 

This should be added to the recipes section as well if there is any, would be great for fishos to make use of this fish and do it justice. 

[wazatherfisherman]

4 minutes ago, Oz98 said:

That's sounds fantastic I will be trying this when I get my hands on some

any salted added? 

This should be added to the recipes section as well if there is any, would be great for fishos to make use of this fish and do it justice. 

No salt added! They actually have quite delicate flesh and I'd be surprised if you cooked a couple this way and didn't like them. It's a pretty easy way to cook them, just make sure you drain off the fluid well.

I don't think people keep them as the fillet-to-size ratio is small and they have a few nasty spines and also it isn't likely to get many in a session. A lot of folks go by the "if it's ugly, chuck it back" ideal, which is not a bad general rule, but if you get a couple of them try cooking them in the above way, you won't be disappointed