EACH year as the East Australian Current’s southward push of warm tropical water reaches its peak around late autumn, weird and wonderful catches are reported in southern parts of the country. Over the years there have been many reports of weird “displaced” fish turning up a long way from their known haunts – mangrove jacks have been caught as far south as Batemans Bay, while pelagics like Spanish mackerel and sailfish have turned up at Jervis Bay in seasons gone by.
One of the latest examples of this phenomenon though appears to be one out of the box…
According to a report on the richardsonmarine.com.au website fisho Michael Irwin caught this wahoo off Port MacDonnell, the southernmost town in South Australia last week.
The northern speedster – wahoo can swim at speeds up to 60mph – reportedly weighed around 6.5kg and was caught offshore in 50m in 17.5 degree water! Maybe it needed a bit of a run to keep itself warm!
According to fish biologist Dr Ben Diggles if the wahoo had been caught around Ceduna in the Great Australian Bight it had most likely travelled down from WA on the Leeuwin Current with the southern bluefin tuna.
“Wahoo don’t appear to be recorded from SA in any of my reference books, but if water temps were over 21-22°C there is no reason why they couldn’t come around that far seasonally, although June is very late in the year,” Diggles told Fisho.
Anyone else caught something weird and wonderful lately? We’d love to hear about it.
