What's the MOST Challenging Fish...

[settingsteel]

for you to shoot, and how do you go about it?

In my area, I'd have to say its a Mutton Snapper, those fish are soooo skittish, spooky and borderline paranoid...but one thing gets them, their curiosity.

When I see one I try not to look twice I just head straight down, to an area that has a bit of cover (seafan, branch sponge etc) to break my outline I belly down on the sea floor and throw up a storm of sand...enough to murk up half my body, and will sometimes scratch my shaft to some rocks, at this point I look up in the vicinity, I guessestimate the Mut will be around...and hold my gun at ready...often when the water clears theirs one, two even three within the area, and within poppable range.

 

[Marwan]

spangled empror, its like snapper, same behaviour youre talking about, always at dropoffs, sometimes in groups, sometimes alone, very spooked..but if ycan hold your breath and stay still they often turn around for a closer look, thats when you BBAAAMM!!

 

[blaiz]

We have an Emporer In Hawaii too, the Bigeye Emperor or Mu. We like to call them "the black out fish." This has been one of my target fish lately and they are hard to shoot. You cant look at them, they hang out in deep water, and they seem to know exactly where your gun range is. Lately I have been seeing some large ones too but it seems one needs a 5 minute bottom time to get close enough to these suckers.

 

[settingsteel]

Indeed breathhold aids in the "agachon" for Muts, but muts although seen around dropoffs ledges etc. seem to favor sandy areas with neighboring reefs not the full on coralheads and such but rather the seafan, sponges and dispersed rocks.

Heres a pic of the willy guy http://www.fishbase.org/Photos/ThumbnailsSummary.php?ID=1403

 

[Coral Sniper]

We have both down here the spangled emperor and the large eyed bream(Mu) they both are really smart and hard to shoot but I think the toughest are the big Mauri wrasse (napoleon wrasse) You just have to be lucky even in remote areas,they are smart right out of the box.

 

[blaiz]

I have seen the Napolean wrasse once myself. I was on a surf trip in the mentawais (indonesia). This was before I took spearing very seriously but I was screwing around with a small gun shooting omilu and I came across a group of about 8 napoleans. They were all between 50 and 80lbs and I had no clue what they were. They were munching on coral in about 15 ft of water in a little channel between two islands. I was able to get right above them but was a little to intimidated to take a shot. pretty awesome looking fish though!

 

[settingsteel]

We have both down here the spangled emperor and the large eyed bream(Mu) they both are really smart and hard to shoot but I think the toughest are the big Mauri wrasse (napoleon wrasse) You just have to be lucky even in remote areas,they are smart right out of the box.

is this the "Mu" http://www.fishbase.org/Photos/ThumbnailsSummary.php?ID=1833

If this is the Napoleon Wrasse it looks alot like a "parrot fish of our waters in Miami...quite easy to spear...BUT illegal to shoot, which is probably the reason why they are so carefree http://www.fishbase.org/Photos/ThumbnailsSummary.php?ID=5555

http://www.fishbase.org/Photos/ThumbnailsSummary.php?ID=1153

http://www.fishbase.org/Photos/ThumbnailsSummary.php?ID=1152

 

[MahiMan]

Man those mutton snappers are very paranoid! I was once lobstering by some shallow ledges maybe 10ft, and saw a pair of them over 25" just hanging out and not skittish in the least, my buddy threw a gun in the water and the vis was bad... as it turns out we lost the gun and the fish =(


Anywho that Napoleon Wrasse if it is what we call "parrot fish" down here would be easy to shoot if they were legal. Ive seen huge ones and they are not too afraid, like Steel mentioned probably because they don't get many looks haha

 

[blaiz]

This link should take you to a picture of a Mu, i think... im not sure if this is how you post a link or not. The ones in the post above are probably in the same family but different types. THe mu in hawaii can also hive wide black bars. THey can turn these on and off. Im pretty sure it has something to do with them feeling threatened.
Google Image Result for http://www.ukdivers.net/life/rs/bigeye_emperor.jpg

 

[settingsteel]

Man those mutton snappers are very paranoid! I was once lobstering by some shallow ledges maybe 10ft, and saw a pair of them over 25" just hanging out and not skittish in the least, my buddy threw a gun in the water and the vis was bad... as it turns out we lost the gun and the fish =(


Anywho that Napoleon Wrasse if it is what we call "parrot fish" down here would be easy to shoot if they were legal. Ive seen huge ones and they are not too afraid, like Steel mentioned probably because they don't get many looks haha

I've also heard they are quite tasty...kinda like a hog & a trigger...tempting indeed...

Thx Blaiz

This link should take you to a picture of a Mu, i think... im not sure if this is how you post a link or not. The ones in the post above are probably in the same family but different types. THe mu in hawaii can also hive wide black bars. THey can turn these on and off. Im pretty sure it has something to do with them feeling threatened.

found it here too http://www.fishbase.org/Photos/ThumbnailsSummary.php?ID=1869...it kinda looks like a mojarra...another fish thats quite challenging and delicious fare the Mojarra...or silver bullet, it frequents inshore waters, and is constantly moving...its a Cuda's favorite food so that boys always on the go, its got a "pelagics" pointy tail and some big binoc eyes...any over 2 pounds is a trophy!

 

[blaiz]

The Mu here get pretty big, I think the state record is around 10 or 12 lbs

 

[Coral Sniper]

Just do a image search of napoleon wrasse,They are a bit different from parrots,

Blaiz, was this fish you saw grey it may have been the giant bumphead parrot.

 

[blaiz]

Its definitely a possibility, like I said It was the first time I saw the fish, and it was also about 7 years ago. but I seem to remember pretty clearly that the fish were a bright bluish green. And when I looked up the Napoleon wrasse it definitely looked real similar.

 

[Marwan]

we have the big eye here too, their behaviour is very varied..somtimes they act like the spangled and are very spooked, other times i glided through schools of mu which seemed oblivious to my presence, oddly enough i didnt shoot then, didnt feel right somehow, totally not like me to do this
parrot and napoleon are not shot over here you can basically pet them..but i do realize their behaviour is not the same all over the world, i think the parrot is one of the elusive fish in hawaii..

 

[Coral Sniper]

Napoleons have very thick hides and take alot of power to even get a holding shot.
so you have to get extra close to them and thats were it gets tough,

or at least thats how it is down here

 

[blaiz]

no offense to anyone who likes them but i wont shoot parrot fish(uhu). They smell way too bad when cut open. Kind of turns me off.

 

[Marwan]

blaiz, you are the only hawaiian to say this i think

 

[blaiz]

No doubt about that. Ive had countless opportunities to shoot very large uhu, and unless Ive got a friends baby luau to get fish for I wont pull the trigger. I get a lot of heat for this too. THats ok though, I will leave them for thoughs who like them. FYI Hawaii just passed a law that you can no longer shoot Uhu at night. People used to go out at night while the Uhu were sleeping and bag tons. Kind of an unfair advantage i think. ITs good that our state is finally taking this over fishing thing seriously.

 

[Coral Sniper]

Night diving is a real killer here too:hungover

 

[Pastor]

I think the most challenging fish to find is a legal sized Bass on Tesco's fish counter!