Fishing at Como

[khiemtran]

This week, get up early so you can come fishing with Liem and me on the Georges River...



It's a promising morning for fishing. The skies are overcast and the waters are calm. We can actually see some big bream flashing in the water as the swim in the tide near the jetty.



At first, they resist the lure of our baits. For a few tantalising minutes we watch in dismay as they swim around our lines without being tempted. It doesn't take long though...



As we wait for the next strike, another fisher joins the party. It's an elusive nankeen night heron, looking for a feed!



As night herons go, this was a bold one. We watched in disbelief as he walked along the pool netting straight towards us. Normally, they take off at the merest sight of a human.



This is actually the closest I've ever been to one of these elusive birds. If only I had the DSLR, this would have been an amazing picture.



Speaking of amazing, our next catch was this astonishing fish. I have no idea what it is and it doesn't appear on any of the usual species id charts. It went back, as did everything else we caught.



Liem gets the next fish - another bream!



We also got a big puffer fish, which broke free before we hauled it up (just as well, because it saved me having to deal with all the spines while trying to unhook it), and another small bream.

There were also an alarming number of jelly fish. No swimming today! Most were these ones, locally known as "jelly blubbers".



But there was also one huge pink one maybe thirty centimetres across.

Comments

[mnfaure.livejournal.com]

The mystery fish is cool-looking! Any luck ID-ing it?

[khiemtran.livejournal.com]

Not so far. It looks similar in shape to a butterflyfish, but nothing seems to quite match so far.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

What remarkable fish! Fish plumage can be as lovely as bird scales. I like the shot of Liem actually reeling in a fish, too.

The net that the Nankeen heron is walking on, is that to catch things or keep things out, or is its purpose something else entirely?

[khiemtran.livejournal.com]

The net is actually part of a fenced off swimming area - so it's meant to keep sharks out and children in. In the fourth picture from the top, you can see the swimming area on the left and the open river (actually a saltwater estuary, like most of the major rivers in Sydney). I've never seen a shark in the river, but there were dolphins seen nearby just last week. I was half-hoping I might see some when we were fishing.