geez thats big. good work

a leather jacket challenge, i had better download the photos from the weekend. I reckon i will have one that could challenge it. ;)

Here it is, the big fella himself, caught on a bait chaser rig last week.. if you know the size of a baitchaser, then I think you can determine the size of this fish.. hehehe :)

[img_assist|fid=16725|thumb=0|alt=Leatherjacket]

I'd give that about 30cm at a stretch. I reackon mine is more like 60cm. Just the body is easily the width of my shoulders, which are about 55cm, then you have the tail. Sorry mate but I reackon my Leatherjacket is heaps bigger. (Nice try though)

Agree with u there andy......

30cm! Far out, you are generous mate!!! :) I was thinking more along 10cm tops. hehehe.

Hey Adam I was thinking (that must be 200 lb jinkai he's using for it to be bigger than 20cm, what the?) Only reference point I had really, You were probably using 10 lb whiting gear more like it .

Had me going there for a while. (What's the State record for Leatheries? Anyone know?)

WA State record is as follows: We just have to identify which type of Leatherjacket it is to see if I was close.

Leatherjacket, Blue-Lined Meuschenia galii 0.560 kg Jason Pember Fish Creek 7 October 1990
Leatherjacket, Chinaman Nelusetta ayraudi 3.500 kg Tom French Rottnest Wide 29 October 1980
Leatherjacket, Fan-Bellied Monacanthus chinensis 0.448 kg John Bray Lancelin 16 February 1994
Leatherjacket, Horseshoe Meuschenia hippocrepis 1.709 kg Geoff Lefroy Walpole Wide 30 March 1986
Leatherjacket, Rough Scobinichthys granulatus 0.584 kg Henry Boogaard Ocean Reef 4 January 1987
Leatherjacket, Six-Spined Meuschenia freycineti 2.710 kg Carlo Bordi Ocean Reef Wide 17 April 1981
Leatherjacket, Spiny-Tailed Bigener brownii 0.319 kg Stephen Small Little Island 30 March 1991
Leatherjacket, Toothbrush Penicipelta vittiger 0.279 kg les Brooker Little Island 7 June 1992
Leatherjacket, Unicorn Aluterus monoceros 0.473 kg Peter Otway Alkimos Wreck 4 June 1989

Now all we gotta do is match the colours/fish to the species, coz I have no idea which ones are which. .0279kg for a state record, I reckon my little blighter could almost have gone close if it was the right species :)

I reackon its a 6 spined leatherjacket because there are 6 spines at the base of the tail. If this is true then I would say I went pretty close. The fish identification sites say it grows to a maximun size of 60cm, so this would have to be up there with a chance. 2.7kg is pretty big though so I wish I had weighed it in hindsight. The state record was caught off Ocean Reef as well. Maybe there are quite a few big ones out there. I remember catching a 50cm one that I have a pic of sitting on the esky with a ruler for proof, but that one was smaller than this one.

Ah well, next time I might just check the big ones of the smaller species to see how close I came.

Heres another monster that will compete.. lol..

[img_assist|fid=16816|thumb=0|alt=Leathery|caption=snapback or a leatherjacket]

i'm sure mav/brendan might have some pictures of some big ones ;)

heres some from last november.
http://fishwrecked.com/files/images/leather.preview.JPG

(gotta compare it with the size of my feet, sorry.. the skippy were about maybe.. 5-6kg? the biggest)

Pump iron to drop iron!

6 spined for sure

me and my old man have caught them around 60 - 70 cms over east at a place called coalcliffe south of sydney.......on cunjevoi(best bait off the rocks over there) in 20 mtrs of water with a flat bottom and f**k are they great to eat....one of the best fish i would say....
he who dies with the most toys wins

We got one Satdy morning that went 70 cm , seen bigger but havn't got any pics in the pooter of them .

______________________________________________________

Strap yourself in , and feel the GGGGG's

The lying scumbag that I am .