Tuskfish, the crustacean munching fish known for their tusk like teeth, are a beautiful fish and perfect for the dinner table. Here, Trevor goes into detail about some tips for hunting this fish.
On Australia’s east coast, blackspot tuskfish are fond of subtle structures such as coffee rock, gravelly patches and the edges of reef towards the sand as the reef tapers off. They do school and are most abundant around breeding time which will occur around the first westerly of winter. You only have one shot, so don’t miss your chance to spear. Larger tuskfish will take a quick look at you and it’s at this point when you’re most likely to be successful.
If you’re so successful as to have some expendable crayfish lying about, maybe dispose of one or two as some burley for targeting the tuskfish, it’s just something they can’t seem to resist. For most of us however, we aren’t so eager to throw away one delicacy to maybe snag another. Instead you might be able to rub two rocks together to imitate crustaceans to attract the tuskfish.
They love some filthy water, so places like Moreton and Harvey bay are where you’re likely to be lucky in finding the Tuskfish (given you’re comfortable in minimal visibility).
Where to shoot the fish is the next trick. To stone the tuskfish, there is a soft spot just behind the first gill rakers towards the top of the fish between the skull and the armoured scales. Just take a look at Trevor’s precision shooting in the video to get the right idea. Hitting this spot could mean you hit the spinal column, and that’ll really finish the fish off for you.
Thanks to Trevor Ketchion for the footage, take a look at his Facebook page here:
/ submergedpsychos