Fishing in Victoria, Australia Quiz

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. If I went to Patterson River, Carrum Downs, what fish would I be targeting?

Answer: Bream

Bream is the only one of these you will catch here. Carp is a freshwater fish, and barracouta would not come into an estuary like this. Sturgeon are ranged widely throughout the Mississippi River, the Great Lakes and the Hudson River. They aren't even found in Australia.

2. French Island is found in Westernport.

Answer: True

French Island is in Westernport. It takes up a large proportion of it. It is a main tourist attraction, but it is not as famous as Phillip Island, which known for its 'Penguin Parade'. French Island is a flat, grassy island with little or no human inhabitants.

3. Another name for a mulloway is a jewfish.

Answer: True

Most people call mulloway, jewfish, although the proper name for them is in fact mulloway. Many people fish for mulloway, but not many are caught. Only the most experienced, determined and patient fishermen are rewarded in catching this very elusive fish.

4. The Yarra river connects to Westernport.

Answer: False

The Yarra river is connected to Port Phillip bay not Westernport. The Yarra river is also one of Victoria's' main shipping ports, making it very deep. This means many fish find shelter in here. Such fish are bream, mulloway, tailor and mullet.

5. Which of these is a native freshwater fish of Australia?

Answer: Yellowbelly

Out of these the yellowbelly is the only native freshwater fish. Redfin were introduced from England and english perch is another name for redfin. Trumpeter are a saltwater fish.

6. What month can you expect to see the first trickle of snapper entering Port Phillip bay?

Answer: September

The divers usually spot snapper entering the bay in September, but the full run of snapper doesn't usually happen until October/November.

7. Gummy Sharks have short pointy teeth.

Answer: False

As the name may say, they have rough mouths with no teeth. The closely related school shark have short pointy teeth. Gummy and school sharks are renowned for there excellent fighting abilities and table qualities and can usually be bought as flake.

8. What will you find if you try and leave the Port Albert entrance?

Answer: A sandbar

The entrance to Port Albert has a big sandbar there. It can be very dangerous in rough conditions. The sandbar extends for approximately 4km out of the entrance and can provide some great fishing on the edge. In the rough weather though boats can be easily led to their doom here.

9. Where is the beak on the southern sea garfish located?

Answer: Below the mouth

The southern sea garfish has the beak below its mouth, and it is almost identical to the eastern sea garfish, the only thing that separates them is the distribution. Marlin have a similar appearance to the garfish, although the marlin has his beak on the top, and they grow substantially bigger.

10. When fishing the weed beds of Port Phillip bay or Westernport, which of these is usually a pest?

Answer: Parrotfish

Parrotfish are caught unwillingly by many anglers and returned, mainly because of bad eating and fighting qualities. Red mullet is also a by-catch, but they are good eating. So are whiting and squid(calamari).

11. What large fish is Mallacoota famous for producing?

Answer: Flathead

Many large flathead have come from Mallacoota, and Fred Bayes, one of Victoria's and even Australia's most renowned flathead fisherman catches all his big flathead from here.

12. How many more gill slits does a seven-gill shark have than a normal shark?

Answer: 2

A normal shark has five gills, whereas the seven-gilled shark has seven(duh). eg. 7-5=2, thus the answer is 2.

13. If you saw a few fisherman fishing the Barwon River at midnight in small aluminium boats or kayaks (canoes), what would they most likely be fishing for?

Answer: Mulloway

The Barwon river is one of the top mulloway producing rivers in Victoria. Mulloway in excess of 30kg have been caught here, usually at night. Stingray and skate are also caught in there but no-one targets them. Elephant fish are also a by-catch in here.

14. Which introduced species has ruined most of the seabed of Port Phillip bay?

Answer: Northern-pacific sea stars

These came to Victoria in the ballast water of container ships. When the ships release the water, because the bay is so shallow, the starfish get released and they have bred and expanded very quickly. As they have no natural predators they are free to do as they wish.

15. Which of these would one most likely use a wire trace for?

Answer: Barracouta

The barracouta (or barracuda) is the only one of the above with decent sized teeth. The banjo shark has a rough mouth and the other species are small bait fish. In the absence of a wire trace, the barracouta will bite through your line like cotton.

16. When a Southern black bream grows in excess of around a kilogram(40 cm), what distinct characteristic does it get that the little ones don't have?

Answer: Dark blue nose

It gets a dark blue nose, many fisherman when they are asked what they caught, might say a few 'blue noses'. By this they mean big blue nosed bream. The other characteristics I just made up.

17. Which fish is the odd one out of these?

Answer: Whiting

Bream, snapper and trevally are all tall, thin fish, whereas whiting are long and rounded. All these fish can be caught in Westernport and Port Phillip bay.

18. Which of these fish can grow the largest(heaviest) in size?

Answer: Snapper

The snapper can grow the biggest by far, reaching weights of up to 17 kg. The others are all small fish barely reaching 2 kg. Whyalla, SA is home to the really big 'reds'.

19. If there were four baits lined up, which would be most likely used for whiting?

Answer: Mussel

Mussel is one of, if not the best bait for whiting. The cray would be too big for the whiting to inhale/swallow, the tuna fillet would also be too big, whereas the maggots are an OK bait but not as good as mussel.

20. At which of these weights would a gummy shark be a once in a lifetime catch?

Answer: 25 kg

A 20 kg gummy shark is big, but they have been caught up to 30 kg before. If you did catch one 25 kg, you would most likely not get another in your life.

Source: Author chunky89

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor Bruyere before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.

Do you know your fishing? Try these questions. If you are from Victoria, their should be no problems with this. If you are from somewhere else in Australia, it should be fairly easy. If you are not from either, you may know a few, but good luck guessing

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