# Qld. Another Noosa surprise. 29May14



## sunshiner (Feb 22, 2006)

I must admit to being a bit edgy about launching at Doggie Beach today. Jaro had checked it out yesterday arvo and reckoned it was OK for a launch but I'd gone down a couple of hours later to see for myself. By then it was what I would rate as marginal for a safe launch so I spent a restless night because I never get casual about a Doggie Beach launch.

Anyway it was up and at 'em when the alarm went off (05:08). Live weather feeds were showing a light NW at DIP and I could feel a westerly coming in onto the verandah. Offshore, nice! Now if only the swell is friendly.

In the Doggie Beach carpark diesel was sitting in his Forester with his prowler on the roof when I arrived. I hadn't been expecting him but it was good to see him anyway as he has only been a Noosa Yakker two or three weeks. So this was to be his first outing with us. Jaro and jimbo arrived and the four of us meandered down the path to the beach to check conditions.

There was just enough light to see that some waves were breaking on the outer bank, maybe 150m out from the shore break but we all noted the gap in which white water rarely appeared, so doable it was.

Then we were assembling on the beach.









Looks benign, eh? Don't you wish you'd been there?

Diesel, at 63 the youngest launching today, impressed us by jumping in first. Possibly he has done this before? Or maybe he just doesn't know how unforgiving this launch can be. Off he went and as he paddled out he got quite a bit of air under his Prowler when cresting (just in time) the last wave of a set as it crossed the outer bank.

I hung back to get the launch pics. My excuse, anyway!









Diesel, first Noosa Yakkers launch, first Doggie Beach launch









Jimbo, holding position. That black horizontal line is an incoming wave.

So diesel's out the back wondering whether we three are ever going to get the courage up to go. But we're waiting for the sets to go through and sure enough, the sea flattened out and the three of us exited using the same lull, jimbo, jaro and I. Safe out the back. Almost, but not quite, dry bums!

Out here there were a few terns dipping and splashing so clearly there were baitfish near the surface. No splashes from below though, but still&#8230; Jaro opted to try a bit of a troll around just out the back while diesel decided to follow me out to our Doggie Beach Reef mark, 1500m out. I must admit I was tempted to try a troll close in as we have encountered feeding longtails here and at this time on several occasions. Jimbo came up on the radio and informed us he was going to head to A-Bay Reef.

Conditions glorious. Diesel and I were drift fishing the Doggie Beach Reef and being carried south quite quickly, much quicker than the wind alone could achieve. Then jimbo came up on the radio asking for the size limit for "swordfish". Flabbergasted, I passed on the news to him that there were no restrictions on such fish but was unable to glean from the info that jimbo gave me what the species was (marlin probably, sailfish less likely). At this time I was about two kilometres from jimbo but jaro was much closer and offered to rendezvous with him and get some on water pics as jimbo does not have a camera on board.









Pic by jaro.

Meanwhile, diesel and I were catching nothing of note on the bottom out at Doggie Beach Reef. Oh, except this&#8230;









Yellow emperor (aka barred soapfish). Exudes the toxin grammistin so not a table fish. A sought after aquarium species, apparently.

The bottom fishing where we were was dead. Jaro was now fishing in the same area with succulent baits and raised a couple of hits but nothing in the boat except grinners. But jimbo was hot today as he nailed a lovely grassy on prawn near A-Bay Reef as he told us by radio.









Diesel looks comfortable out there. What a beautiful morning, eh?

By around 09:30 I was starting to get bored and I'd also lost two SPs to various munchers down there. They take surreptitious half moon bites out of the SPs, gradually converting them to debris. I was ready to battle the sand monster, really ready.

So I headed for the beach and was exhorted by jaro to find the best way past the sand monster so I could act as a guide for him and the others. Sure, jaro. Trust me.

Anyway I hit the beach the right way up after a great ride on a steepish wave which carried me over the outer bank seriously quickly and into the deeper water adjacent to the shore break.

Jimbo had secured his two fish really well because he knows how vicious the Sunshine Beach sand monster can be. By radio I directed him to my chosen path but he came in from the north rather than the east and just a teensy bit too close to the break zone, I thought. Uh oh! Next thing I see he's valiantly trying to get his Espri pointing east because coming from that direction was a mini-mountain of water steepening by the second as it encountered shallower water. He almost made it too, got the angle right, but the wave broke just as he went up its face. He stayed on the yak for about a second, going backward in a giant washing machine look alike then over he went and the yak was upside down. Fortunately (or not?) jimbo has had a lot of practice at what to do next and soon he was back on and returning to the out-the-back holding area to have another go.

