Please select your home edition
Edition
Leaderboard FD July August September 2023

What strange fish species have you caught on artificials?

by Gary Brown on 1 Jul 2013
I have caught many a porcupinefish while slowly rolling hard bodied lures over the flats Gary Brown
Over the past ten years or so I have had the chance to travel around a fair bit due to my work and holidays, and when I do go away, I will always take at least one outfit and a box full of artificals with me. Places that I have been able to fish have been Exmouth in WA, The islands off Vanuatu, Townsville, Tasmania, Geelong in SA, Mallacoota in Victoria, Racecourse Beach south of Ulladulla, Lake Macquarie, Just to name a few.

It has been during these travels that I have targeted many different fish species that will give me a good tug on the line or provide me with a feed. Over the years I the main species of fish I have targeted are flathead, snapper and morwong offshore, salmon and tailor off the beach, bream, trevally, luderick and drummer from the stones and in the estuaries I will target, bream, flathead, whiting, mulloway and snapper.

But it has been during these times that I have caught what I would call strange fish species to what I would normally catch.

For instance I was fishing during a bream tournament at Port Stephens with a mate of mine. While we were deep jigging with blades along the edge of the breakwall near the marina in the centre of town. Dave got a huge hit that peeled line off like there was not tomorrow. After a short, but very tense tussle we both expected to see a good size bream come to the net. To our surprise Dave had managed to catch a surgeon fish on a Strike Pro 40mm Vibe.


During a stint up in Townsville during the month of October I had a chance to chase mangrove jacks along the breakwall that is adjacent to the casino in Townsville. I didn’t manage to land any mangrove jacks over the four days I was there, but I did catch a number of hairtail. Yes, hairtail. Fourteen to be correct over three afternoons and all were caught on shallow and deep diving hard bodies.

While up in Townsville I was also using soft plastics chasing pikey bream, trevally and flathead in shallow water with surface lures, and even though I caught plenty of pikey bream, trevally and flathead I got sick of catching barracuda after barracuda. It didn’t matter whether I used a slow, medium or fast retrieve. I even tried changing the places that I was fishing, but to no avail. More barracuda. Oh well they did put up a great fight in shallow water, but I did loose six surface lures.


Using soft plastics and blades off shore chasing snapper, morwong, kingfish and trevally is not a new thing and I have been doing it for a number of years now and over the years I have caught a number of what I call strange fish species. Just recently I was working a gravel patch for snapper and managed to catch a number of parrot fish. I t was not a matter of jagging them they all smashed the lure extremely hard for a small fish.

One of the ways that I prospect for bream over the flats is to slowly troll a couple of hard bodies. When I mean slow, I mean at about one to two knots. The only problem is that when the tide has started to slow down the porcupine fish now have enough speed to catch the lure. This sometimes means that the lure smashed beyond repair.

The photos in this article are not what I would target with artificials, but are some of what I have caught over the years. Maybe you have caught some strange fish on lures. If so send me an email gbrown1@iprimus.com.au and share your strange catches.





Maritimo 2023 S600 FOOTERJeanneau Sun Odyssey 350Henri-Lloyd Dynamic Range

Related Articles

Finn World Masters in Medemblik day 3
Pieter-Jan Postma continues to lead after 5 races Pieter-Jan Postma, from The Netherlands, continues to dominate the Finn World Masters in Medemblik, The Netherlands, after a fifth race was sailed on Wednesday in a north-westerly breeze building from 8-12 knots during the afternoon.
Posted on 18 Jun
24th Argentario Sailing Week day 0
Historic boats from 9 nations have gathered in Porto Santo Stefano Historic boats have gathered in Porto Santo Stefano to take on the 24th edition of the prestigious Argentario Sailing Week, organised by the Yacht Club Santo Stefano with the tangible support of the Monte Argentario Municipal Council.
Posted on 18 Jun
29th Superyacht Cup Palma fleet is ready to go
Crews are now able to size-up the competition in their respective classes The owners, captains and crews of the spectacular array of yachts gathered for the 29th edition of the Superyacht Cup Palma are making their final preparations ahead of the start of racing next Thursday.
Posted on 18 Jun
Swan One Design Worlds kicks off
Practice race and opening ceremony in Costa Smeralda The crystal waters of the Costa Smeralda once again set the stage for one of the most anticipated events in the international racing calendar: the 2025 Swan One Design Worlds, hosted by Yacht Club Costa Smeralda in collaboration with ClubSwan Racing.
Posted on 18 Jun
Class40 top guns enter Rolex Fastnet Race
One of the most successful genre of offshore race boat ever Now 20+ years old, the Class40 has proved itself one of the most successful genre of offshore race boat ever.
Posted on 18 Jun
Finn World Masters in Medemblik Day 2
Pieter-Jan Postma leads after the second day of racing in The Netherlands Pieter-Jan Postma, from The Netherlands, is leading the fleet of 307 Finns from 27 countries after everyone sailed two more races at the 2025 Finn World Masters in Medemblik. France's Laurent Hay is second with Germany's Fabian Lemmel in third.
Posted on 17 Jun
World Sailing launches the World Sailing Academy
A new online learning platform for the global sailing community World Sailing officially launched the World Sailing Academy, an innovative new online learning platform designed to provide comprehensive educational resources and training to sailors, coaches, officials, administrators, and the global sailing community.
Posted on 17 Jun
Sailing and the summer solstice
Celebrating sailing and the longest day of the year If you love long evenings and early mornings, this is one of the best times of the whole year, as the summer solstice (Friday, June 20) and the entire rich expanse of summer are about to burst into bloom.
Posted on 17 Jun
New Caledonia Groupama Race update
Rushour crew safely back in Noumea after capsize The boat was located and it was identified as capsized. All crew members were accounted for. Crew were transferred in the larger aircraft at Koumac and arrived back at Noumea at about 4pm local time.
Posted on 17 Jun
Video Review: The Amazing Cure 55
Composite Construction meets Cruising Convenience It was two years ago at the Sanctuary Cove International Boat Show that I talked to Dave Biggar about his ideas and plans for the Cure 55. At the 2025 show I got to step on board the yacht and see how his ideas became reality.
Posted on 17 Jun