- Hephaestus fuliginosus
Overview[]
Also known as Black Bream or Honey Perch
Common Size: 500g to 1kg. Can reach up to 4kg+ in impoundments. Sooties found in the streams are more commonly 20 to 40cm in length.
Bycatch encountered when targeting sooties: Barra, Mangrove Jacks, Jungle Perch, and Tarpon.
Habitat: Sooty Grunter are found in coastal and inland freshwater rivers and stocked into dams from central Queensland, northwards and across the top end of Australia to the Kimberley region. They prefer the shallows of river banks near sunken timber and snags, overhanging foliage, corners in banks and holes and are usually found schooling in these areas.
Fighting Qualities: Sooties are a hard fighter offering good sport on light tackle.
Tackle[]
Lures[]
Minnows, Soft Plastics, and Poppers up to about 65 to 75mm.
Rod/Reel[]
1500 size overhead reels or 2500 size spinning reels with 4kg mono for open areas and amongst the sticks light Barra gear.