Grunter games

Living thousands of kilometres from family means that it's not too often that Nana is around to baby sit our two-year-old while the rest of the family, including Pop, head out after dinner to investigate rumours of a hot grunter bite.

Grunter, or javelin fish as they are know down south, are one of the best tasting fish in the sea, fight hard and hit baits like a freight train. The winter run in Weipa is based on a short spawning run that sees the fish come and go in a matter of days. This spawning run can see the fish show up when conditions are right for a couple of days each month over winter and spring. Moon phase, water clarity and tides are all factors but confidently predicting the run is tough so word of mouth is a lot more reliable.

On our last trip, we set up on a gravelly section of beach with my wife, two boys and Pop all comfortable in camp chairs positioned back from the water to avoid being eaten - crocs also like nothing more than a good run of grunter.
I'm sure Dads all over the country can relate when I say that you can be kept busy when there is a good bite on. I was baiting the family up with squid, going from one camp chair to the next and as each bait hit the water, it was a case of "fish on!".

Grunter - fun for the whole family.

Being busier than a one-armed bricklayer I never got a bait in the water myself. Grunter have razor sharp gill blades that will put a barra to shame so in the dark of night, I didn't want my wife and kids grabbing hold of them. The fish were that active I had a line up waiting for my baiting, re-rigging and de-hooking. If it was an exceptionally good fish, dispatching and bleeding services.

It was one of those hot bites that Weipa and most of Cape York is famous for. I have heard a lot about how many fish people have caught in Weipa and 100 fish a session stories are very common in a lot of fishing articles about the area. I have to say, though that sort of action is more the exception to the rule, but when it fires, it really fires.

Anyone thinking of getting into some grunter, the best time of year is January to March, a time when they're not spawning but instead chasing prawns. Grunter will follow the prawns anywhere so find the prawns and you'll find the grunter. Night is by far the most productive time during these winter spawning runs but in summer, the grunter will bite all day. As you may have guessed already, squid is my preferred bite in winter but prawns are the obvious choice in summer.

Grunter are keen to take soft plastics and I will be keen to hear from any anglers out there that catch grunter regularly on plastics. I have found that plenty of long pauses with the plastic sitting motionless on the bottom before a short, but sharp twitch that imitates a fleeing prawn works best. Some days the grunter are all over the plastics and some days I can only catch them on baits. I'll keep working on it though and keep you informed.

I have heard stories of bigger fish then the ones that we regularly catch but we get them around the 60cm mark. Anything smaller, especially during spawning, is released and it is only one or two big fish kept at a time.

Grunter are such a nice table fish that I simply fillet them and skin them before a cooking them very quickly with a hot shallow fry. A touch of lemon and they are one of my all time preferred fish meals.

If cleaned soon after capture and kept on ice, grunters make for top class eating!

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