His second run, from further out, was perfect and he let the sets go through then turned toward the beach encountering almost no white water this time. Diesel had come in at the same time as jimbo so they hit the beach almost together, only metres apart. Jaro came in a little later, same place, and just took his time, working his way through the encountered waves, also avoiding the sand monster.

Jimbo by now had dragged his "swordfish" out of the Espri fish hold and was attracting quite a bit of attention from the many beach strollers enjoying the magnificent beach weather.









This one was quick to volunteer her services as a fish holder.









On the measure mat, 1.26m, a new species for us.









A sailfish, rarely caught from a yak in Australia. It took a trolled pilchard.

Thanks for reading AKFFers. Tight lines.


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## jbonez (Jul 9, 2013)

Spearfish?


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## scater (Nov 24, 2007)

My first thought was that the sail wasn't big enough for a saily, though maybe they're smaller in juveniles.


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## anselmo (Aug 26, 2008)

Lazybugger said:


> Yeah that is what I was thinking. Although I thought it might be a longbilled spearfish. But I just read they are pretty much Atlantic Ocean only. The short billed spearfish does appear in the Pacific but the top of its bill isn't much bigger than the lower so the pic rules that out.
> 
> There is also a mediteranean spearfish but that too would be a long way from home.
> 
> Kev. I am thinking if it hasn't been filleted it might be worth contacting the DPI, they may be really interested. Perhaps it feeds on purple jellyfish. ;-)


It does look like a spearfish - except for one key diagnostic feature - it doesn't seem to have the bright blue dorsal fin
Although maybe that wasn't captured in the photos?



> Spearfish are pelagic, open ocean, deep water fish found in most temperate and tropical oceans, along the continental shelf and current lines. Spearfish can be distinguished from other billfish species by its lean, lightweight body. Equipped with the shortest bill of all the billfish, and has a dorsal fin that is less than 50 percent of its body height, higher than a marlins and lower than a sailfish. The long bill spearfish has a bill about twice as long as its lower jaw, while the short bill has one that is barely longer than its lower jaw. Common for all variations is that the dorsal fin is bright blue with no spots. The maximum weight is about 100 pounds and 20 to 60 pounds is more of the norm for this species.
> 
> Even though spearfish exist in many oceans, they are not abundant anywhere, and rarely caught anywhere except Hawaii and the Mediterranean. Shortbill spearfish live in the Pacific and Indian oceans while the Mediterranean spearfish live only in the Mediterranean. Roundscale spearfish live in the eastern Atlantic and the western Mediterranean, near Portugal and Spain, and closely resemble white marlin. Longbill spearfish habits towards the northwest, central and south Atlantic.
> 
> All Spearfish are surface feeders, eating other small or medium fish and squid. They mature at two years old, and rarely live past three years old. The maximum age may be up to five years but is not very common. Spearfish are not caught as gamefish in most parts of the world as their numbers are too low and being reduced by accidental by-catch. Most spearfish kill is incidental when they are accidentally caught by "sport" fisherman targeting other billfish or by commercial long liners fishing for tuna.


Great capture regardless of what it is


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## anselmo (Aug 26, 2008)

bertros said:


> Edit 2: Juvenile striped marlin is my final guess.


Dorsal fin is too high and long for a striper?










Don't think it would change that much from a juvenile to an adult


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## scater (Nov 24, 2007)

Don't think so, the dorsal fin's all wrong. Striped marlin have a high peak at the very front of the dorsal fin which is much taller than the rest of the fin.


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## Zed (Sep 18, 2006)

I do think its a juvie sail.
I've never seen the lightning blue sail in the sails in MEX. That pic is the first I've seen like that, bertros.

Nevertheless, it's awesome.


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## Zed (Sep 18, 2006)




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## Zed (Sep 18, 2006)

After my own searching I revise my guess to a spearfish. It's the only other billfish with a dorsal that runs that long down its body. Even awesomer!


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## anselmo (Aug 26, 2008)

Zed said:


> After my own searching I revise my guess to a spearfish. It's the only other billfish with a dorsal that runs that long down its body. Even awesomer!


Indeed
I'd be interested to hear about the colour of the dorsal fin when first landed though


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## scater (Nov 24, 2007)

Yep, I'm going with spearfish.


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## anselmo (Aug 26, 2008)

That's the one

Very cool


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## BIGKEV (Aug 18, 2007)

Did he catch it on a prawn?


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## anselmo (Aug 26, 2008)

The length and shape of the pelvic fins suggest spearfish for me

Hard to tell from the photos ;-)


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## Zed (Sep 18, 2006)

...it always is.


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## anselmo (Aug 26, 2008)

bertros said:


> Might all be about the ass-hole then.


You'll need to be more specific than that ...


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## Zed (Sep 18, 2006)

The ahole on one end wondering the identity of the ahole on the other?


