The massive barramundi puts up one heck of a fight.
In the Land Down Under, Northern Australia's fisheries are home to some seriously impressive freshwater fish species. One of the more popular ones that you will hear Australian anglers talking about the iconic barramundi, aka: the Asian sea bass.
The barramundi fish is not just known for growing to extraordinary sizes and its ability to put up a good fight, but also as an excellent eating fish perfect for fish tacos and other dishes that are better than what you can normally buy at the grocery store.
Sometimes called the "giant perch," it looks like a ton of fun to target. Oh, and they have an excellent environmental impact from a sustainability standpoint. The angler in today's video ends up tangling with a true giant on a swim bait that any angler would be happy to land.
That looked like a ton of fun. This wild fish's name comes from the language of Australia's aboriginal people. The name is supposed to roughly translate to "large scale river fish," which seems appropriate given the jumbo size of the scales on the beast in this video. The interesting thing about the barramundi is that they are catadromous in nature. Meaning that they live in both freshwater and saltwater. When they live in rivers connected to the ocean, they often returning to coastal waters to spawn, although some may live their whole lives out at sea.
While this species is known mostly in Australia, it is also found throughout the Indo-Pacific. Barramundi can be found in Southeast Asia waters, around the Philippines, and India. As we already mentioned, this species is popular for fish meals with food services around the world utilizing their meat in their fish recipes. The barramundi has proven to be an excellent sustainable seafood species and thrives well in a farm environment. Barramundi are currently bred for market in places like Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, and even here in the United States. This species is a white fish and barramundi fillets have an excellent, buttery flavor that just about anyone is sure to enjoy. We often hear this species recommended for people who are not fans of fish with a stronger taste to them. Try them with some olive oil and black pepper.
In case you were wondering about the sizes of these fish, the all-tackle world record as recognized by the IGFA is a whopping 98 pounds, 6 ounces, caught on Lake Monduran in Queensland, Australia in December 2010. Eco-friendly, a tough fighter, and great tasting? We may just have to add a trip to Australia to target barramundi to our fishing bucket list.
For more outdoor content from Travis Smola, be sure to follow him on Twitter and check out his Geocaching and Outdoors with Travis YouTube channels.
NEXT: PETA IS NOW GOING AFTER FISHERMEN
WATCH
