Grinners in Moreton Bay

[Aaron_Fogarty]

What are they good for? Do commercial fisherman cull them?
Aaron

[SeaHunt]

Bait, catfood, and like cane toads, they also come in handy if you just like killing things for fun. ::)

[bidkev]

Bloody good bait....especially for mackerel (I'm told)

[Aaron_Fogarty]

"Killing stuff for fun." Mate have you talked to a professional about this disorder? Ha Ha
I heard a trawler bloke say they were good for the tuna in the bay, However he could have been leading me astray.
Aaron

[Sportfish_5]

It will be interesting to see what happens to the grinner numbers over the next couple of years. I was told that Grinners were one of the mainstays of the spottie mackerals diet when in the bay.

Due to the ring netting the numbers of spotties had decreased which in turn lead to an increase in Grinners in the bay. Hopefully no more ring netting means more spotties which means less Grinners ;D ;D ;D ;D

Would like to see a huge reduction in Grinner numbers for the right reasons - chomp chomp ;)

[moondancer]

Good for making a mess in the boat! Also good cut bait for mackerel, and not a bad standby as a general flesh bait for other species. We usually keep a couple for bait if we're running short (Trouble is we usually run short cos the bloody grinners are chewing into it before anything else decent!!)

[bignick]

Absolute pest!!! They will eat any bait, regardless of size and at what depth that bait is fished. They even take lures and SP's. Sometimes, at places like Mud Island, the Grinners get so thick, you have no choice but to pack up your flea circus and move or head home. But, all is not lost. The Grinners are food for Spotties, and this was shown to me one morning at Mud Island when I was reeling in what seemed like my 500th Grinner; out of nowhere, a huge Spotty came charging up and had a big go at the Grinner at the side of the boat, biting off his back half. Big fillets of fresh Grinner can also be a deadly Snapper bait on their day. The old Grinner may not be that bad after all.

Cheers,
BIGNICK.

[webby]

Grinner stocks in the bay at present are fairly slim, and there's certainly no spotties about yet.
But as for good uses, strips for bream, spangled and squire
or chop em up and use as berley.
regards

[dfox]

Im with webby, there good in the burley, apart from that nothing. Im sure everything has its place and shouldnt be killed for the sack of killing, but ive never found them a good bait there crap to eat and on many acassions ive caught one only to have a bigger one swallow it, so i conclude they are good live bait for even larger grinner.As for pros id say they just throw them back...foxy

[NeilD]

When did everyone notice the big Grinner population explosion. 10 years ago we had never caught one at the Sandhills then last year they got to the point where they outnumbered the Divers.
My Father who has fished the Bay for nearly 40yrs did not recognise them when they started turning up a few years back.

Neil

[-spiro-]

Neil. 4 years ago i had a top spot for parrot{always there} at Morton. Last year i tried to fish this spot to find that its full of grinners now. Some of these buggers i've caught are nearly a meter long.

[straddie]

Horse they have always been around the sand hills, just not in the numbers seen in the last 3 years or so. Usually seemed to hang in the same area as those red and white "rock whiting" "sgt major/baker" or whatever name you might know them by toward the southern end of the big sandhill.

They turned up around the same time as the big population explosion of pippis on Stradbroke Island, I can't really see a link between the two, although something seemed to change somewhere around that time.

Aaron they used to be good for straightening out gangs of 8/0's in certain parts of the bay at times ;D

[Aaron_Fogarty]

There a pain for fishing the island Ive had them grab Live yakkas and slimeys set for snapper.
Aaron

[NQCairns]

Like many I fished the bay fairly heavily between 85 and 95 and never caught a grinner, my first one was offshore port stephens and I had never seen one in the flesh before, cannot just be the mackeral, they were very thin some years and just plane thin others, glad to hear it's getting better (apart from the grinners) >:(

[SeaHunt]

As for pros id say they just throw them back...foxy

I went out on a fishing charter from Noosa and they threw them back, ..AFTER they stuck a knife through their skull.
The boat got about 50 that day all up. :P

[Aaron_Fogarty]

We cull all other species, some to much, with the explosion of grinner numbers both in the bay and offshore what does the future hold for bay fishing. If we are culling the mackeral in great numbers and if mackeral are above this "good for nothin" in the food chain. Whats left to stop in over running the bay? Any marine biologists out there with any clues on the topic?
Aaron

[sharkbait]

I've seen them in a local seafood shop marketed as 'grinner fish' for $5.99 a kilo :o

[NQCairns]

Anyone cut their stomach? Soon it may be a case of not whats eating them but what they are eating, they must be causing a hole or at least a dip in the food chain somewhere :(
They will probably breed up until they are all you can catch then their numbers will crash, they might even take an entire slot size of popular rec fish with them leaving a couple of years of no fish (specific species) reaching maturity!. Common theme in ecology, I dunno just kicking it around, might apply these nasty buggers?

[Aaron_Fogarty]

NQ
Im sure there changeing the food chain back down the line, in this particular area as they eat just about anything and with the mouth and set of teeth on em there not shy. No wonder the winter whiting population is dying off over the sand hills theres nothin for them to eat
as well as them being eaten.

Maybe a look into an impact study, these fish are having on the bay. It would be a good Uni thesis or masters project if your marine biologically inclined like that and are at that stage in life. Does any one know DR Daryl Mcfee? Get him online he unlocked many of the secrets surrounding swallow tail dart.Maybe he can help us out?
What effect will the have on Moreton bay in 10 years with its already deminishing fish population.

As for $5.99 kg get some on the local saturday fishing Tv program in the cooking section(get Thomo to do one in the camp oven and tell every one how great it is). It may be the start of a lucritive commercial market.

Hey! if there were grinners here in Japan ..Dont worry they would get eaten(raw of course) They eat Toad fish and stone fish over here and the are very Impartial to a live Yakka or Slimey (once again raw of course) ...If we use it as bait its on the resturaunt table over here.
Regards
AARON

[peterbo3]

Ya wanna see a GRINNER. THIS is a GRINNER.
Sucker took a Manns 30+ at about 10 knots in 10M in the top part of Moreton Bay.

[Sportfish_5]

Shoulda put a stinger treble under his belly and kept trolling Peter ;D ;D ;D ;D

I had one take a livie at Shallow Tempest this year so I hooked him up as a livie and sent him back down only to hook a bigger grinner ::) ::) ::)


Rotten bloody things they are >:( >:( >:(

Cheers

Greg

[webby]

I remember that grinner ;D ;D
regards