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## anselmo (Aug 26, 2008)

Well the old joke is that fishing is a jerk on one end, waiting for a jerk on the other end
So we're not a million miles off ...


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## Godzilla (Feb 24, 2014)

Wow great catch, congratulations definitely one to tick off that wish list! Cheers Justin


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## anselmo (Aug 26, 2008)

Bill not turned upwards
Pectoral fins wrong

Museum meh


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## anselmo (Aug 26, 2008)

Lazybugger said:


> Kev has told me the judgment was made based on the pelvic fins which extend almost to the anus. Certainly that does match (as well as any other part we are comparing) the pelvic fins per the sailfish in the diagrams posted by Jon.
> 
> I am seriously thinking new species though.
> 
> Its like a mongrel billfish. Part sail, part spear, part striped.


I believe the phrase is "bastard"

The bastard spearfish _*Tetrapturus bastardarii*_


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## Zed (Sep 18, 2006)

Lazybugger said:


> Kev has told me the judgment was made based on the pelvic fins which extend almost to the anus. Certainly that does match (as well as any other part we are comparing) the pelvic fins per the sailfish in the diagrams posted by Jon.


Well we can all agree it wasn't a broadie, though, right?


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## jbonez (Jul 9, 2013)

Its not a bream.


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## scater (Nov 24, 2007)

Might need to get the yeti on board to confirm that.


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## RhubarbTheYeti (Oct 28, 2013)

Its clearly a beaked pufferfish


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## sunshiner (Feb 22, 2006)

Interesting discussion we have here. Just filling you in on ID progress so far. Just to clarify things, I have never caught, or even seen a sailfish before (if my memory serves me right).

On the beach I identified the fish as a sailfish based chiefly on the size of the dorsal fin and the length of the pelvic fins, which extend to the anus. My professional qualifications in fish ID are zero, however, although for my whole life I've been a keen observer of fish and I have an extensive and well read library of fish and fishing publications. Probably many who are following this thread are similar.

One of the first things I did when I got home yesterday was email the Queensland Museum icthyologist, Jeff Johnson, about the event. Jeff is not only a scientist, but a fisho and over the years I've consulted him on several occasions when I've encountered fish which I had trouble identifying. He asked for pics and I referred him to the Noosa Yakkers blog and later, when the discussion deepened, to AKFF. To correct lazybugger slightly, Jeff has never stated an opinion that the fish (as seen on the blog and AKFF) is a sailfish but he hasn't yet said it isn't. He has asked some questions and I've responded to him and am awaiting his reaction. He has ruled out a couple of species mentioned in this thread, but intriguingly has said "this fish does look out of the ordinary".

More info to come when it's available.

Kev


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## wayneedden (May 19, 2012)

Great read and pictures, awesome fish, would like to get out there sometime, have you guys pulled any coral trout from Sunshine reef?


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## aussiestu (Dec 8, 2013)

I'll still go with sailfish, have been some caught in the states with mutated/damaged sails before, the pelvic fins definitely say sail to me. But that's just my 2c


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## Beekeeper (Aug 20, 2011)

Looks like a Bastardized Beakie to me! ;-)

Whatever it is, great catch, Kev.

Jimbo


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## BIGKEV (Aug 18, 2007)

Hey guys, transcript below of an email I sent to Rob "Smithy" Smith. He has been part of the sunny coast game fishing scene as long as I can remember and runs an excellent charter business that caters for all styles of fishing.

30 May 2014 9.23pm

Stock standard juvenile black marlin. As babys their pecs are not fully rigid yet but in those two pics they are sticking out at 90 degrees very black like. The babys have full dorsals like that. Blacks also get those vivid stripes on them. Striped marlin dorsals are massive. They are as deep as the body is high. Sails are very skinny and slender with no taper like that fish. They also have big pecs like a stripey (they are very close in many ways) but their pecs fold back. Stripey pecs are leaf shaped. If the pecs are concave they must be a blue or black but you don't really get blues inside of the continental shelf. We are also in the middle of a bit of another black marlin bite on our billfish grounds.

http://blackmarlinblog.com/

The little guys from North Qld are very much like the ones in the pics. Spearfish in this part of the world are called short billed spearfish for a very good reason. They are only found on the shelf and do have short bills.

More pics.

http://www.blackmarlinfishingblog.com/page/3/
http://www.blackmarlinfishingblog.com/page/7/
http://www.blackmarlinfishingblog.com/page/12/

Feel free to cut and past me, quote me or whatever.

Smithy

On Friday, 30 May 2014 10:47 AM, Kev Crawford wrote:

Hey Smithy,

Debate is currently underway in regards to a small bill fish taken by a Noosa kayak fisher yesterday (Thursday 29 May) in the Sunshine reef vicinity.

