Yes, we have barramundi in Florida. They’re raised in ponds in the the central part of the states and sold as food fish. They allow anglers to come in and fish for a hefty fee ($400 a half day).
Rick Grassett, a Sarasota charter captain, and I fished the ponds a few years ago. It was fun. The fish were strong and readily hit flies. We caught more than 30 on Clousers and Myakka Minnows on No. 2 hooks.
Grassett fighting a barramundi:
A smaller fish:
The largest of the outing:
Hope you sold them and recovered your money!!!
That reminds me of the scene in Crocodile Dundee where Sue is looking at the rifle shells in Mic’s boat and asks if he was just fishing. He responds, “Well, Barramundi is a bloody big fish.”
a few years back when I lived in the south, I saw a tv show about that place… one or other of the BASCAR crowd was fishing it and it looked awesome. Had a trip to Orlando coming up and thought it would be awesome to take my son there so I looked it up online. Then I vomited all over my keyboard when I saw the price they wanted to charge.
I believe the place shut down a few years back.
Beautiful fish. I saw a video from a friend in Australia and was amazed at the powerful fight they put up. Let’s just hope that they never get “accidently” introduced to your waterways down there and you folks end up with the same situation as you have now with those Asian Carp. We are sweating it here in Canada, for if those Carp somehow get into the Great Lakes water system, our great Canadian fishing will be no longer.
Back in the mid-70’s I worked on a seismic crew in Papua New Guinea, just north of Australia. I brought a trout rod along, hoping to use it somewhere, but found little chance to use it. There were a few guys on the crew who had experience fishing for Barramundi in the area. They used heavy plug casting outfits and caught fish in the 20-30 pound range. I went out with them a few times and was impressed by these strong athletic fish. They are sort of a cross between a snook and a tarpon and like to attack prey from around submerged logs. I’d love to have the opportunity to catch one on a fly rod.
Ted
Zebra Mussels
Quagga Mussels
Spiny Water Fleas
Gobies
It’s the end of the world every single time.
In Florida, we have all sorts of exotics in our waters: oscar, Mayan cichlid, peacock bass, clown knife fish, Midas cichlid, walking catfish and others.