Page 9 - BNB Fishing mag | May 2020

Magnificent Moreton Bay blackspots
A prized catch for any fisher, these tusk- ies will battle to find a hole, snap the line and dart for freedom.
I have seen under water shots of these industrious fish smashing molluscs against hard structures to get at the flesh inside.
Though you seldom catch parrot, oc- casionally they will take small crabs or squid.
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Bush ’n Beach Fishing, May 2020 – Page 9
Though once caught, they produce a nice white fillet.
Over the years, I’ve learned they mainly eat crustaceans and molluscs.
Spear fishers target blackspot tuskfish
Tuskies caught by Jayson Bond during March.
B ours.
The venus in the bay are relatively small, compared to those offshore where you can catch a good feed of them in deeper waters.
LACKSPOT tuskfish, named for the black spot found halfway down their dorsal fin, come in two col-
These fish change sex when they grow to about 60cm.
Moreton Bay by BRIAN WEBB
The small females are greenie blue, while the big males are darker blue.
and often catch some monsters.
I saw a photo of a speared tuskie once,
Venus will take a variety of baits when fished offshore, however I’ve found squid to be a favorite.
Peel Island produces mainly green-blue tuskfish, while Rainbow and Bulwer pro- duce the darker blue variety.
and without any doubt the fish would have been at least 14kg and very dark blue.
This variety of tuskie does take small crabs and I have caught them on Cranka crab lures.
Moreton Bay blackspot tuskies predomi- nantly come from offshore and travel into the bay in two areas during summer.
Three areas in Moreton Bay predominatly produce blackspot tuskfish – Peel Island, Rainbow and Bulwer, though Green Island and Mud Island do produce the odd one.
Most are caught near reef structure and not on sandy bottoms.
Also known as bluebone groper, black- spots can be found in Western Australia, Northern Territory and in Gulf of Carpen- taria.
The bay also has a fair few venus tusk- fish, which have the same mouth as a blackspot.
I have found the best bait for targeting blackspot tuskfish are crabs and I mainly use full sand crabs with the claws removed.
Tuskies possess a good set of fangs at the front of the mouth, which help to break through shell and tough flesh.
Parrotfish have a row of bone structures like teeth in their mouth and gnaw on coral to feed.
A big blackspot from Bulwer.
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