Flathead Question- Peel Harvey estuary
Submitted by crasny1 on Fri, 2013-11-22 12:20
Might be a question that our trusted museum Ichthyologist Glenn Moore can answer, but why is there plenty of flatties in Perth water, in estuaries up and down the coast, but they are scarse in the Peel Area.
I find this perplexing and have often wondered, but never asked.
Cheers
Neels
PS I live in Bouvard, within a 100m walk of what I would have thought would be pritine flathead waters. Have never bothered trying because of that knowledge, but hoping I am wrong.
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Glenn Moore
Posts: 228
Date Joined: 13/02/12
no idea
Talk about throwing 'Greg' ;-) in it! I'm afraid I don't have an answer for you Neels. I've heard mention of water quality (esp. blue-green aglae blooms), different substrates, but I don't know. There has been quite a bit of work on the estuaries of the south-west done by Murdoch and Fisheries over the past 3 decades, but I must admit to not having read it all (or remember what I have read...). Someone might have a more educated opinion than me.
Glenn Moore
Curator of Fishes
Western Australian Museum
twitter @WestOzFish
crasny1
Posts: 7004
Date Joined: 16/10/08
Yes sorry ""Greg""
I couldnt fully remember your name until the pm, then I forgot to edit it.
Thanks Glenn. But am I correct in the assumption or is it a rumour?
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jighead
Posts: 728
Date Joined: 03/02/12
I have always wondered the same thing crasny.
Good question.
Auslobster
Posts: 1901
Date Joined: 03/05/08
My uneducated guess..
....blowies. The vast swarms of them from one end of the system to the other make it difficult for any kind of organic matter, living or dead, to drift past an ambush predator like a flathead.
I have caught maybe half a dozen (over a ten year span) under the old traffic bridge, ranging from 35 to 50 cm...since I released all of them, they were probably the same fish!
I know that the swan and other sheltered bodies of water have more than their fair share of blowfish and can still support healthy numbers of flounder/flathead...I'm guessing that the minimal tidal movement in the upper reaches of the Peel/Harvey Inlets allows the slower moving blowies to successfully compete with other species....
crasny1
Posts: 7004
Date Joined: 16/10/08
Was wondering whether it had to do with water
movement. But then by now I would have expected some on the inside of the cut, as the movement there can be dramatic.
I thought that blowies to clean up food scraps etc, but flaties target "live" prey like small fish and prawns flaoting/swimming past, and the eastuary is full off both.
Its just an odity IMO.
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fisharoo
Posts: 297
Date Joined: 02/07/11
Flounder
Not so sure about flounder in the swan now adays, used to catch them regularly on bait. Haven't caught one for at least ten years now, although my friends still see a few night time diving for prawns and crabs. Just a personal observation. I put it down to the blowies as well:) maybe they are eating all their babies.
lame
Posts: 315
Date Joined: 20/01/10
been thinking exactly the
been thinking exactly the same thing with the leschenault inlet , prime ground but never seen or heard of them being caught
C.P
Posts: 345
Date Joined: 04/01/12
Flathead
I have caught a few off the beach by the mouth but never in the estuary
crasny1
Posts: 7004
Date Joined: 16/10/08
Likewise
caught quite a few offshore and off Avalon Beach. Just not inside the estuary. Also pulled a few from White Hills and Tim's.
I often pump for tube worms on the flats and have never scared a flatty, nor seen a lie, which you can often seen on the flats in Perth water.
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trymyluck
Posts: 908
Date Joined: 06/05/12
I had the same thoughts with
I had the same thoughts with the Peel estuary, thought it would be great Flatty water also.
And further down around Denmark they also catch heaps of snapper in the estuaries but I haven't heard of this in the peel estuary ??
crasny1
Posts: 7004
Date Joined: 16/10/08
Plenty of juvie Snapper
In the Estuary. Any off the canal jetties have them. Dont realy take a lure ahead of the bream, but at night an un-weighted prawn or piece drifted next to a pylon will reveal them - if you can get away from the juvie Black Bream. Daytime blowie paradise.
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eziliving
Posts: 879
Date Joined: 30/12/09
There's a few flounder in
There's a few flounder in there and believe or not I have trolled up a few undersized pinkies in the estuary itself. I also would have thought that there would be a few especially around the cut there
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smicko
Posts: 135
Date Joined: 11/04/10
Perth is pretty much the
Perth is pretty much the southern extremity of the Bartails geographic range, they are a sub tropical species. The Flatties that are so prolific in the Wilson are Bluespots.