Surf Parrot

[BeastMaster]

Whilst waiting for the HMAS Brisbane to be sunk , BeastMaster Jnr got a little bored and pulled this fine specimen from near by waters.

[nigelr]

Man, that is one beautiful looking fish. Bet the young fella was happy with that! Great pic too! Thanks for sharing the moment. Cheers.

[jackash]

YEah thats SUPER

[matthill80]

yeh second that its a beautiful fish alright im jealous of it
well done young fella


cheers matt

[flickflack]

Really nice photo that mate, great catch

[vertico]

definately a nice parrot you got there
outer gneerings or murphys ?

[fritzy]

How good is the SMILE!! ;D ;D
The only thing more beautiful than that fish picture was his taste!!
How stoked the big fella must have been.
Cheers Fritzy

[fritzy]

I'm stoked just looking at the picture!! ;D ;D

[rocket]

Way to go BM Junior!!!

The way he'll remember that historic day is probably "What ship was sunk? I CAUGHT A BIG PARROT!!!"

We caught one of those at the Banks last week and I don't know about other fishos on this site, but it is on a very rare occasion that you see one of those down here, it's usually the tuskies or gold spots.

GREAT FISH, GREAT SMILE, GREAT MEMORY ;D ;D ;D

[rando]

Ill bet it gave you a tussle young BM, those things go hard, congratulations

[kitty_cat]

IS THIS A TRUE PARROT AND DO THEY TASTE BETTER THAN THE COMMON TUSK FISH

[BeastMaster]

Yes it was a beautiful fish both visually and to eat.
He caught it at a small outcrop just off Murphies -spot X5 to be precise, on 10kg nylon, 6500 shimano bait runner reel and a live fibre rod ,floating down a lightly weighted piece of mulletfillet.
This little lump has now produced coral trout , red emperor , snapper,cobes , spotties,spanish,mauri cod , sweetlip ,tusk fish mosses,yellowtail kings pearlies and probably a few that I cannt remember.And yes I was jealous too!!!

[vertico]

sounds like a nice spot beastmaster

[devocean]

IS THIS A TRUE PARROT AND DO THEY TASTE BETTER THAN THE COMMON TUSK FISH

No way thos things are chewy as. They have that much brown stuff in em. Cant even compare to a tusk fish not in a million years. Those things are in plague proportions here in nq and I dont know anyone who keeps em.

Within our internal comp they count as -1 point

[rocket]

Not to be disrespectful devocean, but yes they are the true parrot as such (Hence the parrot like beak) and I agree they don't taste as good as the tuskies (venus in particular), BUT they can have totally different eating characteristics in these waters. They are a bit chewier (akin to big snapper) and luckily don't usually contain the worms of their northern counterparts. A similar thing exists with Iodine bream, the northern ones tend to tast more "iodiney" whilst down here they can be excellent eating. Any "parrot" we catch down here we eat, and I personally prefer them to larger snapper (Big call hey!?). Love to here further comment :)

[vanurose]

My jaw dropped when I saw your photo. I have added it to my Fishing Folder as I am so impressed. You would win any comp that you entered with a photo like that. I hope I can post a photo like that soon.
Rosemarie

[hocka]

awesome lookin fish

[hocka]

taste as good as they look

[devocean]

As a very keen spear fisherman I see these things in their hundreds every dive. I could shoot them all day but I dont because like I said up here they just dont rate. So if you like eating them just let me know and I can put you onto them no worries. Wish the tuskies were as prevelent though

[DougHanning]

They are called blue-barred parrot and that is a male. They change sex from female to male at about 30-40cm. The females are yellow and blue and well you can see the male in your photo. They are a very common species from the top of staddie northwards. We spearfish and usually get 2 or 3 every time we go out. I got a 4kg one at the banks last weekend. They are great eating (down here anyway) and I agree that I would prefer them over snapper. They are very similiar to tuskies. It's important to gut them straight away and wash out the gut cavity as their crap gets through everything. They are responsible for fine sandy beaches up north as they crap out ground up coral. Cheers fellas