The Stone Fish.

Hi there,

I went fishing for a few hours with my friend Carl, and the only fish we got was a Stone Fish. A fish that could inflict a very nasty sting...
Stone Fish have a very potent venom, in fact it is told that they are among the most venomous of all fishes.

We were fishing at Chanel Island, I was casting a lure in the hope of catching a Queenfish, when Carl, who was soaking a live bait not far from where I was standing, called me.
He was in the process of landing a Stone Fish, dragging it on the beach, wondering aloud how he was going to deal with this dangerous critter.

It was the biggest Stone Fish that I had ever seen.
It still had nearly half of the Mullet used as bait hanging out of it's mouth.
But instead of coughing up the bait as fishes usually do once landed, trying to get ride of the hook, this one was just quietly swallowing the remainder of his lunch...

Step by step, we could see the Mullet going down the mouth of this beached Stone Fish...
Carl tried to pull the Mullet and hook out, but could not, there was nothing to do, it didn't want to let go of it's meal.

Here are some photos to show you what it looked like:

Going.

Going.

Gone...

In the end Carl had to cut the line, to be able to throw the fish back in the water.

It is said that Stone Fish can stay out of the water for about 24 hours. This might explain why this one seemed more interested to consume his prey, rather than trying for an escape.

He had his priorities right.

And this was the only excitement of this short fishing outing.

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.