Parrot fish.. any hunting suggestions?

[jharryd]

Hi to all, i am fairly new to spearfishing but have started to figure out the behaviour the smaller reef fish and cod i hunt when they become alert of my presence. I usually change my hunting technique to suit these fish, however PARROT FISH are quite a problem for me. I am having difficulty getting a close enough range to make the shot as i have found them to be quite alert and agile, thus they swim away when approached. The area i fish (magnetic island... off the coast of townsville) seems to produce relatively large parrots from about 35cm and there are quite a few of them, you could say they are a common site. Could someone please give me a few hunting tips on how i can get within range.
ill list my suit and gun incase they have anything to do with the problem

gun: undersee woodie comp 13500mm with shaft attached
suit: picasso apnos black 3mm

thanks, any advice is appreciated

jharryd

[AndyDic]

I shoot alot of parrotfish(we call them Veja in the Azores), and yes they are pretty quick and jumpy. Here in the Azores it is very rocky, so they usually will try to hide under a rock. I just dive down, wait a little bit and get them when they are coming out, or sneak up on them. They also usually swin in descent size schools 8-15. Its usually not hard picking one of them off.

[AndyDic]

By the way, very good eating!

[jharryd]

andy dic, thanking you for helping, yes i have noticed they like to swim in schools, unfortunately smaller schools of 5 - 8 here. but yes i will definitely fry one up on the barbecue when i get the chance cheers

[colt.45]

What do parrot fish look like ?

[AndyDic]

[jharryd]

the ones i associate with are greyish blue in appearance, with beaks which they use for crushing coral. they have a small tail in comparison to body size. haha, dw the only thing parroty about them is ther beak... im yet to see a feathered fish... take care

[AndyDic]

the color sometimes vary's due to the sex of the fish. The ones I see also usually have a relatively bigger body to tail ratio.

[jharryd]

hey andy, could u please if u can specify to your knowledge about the colours of the fish being determined by sex, i beleive u as i have seen many variances with colour and was wandering if ther was a simple way to determine. you could say i was curious

[AndyDic]

I'm not fish expert, but we have ones here that are a brighter red, then ones that are a duller grayish color. I know the red ones are female, because I speared one, and gutted it and out came alot of eggs. I was told by a local fisherman that the grayish fish are male, and the reds are female.

[Bill McIntyre]

Originally Posted by jharryd

The area i fish (magnetic island... off the coast of townsville) seems to produce relatively large parrots from about 35cm and there are quite a few of them, you could say they are a common site.

I suppose it may not have much bearing on the answers you get, but this is an international web site. What hemisphere are those spots in?

If I mention local spots, I doubt they would mean much to you, although you could at least get a hint from the location in the upper right of my posts.

[AndyDic]

I'm in the Azores. Mid-central Atlantic.

[jharryd]

yes i guess you have a point.. i live in Townsville in the state of Queensland, Australia. Its along the N/E coast. Yes i guess then the fish i am hunting are male.. thanks andy

[Shadowkiller]

We get around 30 species of Parrotfish (Scarids) in Australia, each of which will have 3 or more colour phases as they change from juvenile to female, and then to males.

If you want a god book for fish ID, try getting "Marine Fishes of Tropical Australia and SE Asia", by Gerry Allen.

Also, email the QLD DPI and ask for a copy of the "Reef Fish field guide" which is an excellent ID booklet, and free!

And if youre keen to get out to the more distant reefs, join up with the Townsville Spearfishing club. Great bunch of guys.

[The Killer's me]

some experienced spearos here in dubai, they dont shoot this kind of fish, bec it is easy to shoot and especially that u can find it every where.

i tried my luck and found out that it is hell to descale. but it tastes great.
maybe thats why they dont like to shoot it? bec of descaling.