Fish ID Please

[RayB]

I fished the 4 beacons on Saturday morning and good hammered on my lightest gear (small bream rod with 2kg braid) by the fish shown below. After a 20 minute fight we finally had the fish on the surface and while we were trying to borrow a gaf from a fellow boater the fish lunged one last time and broke the line. The photo is a shocker but I thought someone might have an idea of what fish it might be.

Brief description, when it fish came to surface I though it might a sting ray due to the size and roundess of the body. Of course it wasn't and another boater commented that it was like a butter bream but my reserach on the net shows thta butter bream don't grow that big. Unfortunatly that is all I have but would welcome and suggestions.

[serene_lady]

Looks like a Bat fish to me. Bob.

[mossy43]

I agree with Bob it is a Bat Fish… Mossy

[BrandonH]

Yep Bat fish, We saw heaps in the water last weekend when we were there.. Don't often get them on line though.. what bait were you using??

Cheers
Brandon...

[RayB]

I looked up 'Bat Fish' on the net and I believe you are right. I also read that they are not very good eating so I guess no real loss although it put up one hell of a fight on the light gear which was great fun.

I caught the fish using a dead prawn as bait.

thanks for the responses.

cheers
Raymond

[yellahunter]

yea sure does look like a bat fish,

interesting fish they are, if you get a chance check out a pic of a juvenile bat they look unreal hey.

always cool to catch new species even if you cant eat them

[disorderly]

An unusual catch for a line fisherman,I thought batfish were vegetarians.There was a photo on the front page of Fish and Boat some months back with the author posing with the Batfish he caught.Caused a bit of a stir next issue as they are highly regarded by snorkelers and divers.They will often allow divers to approach very close to them.

[Shanoss]

We used to hook the odd one up in Darwin from time to time using bread whilst targeting milkfish. Both great sport, but not worth eating. Upon further reflection, 'twas a batfish that was responsible for cooking an old abu 5600 that i had. I loved that reel

[bidkev]

Sounds like a new species of vermin for me to target .............then again, I don't really need to target vermin.............they have a natural affinity for me

kev

[JT]

Looks like a Batfish to me, we used to dive with them up in the Whitsundays, the ones at the resort that used to come to the jetty for the morning fish feeding were tame enough to pat and would eat out of your hand. I believe that their eating quality leaves a lot to be desired. We never used to target them specifically but if ever you hooked up to one you knew about it, we would usually get smoked by them.

Cheers

John