Big Pearlie from down South

[blairy69]

Had a five day trip to Greenwell Point last week finishing up on Sunday - Wednesday was horrible weather and struggled to catch anything other than Seargent Baker, did pick up one snapper.

Thursday was okay and Friday the pick of the days, between two boats we picked up about 20 nice pan size snapper across the 4 days biggest about 48 cm, several Flathead and other species such as Pigfish, black spotted Goatfish, Trevally, Morwong, a bucket load of Kingfish all around 60 cm - got sore arms but unfortunately none of them keepers, mind you seems the pro boats can keep them (someone explain that to me). 

Picked up a really surprise catch in a 60cm 3.5 kg Pearl Perch - my mate Tony was over the moon - last one of these I caught down here of Shoalhaven was 7 years ago and it was only 35 cm.

Being from Coffs Harbour - Pearlies are reasonably common but are still a prized catch and seeing one this big this far south is unreal, looking forward to eating it shortly.

Great trip finished off with my club on the local charter boat on Saturday - glad to be on the big boat after 3 days on my 17 foot Reef Raider - the old knees are feeling it today.

Cheers Raiders.

 

 

 

[Pickles]

That’s a stonker of a Pearl Perch @blairy69, well done. A top eating fish.

[noelm]

Not too sure Pro boats would be keeping undersized Kingfish…….good catch that Pearl Perch, only ever heard of very odd ones down south.

 

[Blackfish]

That’s a cracker of a Pearly.

Nice bag of fish as well.

[Yowie]

Nice bag of fish, especially the pearlie, a big one for sure.

[big Neil]

Well done, a worthwhile trip South for you guys. I love the photo of the catch, all lined up on the brag mat. I'd never seen a Pearly before. Good solid-looking fish that should be delicious on the plate.

bn

[Larkin]

Well done mate!

Condition of that Pearlie looks amazing - nice and fat! Bet you were cheering seeing that come up!

[bessell1955]

A great Pearl Perch, well done.

[jenno64]

Delish bag🙏🏻

[kantong]

Well done on the bag of fish, a solid finish to the trip!

[whiskey299]

Nice Pearl Perch, one of the finest eating fish in the sea.

[blairy69]

On 11/6/2023 at 8:32 PM, noelm said:

Not too sure Pro boats would be keeping undersized Kingfish…….good catch that Pearl Perch, only ever heard of very odd ones down south.

 

Hi Noel, unfortunately mate we witnessed it along with plenty of other recreational boats- I have good mates that are on Pro Boats that are Ethical but in this case these were trailer based licenced fishing boats - that launched from Currarong, we are not talking small numbers of Kingfish either - in the 4 hours that we were at the Banks I reckon one boat took more than 50 fish less than 65cm - you might ask how I could tell - I could have thrown a blanket over them based on how close they came to my boat. 

We were out with a bunch of guys so 4 boats in total and we all boated Kingies in the 50 to 60 cm mark only one bloke got two in that were over 65 on that day. so the majority of the school was that size. Cheers Noel

In regards to the Pearlie I got one there about 7 years ago and it was only 38 cm but I was cheering as they are so rare down there, to see one that big was amazing and suggests that we might start seeing more and more as the water temps continue to warm up.