Barra

[Disco44]

G'Day All,

Check out this Barra recently caught in the NT
John.

[banjo]

OMG Holly sheet.

[bblaze]

appently not a barra, pics been floating around for a couple of years now. From memory its a nile perch
cheers
blaze
It maybe a different pic to what Im thinking of too

[Disco44]

appently not a barra, pics been floating around for a couple of years now. From memory its a nile perch
cheers
blaze
It maybe a different pic to what Im thinking of too

If it was a Nile Perch they fooled the NT News
John.

[dmdigital]

If it was a Nile Perch they fooled the NT News
That wouldn't be hard!

[V8Ian]

If that's a barra, I own a Cruiser. :D:D:D

[Redback]

What is the big deal about Barra (please i'm not being rude to the original poster) at best OK to eat, is it the fight they put up??

Baz.

[V8Ian]

What is the big deal about Barra (please i'm not being rude to the original poster) at best OK to eat, is it the fight they put up??

Baz.
I'm not a fisherman, but I do eat fish. As a fish eater, I think barra is very over-rated. People who enjoy fishing consider them to be good sporting fish, I believe.

[bblaze]

The biggest Ive caught is 1070mm, lots of fun to catch, didnt eat it but they tell me the impoundment barra are very fatty and poor eating. Best eating ones are just legal wild fish apparently. Best eating fish for me is a tassie flathead.
cheers
blaze

[Disco44]

Barra are a great sporting fish..they put up a good fight.Impoundment Barra are when compared to wild barra very bland in taste.I personally will not eat them.In Queensland there are minimum and maximum sizes.That one in the photo would have to have been released and I agree with that.The best tasting are the smaller ones.
John

[Bush65]

Pic looks very much like a barra to me, but I don't know much about Nile Perch (barra are from perch family).

One time at Lake Awoonga I saw 3 blokes carrying the one barra up the road from the old boat ramp. The person in the middle couldn't come close to getting his arm around the fishes girth and they had to stop frequently to rest the weight on bollards beside the road.

[crump]

If that's a barra, I own a Cruiser. :D:D:D
what model cruiser do you have??;)
Impoundment fish over 1.2m and 50-60 pounds are becoming reasonably common catches and they typically dont eat well compared to their wild estuarine cousins. Cant remember the exact size, but at around the metre mark all barra become female, hence in Queensland we have a minimum and maximum legal size you can keep.

[V8Ian]

what model cruiser do you have??;)
Impoundment fish over 1.2m and 50-60 pounds are becoming reasonably common catches and they typically dont eat well compared to their wild estuarine cousins. Cant remember the exact size, but at around the metre mark all barra become female, hence in Queensland we have a minimum and maximum legal size you can keep.
FJ 55 :(

[KarlB]

The report in the NT News seems pretty conclusive to me (see Mike reels in 27kg, 125cm monster | Northern Territory News | Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia | ntnews.com.au (http://www.ntnews.com.au/article/2010/03/07/129781_ntnews.html)). You can see behind the fella a partial web address which is consistent with www.obsessionfishing.com.au (http://www.obsessionfishing.com.au) which the News article refers to, confirming to me the authenticity of the claim.

[steven64]

Yes it looks like an Impoundment barra not that good to eat, thay should release them in rivers so they may breed, they would lay lots of eggs:eek:

[Sleepy]

I like FJ55's - my dad had one of the first in the country.:)

I like Barra too.:):)

Geez, I lose out twice.:(

But then again I like Flathead too. :(:(

There is no hope for me.

[ramblingboy42]

I know what a wild barra is......whats an impoundment barra?
We caught a 38lb barra at yellow waters around 1977, seemed to be about the size of the one featured here.

[crump]

baby Barra released into man made freshwater dams in QLD for sportfishing, like Tinaroo, Awoonga, Monduran, Moondarra etc..

[Bush65]

I know what a wild barra is......whats an impoundment barra?
We caught a 38lb barra at yellow waters around 1977, seemed to be about the size of the one featured here.
Further to what Crump said, they are barra that can't migrate to salt water in order to breed - thus impounded.

[Tombie]

Interestingly, I caught a show a while back that stated there is more "Barra" sold in restaurants and pubs than is caught annually :eek:

[numpty]

A lot of the Barra sold, is imported fish from SE Asian countries.

[Tombie]

A lot of the Barra sold, is imported fish from SE Asian countries.

Yes, but apparently sales still outstrips supply...

Makes you wonder what people are actually paying for :(

[midal]

Certainly agree with that Tombie.....just because it says Barra on the menu doesn't mean it is Barra on the plate. That goes for a lot of other types of fish also. There have been a number of kick-ups regards this issue over the years.

Cheers
Mick

[Bush65]

I'm not denying the likely substitution of species that takes place, but barra are a favoured aquaculture fish in many parts of Australia and the farmed fish are sold through many retail outlets. I would expect the numbers caught annually figures would be for wild fish, not farmed.

I doubt farmed fish need to reach the minimum length for keeping wild fish, which makes them a better size for restaurant meals.

Edit: Wild salt water barra taste a lot better than impoundment or farmed fish. Farmed fish are better if transferred to clean water tanks to clean out before being processed, but not all farms go to that expense.

[billiardbrett1]

A lot of the "Barra" sold in food outlets is Nile Perch. There is apparently only a couple of chromosomes difference between the 2 fish and as the Nile perch comes in boxes of frozen fillets there is no way of telling the 2 apart. The only way is to make sure that you get a whole fish and these are usually farmed aquaculture fish with little flavour. The Nile perch regularly grows to over the old 100 pound mark so one fish provides a hell of a lot of edible fillets thereby keeping the cost of supply down.

[Disco44]

I agree. Away from the big dams like Tinaroo,one private hatchery I saw in North Queensland, even though the water was being oxygenated , it was a murky brown .Hence , in my opinion,the cause of the bland taste.
John