Hunting Parrot Fish on caribbean reefs, need tips!

[dom12]

The parrot fish we get here are very..i mean VERY cautious and spooked, all the big ones i have ever got, have been realy long distance shots nd by luck.
But i wanna be able to get them 90% of the time..not a 50 50 kind of deal..
Does anyone know a good technigue to hunt them, to attract them, tog et close to them?
Also i heard throwing sand around or over your head makes them come closer, is this realy something that works? (havent tried it as i dont waste time giving one a shot when i seem to be in range).

Dom.
:head

 

[jtkwest]

The parrot fish we get here are very..i mean VERY cautious and spooked, all the big ones i have ever got, have been realy long distance shots nd by luck.
But i wanna be able to get them 90% of the time..not a 50 50 kind of deal..
Does anyone know a good technigue to hunt them, to attract them, tog et close to them?
Also i heard throwing sand around or over your head makes them come closer, is this realy something that works? (havent tried it as i dont waste time giving one a shot when i seem to be in range).

Dom.
:head

Can you eat them? We have huge ones here, by the dozens (up to 25lbs) but noone eats them,(that i know of). I heard they give you ciguaterra. Might want to look into that before you get sick. If they are good to eat, i could get rich overnight, we have no limits on them at all.

 

[dom12]

hahaha no way! yes here in Barbados they are the favourite fish to eat, juicy white meat that falls apart in your mouth, they sell for $5 a pound and every where wants them!!!
not sure which types you get where you are, but the hump headed ones, the queen parrot fish and the stoplight parrot fish, and also the wrasse like parrot fish family are very tasty and very edible!

if any of those, enjoy your wealth lool!

Dom.

 

[Kroketa]

Hey guys!

When I was living in P.R. I used to chum them with sea urchins and coarse sand, or fish guts. We ate them there; however, here in Fla. they are off the menu and target list(s).

 

[sickbugs]

wait and let them come to you works for me !!! but then again u dive with me so you know this (wassup !)

 

[dom12]

haha, yo, i got my technique down now man! i just play dead on the surface till they start eating again then quietly dive down and chill.
if they havent moved away, i slowly move to them and pick the biggest one out! BRAX! your staying completely still technigue doesnt seem to work on the west coast chubs! shooting this weekend??

 

[SkipperJeff]

Hi guys,
Well, what worked for me in Mozambique years ago was, as already said here, just get down on the reef & take it easy, hang onto the reef, pretend to take an interest in something else for a while, let them relax/no sudden moves etc.
The big ones didn't get big by being anything other than extremely cautious.!
When my mate & I were shooting about 50-75 Kgs of game fish every day & making money as well from the Portugese there, we always kept a Parrot-fish for ourselves, for dinner that night. The meat is delicious & falls off the bone in big slices.

I must be the only bloke to have been 'attacked' by one. It was so big, & it wasn't a killing shot, so to subdue it & not bring in the nearest shark, I reeled it in & temporarily clamped it under my arm while untangling the line etc.
It's head got too close to my face & its beak opened & closed on my cheek. It drew blood I can tell you & cut right through. Bloody painful.!
Happy days...
Jeff

 

[dom12]

Haha! Jeff, thats gotta be the gnarlyest parrot fish story ive ever heard, thats quite a brutal beak they got ay!
They dont get so big out here, mostly around 2 n a half pounds is common to achieve, fellow sickbugs has got them in the 5 pounds and have seen some up to 8-10 pounds but extremely rare!
I agree on the taste, beautiful fish on outside and inside wen on a plate with some side dishes haha!
Yes agreed on the calm hugging the reef technigue! here in Barbados they are the most hunted fish, so they are more cautious then normal, on the east coast where it is hardly dived due to conditions, they are incredibly slow when it comes to knowing a spear is about to knock them into death.

 

[SkipperJeff]

Hi there Dom12,

Yep, I remember like it was last week, diving on reefs where the fish had never seen a human being, as the reefs were too far offshore for the local net fishermen, & they didn't know a thing about spearfishing.
It didn't take long for the fish to get over their initial surprise & start coming into range. We saw parrot-fish that must have been close to 40lbs some days, but the biggest one I ever had was about 30lbs.
That's a lot of meat on a Parrotfish.!
The biggest problem with them is that they're a very soft-bodied fish & if it's a big fish but a poor shot & the fish takes off, it rips itself to bits if you've used a double barbed spearhead, just to tear itself off & die somewhere. It's great to get a killing shot straight off, & then the fish is undamaged. Sometimes I'd get a bit closer & put one right thru both gills so it didn't damage the body at all.

BR
Jeff

 

[AlanMc]

The parrot fish we get here are very..i mean VERY cautious and spooked, all the big ones i have ever got, have been realy long distance shots nd by luck.
But i wanna be able to get them 90% of the time..not a 50 50 kind of deal..
Does anyone know a good technigue to hunt them, to attract them, tog et close to them?
Also i heard throwing sand around or over your head makes them come closer, is this realy something that works? (havent tried it as i dont waste time giving one a shot when i seem to be in range).

Dom.
:head

Where i am they are very cautious as well and never allow a diver get too close, only way i have ever shot them is to get ahead of it and wait for it to come into your guns range.

 

[dom12]

Yeah so annoying to shoot those buggers, a while after i posted this thread i found a technigue that has been working perfectly on them.
wen i see a school of them or a single one and notice that its staying in a certain area, feeding or whateva activity a fish would call swimming around an area.
I play dead on the surface, only part of my body that moves are my eyes, but i never make direct eye contact at all, when i notice its distracted or feeding etc, quietly dive down and hug the reef or sandy bottom, do a short aspetto (they usualy slow down and carry on their activity when you do this.
I then start to make my slow aproach with out aiming at them, if in range i slowly aim and then quickly take the shot, usualy by the second after u got the aim, they start to freak out again.

Dom.

 

[tazztnt]

hi, parrot fish/angel fish have no fear in Trinidad..they swim with you (probably because they're not popular game). my husband shot a parrot by mistake a few weeks ago and we discovered sweet meat yes, but no real flavor. We've been skeptical about the angel fish though.
We've been to barbados many times, but it's the first time since we were certified 4 years ago. I didn't realize you could spearfish in barbados though...we're heading there in July. is there any dive operator that offers the service?
T

 

[sickbugs]

mostly shore diving, give either me or dom a shout nearer to july and we can suggest some spots, whats the spearfishing like in trinidad?

 

[tazztnt]

it's hard game here as there's been overfishing in these waters (damn trini gov'ts who has given away fish rights and no regulations), but once the viz is good (we consider 10ft good in our green waters) any time in the water is better than on land. you'll always catch something though (snappers, groupers, hog fish, cavali, even cobia once, tarpon if you're game and lobbies (in the right season), just not the monsters unless you head to the east coast by the rigs.

 

[dom12]

Sounds pretty good out there! not so much the water viz tho lol! if your looking for good scuba diving, i work with Hightide Scuba and we do morning and afternoon dives.
Free diving you should give sickbugs a shout if you want some sick spearfishing spots, he also has a boat if you wanna work something out in terms of a day out fishing from the boat.

Dom.