What fish is this???

[Shafty1]

Caught on a lure in the freshwater reaches of the Mulgrave River south of Cairns. Looks like a sleepy cod but has striking colours. Any ideas???

[fishphile]

Used to catch heaps of those in the Alice river and Ross river up in Townsville and I always called them for sleepy cod. Could be mistaken though. The smaller ones have amazing colours but tend to lose them as they grow bigger.

Dave.

[Shafty1]

Another shot

[Shafty1]

Thanks Dave.

We were nearly right. Managed to dig up my Grant' s and it's a Snake headed Gudgeon - no picture supplied but it's described as orange bellied...with two or three dull red stripes cross the cheeks and gill covers. The fins are edged in red, the tail spotted in yellow. Listed in the book just under the Sleepy Cod and only grows to 900g. Did you get yours on lure or bait?

[fishphile]

Lure, Fly and bait. Used to stalk them in the pools of the Alice with the fly rod and catch some monsters which I guess were sleepys in the Ross on Barra lures. Snake headed Gudgeon eh? I caught one just on a kilo once and fried it up, It was delicious!!! Always thought they were juvenile Sleepys but there you go.

Cheers Dave.

[fisher28]

that is a snake head gudgeon,ive had them in fish tanks before.