BARRAMUNDI (AKA GIANT PERCH, ASIAN SEA BASS)

Most people’s experience of this fish will be on a plate as they are commonly seen in live tanks at almost every seafood restaurant in Thailand!  However, Barramundi are a superb sport fish and despite its name, can be fished for and caught in fresh and salt water environments.  Being part of the perch family, the Barramundi has an impressive armory with spiked dorsal and ventral fins and a razor sharp serrated flap protecting the gills so careful handling is required.

Our Barramundi were only stocked recently, in part to help manage the population of rasbora and silver barb.  While they have been hooked they have always managed to cut lines with their amazing aerial acrobatics and sharp gill plates: as with tarpon and the african arowana anglers need to keep their lines tight and anticipate any jumps by getting their rod tips down.  They can often be seen cruising the top 1m of water around the aerators where the small baitfish hang out so a small (2”-3”) live or deadbait under a float at shallow depth certainly attracts attention while traditional bottom ledger rigs with small weights and small deadbaits will also attract bites.