Forum thread can be found here: http://akff.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=66612

The fish was kept for the table, but there are few good photos. More can be obtained by contacting Kevin Long through the Noosa Yakkers Blog email: [email protected] .

Cheers

Kev


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## Zed (Sep 18, 2006)

Well there ya go.
I've never even seen a black of any size, although they are caught occasionally off the tip of Baja.

Thanks for the info. I can go back on the feed, and maybe sleep at night again.


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## sunshiner (Feb 22, 2006)

Black marlin. I got the news last night just as I was headed to bed. I see bigkev has already posted a convincing opinion that it's a black marlin so I'm very glad that we now have two authoritative sources which agree.

My contact Jeff Johnson emailed me this last night:

Hi Kev
The more I looked at your fish the more I was convinced it was not a Sailfish, but was no closer to working out what it actually was! I queried a number of my ichthyologist colleagues throughout Australia about your fish, but none except for Julian Pepperell could say. His answer follows:
Yes, I saw a different pic of this fish yesterday (sent to me via Facebook). It is definitely a black marlin (istiompax indica). Over many years, I have seen many juvenile billfish, plus lots of photos. Early on in my career at NSW Fisheries, I receive a whole specimen of a very similar size to this one, which was identified as a black marlin, partly via x-rays and vertebral count. I have now seen enough of them to be very confident about this ID. One of the diagnostic features is the second dorsal fin being anterior to the second anal, which, among the istiophorids, is the case only for the black marlin. A blue marlin of this size would have virtually no bill while a sailfish would have a much higher first dorsal. Striped marlin of this size would have a relatively higher first dorsal anterior lobe, which would be noticeably rounded. I have quite a few photos of all the species at small sizes if you're interested. One last point just in case you weren't aware of a feature that does not seem to appear in the main literature. Black marlin only have rigid pectoral fins above a size of about 15-20 kg (the pectoral girdle ossifies). This fish would be around 5-6 months old, by the way.

I hadn't previous heard the bit about the pectorals not being rigid in juveniles up to 15-20 kg. One of the posts in your blog had mentioned the pectorals could readily be folded flat, so I discounted a black very early in the piece. This process was informative for me as well, so thank you for cutting me in on it.

Cheers
Jeff

To clarify the matter of the lengthy pectorals, I read somewhere yesterday that juvenile black marlin have them but as the fish gets bigger they become less prominent.

Thanks for all the discussion, guys.

Kev


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## squidlips (Nov 24, 2008)

Glad you got a definitive I.D. - I sat back and watched the posts flooding in, all the while being confident that I knew exactly what it was - a FREAKIN AWESOME catch! Well done!


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## sunshiner (Feb 22, 2006)

wayneedden said:


> Great read and pictures, awesome fish, would like to get out there sometime, have you guys pulled any coral trout from Sunshine reef?


G'day Wayne

There are coral trout at Sunshine Reef, and usually pretty big ones. A few locals specialize in catching them but they'd be difficult to stop if fishing from a kayak as they immediately go for cover when hooked. One of our guys, eyetag, got one into his yak and it is recorded on our Record Fish list. Many times we've been bricked by unstoppables (possible coral trout) out there but mostly the target is snapper.

Kev


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## sunshiner (Feb 22, 2006)

squidlips said:


> Glad you got a definitive I.D. - I sat back and watched the posts flooding in, all the while being confident that I knew exactly what it was - a FREAKIN AWESOME catch! Well done!


Well, did you get the species right? Or were you found wanting, like me?


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## Guest (May 31, 2014)

Why kill it for a pic? Or is it just me?

That's a bit rich coming from Idi Amin's cousin


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## scater (Nov 24, 2007)

It was kept for the table as far as I'm aware. Plenty of marlin are.


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## sunshiner (Feb 22, 2006)

salticrak said:


> Why kill it for a pic? Or is it just me?


Hi Paul

It was killed for the table and by reports already, was delicious, with portions of the fish being shared around the community. To kill or not is the right of any angler, surely, within the boundaries of the relevant law. In Jim's case, I can assure you that he enjoys both the sport and the eating. Nothing he takes is wasted.

Kev


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## Zed (Sep 18, 2006)

Marlin are delicious. Jack crevalle, our GT cousin, are not.
Im selective and I C&R a lot of fish, but I wouldn't begrudge a marlin from a yak. Even one a year caught, much less kept is remarkable unless you're that Grant guy.

I like swordfish. We've even got them pretty close to shore here, but theyre usually just seen, up finning, warming themselves up, and won't take a bait. If I ever got the chance to bait one, fight one, and win the battle he's dinner, and I'd hang its sword over the fireplace with pride.


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