Exmouth Red Bass
Caught this red bass popping the back of the ningaloo reef. It hit like a steam train so quick that i didnt see what it was so i called it for a GT. I had the stella drag locked up and gave it a few hard yanks to set the barbless hooks in and that turned it so luckily it ran away from the reef so i was able to steer it back to the boat. Was surprised and stoked to see that it was my first red bass and not a bad one at that. Also it was on my birthday and the first fish caught on my new custom calstar popping rod built by matt gates in exmouth. Successfully released it because a red bass that size is likely to carry ciguatera toxins so wasnt going to risk eating it. Felt even better about releasing it after i did some research and found out a red bass that size would be around 40-50 years old.
till
Posts: 9358
Date Joined: 21/02/08
Top fish and good on you for
Top fish and good on you for releasing it, even if there is no real ciguatera risk in Exmouth.
jay_burgess
Posts: 4648
Date Joined: 18/08/05
They certainly go hard don't
They certainly go hard don't they. We considered switching to PE5 to be a little more sporting but after getting dusted up several times on PE10 GT gear decided it wasn't worth the lure losses we were likely to incur. Was stoked to see such a healthy population of red bass off Ningaloo Reef. Also interesting to hear the age of red bass that size, where did you read this information? Nearly all the bass we saw were either this size or larger... only saw smaller ones when I went snorkelling inside the lagoon. Did you get any decent GT's?
petervb
Posts: 447
Date Joined: 18/12/09
killer! im up there next wk
killer! im up there next wk so hopefully we get onto a few
mitchell anick
Posts: 22
Date Joined: 26/12/10
yeah i lost the 90 dollar
yeah i lost the 90 dollar popper the next cast to a very angry barrel rolling shark haha, can be pretty expensive popping. i read about red bass on wikipedia says they grow to 75cm and live to over 53 years.
we didnt get any big GT's this trip unfortunately. spent alot of time popping south of tantabiddi and all over the murions but didnt venture any further, the wind limited us a bit. we saw a few big ones swimming with the rampaging weed ball smashing schools of goldens and yellowtail kings and tried just about everything to tempt one but they just werent interested :(
planning to head to new cal end of the year or early next year for a couple of months so hopefully get a monster class GT there haha
PattyT
Posts: 1025
Date Joined: 15/08/10
Awesome fish mate!
Awesome fish mate!
big john
Posts: 8751
Date Joined: 20/07/06
Nice
Nice red bass Mitchell, and welcome to Fishwrecked.
WA based manufacturer and supplier of premium leadhead jigs, fligs, bucktail jigs, 'bulletproof' soft plastic jig heads and XOS bullet jig heads.
Jigs available online in my web store!
Lucky Tim
Posts: 2536
Date Joined: 28/11/07
nice work on the bass, once
nice work on the bass, once you snorkel those areas it's suprising how many there are down there.
TWITCHEMUP
Posts: 274
Date Joined: 12/05/10
Bass...
Killer Bass bro...
I didnt get one this trip hopefully next...
SHIMANO PRO ANGLER
hit n run
Posts: 261
Date Joined: 30/12/09
top fish mate great first
top fish mate great first too... they are awesome fighters and great looking species well done
It used to hurt when I got cock in my ass......now I can take three at once and not feel a thing!
SamC
Posts: 2013
Date Joined: 30/08/06
Man, the Exmouth Bass are on
Man, the Exmouth Bass are on roids for sure...
Good fish mate
Cheers,
Sam
Pete D
Posts: 1681
Date Joined: 07/06/07
Top fish Mitchell! Saw some
Top fish Mitchell! Saw some XOS red bass whilst diving. They were hunting in packs through the reef - was an awesome site. Reef fish flying everywhere.
Cheers Pete
crasny1
Posts: 7003
Date Joined: 16/10/08
Thats one angry looking fish
Pound for pound they go harder than just about anything on earth. Well so I have heard. Have only landed one in Dampier and it was small and overpowered on the gear i used. Would love to tackle one that size, but as Jay found out it can be expensive as they love the bricks.
Great looking fish, no ciguetera here but great to release such a magnificent beast.
Welcome onboard too.
Neels
"I would like to die on Mars. Just not on impact!!" _ Elon Musk
jay_burgess
Posts: 4648
Date Joined: 18/08/05
You got a pic Neels, never
You got a pic Neels, never heard of one caught of Damps before?