# Mystery Fish



## Surf Fish (Dec 16, 2005)

Take a largemouth bass. Make his head twice as big as it should be. Make his mouth big enuff so he can swallow himself. Move his eyes real close together on the top of his head, and make them little beady eyes. Spray paint him brown....

Give him a few sharp teeth. Make his top and side fins huge, and color the fins with black/white stripes.

Anybody got any idea what kind of fish that is? I can't find one in Fishbase, but RR caught one the other day.


----------



## Railroader (Apr 13, 2005)

His tail was almost perfectly round, and his belly was white. I can't find the danged fish anywhere on the web...

Some kind of puffer? Maybe some sort of stargazer, with little beady eyes on top of the head???


----------



## Fisheadgib (Jan 7, 2006)

Sounds like a sea robin.


----------



## b3butner (Oct 1, 2003)

Frankinfish


----------



## Onelastcast (Apr 1, 2006)

It's a Troll!


----------



## Newsjeff (Jul 22, 2004)

> Make his head twice as big as it should be. Make his mouth big enuff so he can swallow himself. Move his eyes real close together on the top of his head, and make them little beady eyes.


He caught Shooter!!!!

http://www.pierandsurf.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=444&d=1150335992


----------



## Sendah (Mar 16, 2005)

*Definitely a Stargazer...*

At least maybe definitely...One of these? They bury themselves underneath the sand waiting for any hapless victim...Y'all weren't flounder fishing by chance, were y'all? I've got my own techniques on how to catch 'em. They shock you, like people say, but I've caught hundreds and no more shock than one of those gag gifts. Taste real good too...


----------



## oOMPHOo (Dec 14, 2005)

Well...here is the first salt water fish I ever caught.....I almost quit right then and there.


----------



## jettypark28 (Jun 23, 2006)

*Heh, heh*

It funny when tourist catch those toad fish, and i alway go " OH my God, That's a rare Great brown Motherlaw fish....Watch out they spit poop"" Then i go over and take it off for them. And tell them i was just messing I will grab almost everything...but i hate touching those thing for some reason:--| But everyone love to come and look at them. So i guess they have a purpose...heh heh


----------



## Surf Fish (Dec 16, 2005)

Sendah said:


> At least maybe definitely...One of these? They bury themselves underneath the sand waiting for any hapless victim...Y'all weren't flounder fishing by chance, were y'all? I've got my own techniques on how to catch 'em. They shock you, like people say, but I've caught hundreds and no more shock than one of those gag gifts. Taste real good too...
> [/IMG]


Yep, we were flounder fishing with mud minnows. Definitly looks like it was some kind of stargazer, FishBase lists a bunch of different ones in the U.S. but doesn't have many picutres.

Your picture looks close.

This is interesting:

"Inhabits silty, sandy, or rubble bottoms (Ref. 9710). Feeds on fishes (Ref. 13628). Possesses electric organs located in a specialized pouch behind the eyes. Can discharge up to 50 volts (Ref. 10576).The electric organ discharge (EOD) rate depends on the temperature: about 500 Hz at 35°C and 50 Hz at 15°C (corresponding to the annual temperature range of the habitat of this species) (Ref. 10011). "

Should have put him in the bait bucket, maybe he'd charge the batteries in the bubbler


----------



## Sendah (Mar 16, 2005)

*Yep...*

Believe it or not, I fish for 'em with my hands. J'ever go to the beach and step on something that wiggled like crazy and then you freaked out and jumped? Probably a stargazer. Once you get used to the initial scare, you can actually grab them with your hands from under your foot. People'll say that they'll shock the heck out of you, but it's not bad. Trust me. I posted something about it a while back. Meat's like flounder, however after you cut off that head, there's not much meat left.


----------



## Railroader (Apr 13, 2005)

Yep, Sendah, that was him! Thanks for the pic....The knowledge on this site never ceases to amaze....


----------



## rhorm (Mar 25, 2005)

A lot of those suckers (southern stargazers) washed up here around Bonita Beach due to a very weak red tide. I guess they die easy.


----------



## Shooter (Nov 14, 2004)

Newsjeff said:


> He caught Shooter!!!!
> 
> http://www.pierandsurf.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=444&d=1150335992


Jeff's just mad cause we wouldn't let him paddle out on his blow up doll *Rotondra* :--| when we went yak fishing


----------



## KodiakZach (Mar 16, 2005)

Wow, I've seen and caught a lot of fish, including weird rare fish like a guitarfish, but I've never even heard of a stargazer. Now I have a new fish to try and catch for my list


----------



## jettypark28 (Jun 23, 2006)

*caught*

it before...but i alway heard the same thing,it will shock the crap out of you......and i hate anything that shock!!! I will stick to eating to eating flounders and even blues...before i try this...and i don't know about the rest of you but if i step on anything and it moves why i am wading....I come out of my shoes and if it shocks me.......they may have to come get me floating belly up....LOL...I step on a ray once (a big one) and you would have thought a great white was coming after me, the way i came flying out of the water....that did it for my wading days...oh i still do it...knee high and i look like i am mining for gold with my feet


----------



## Rockstar (Jun 23, 2004)

I musta caught the mother of all stargazers at Lynnhaven inlet this past fall... I was striper fishing with a 6in" storm shad when I thought I had snagged up, all a sudden the snag came to life. It reburied itself 2-3 more times in the surf but I eventually got it in... probably weighed 3-4lbs... the thing had jaws built like a brick $hithouse. After trying to convince my friend to tickle his head, I tossed it back. A guy next to me asked what it was, then informed me I tossed back a great meal.  All yah do is chop off his head, pull the bone, skin, and cook it up like yah would tog or monkfish.


----------



## sinker man (Jun 16, 2006)

They certainly are good eating but I didn't know there were enough of them around to target specifically. I can't remember being shocked by one, other than the sight of the first one I caught. Personally I think they should be returned to their homes alive so me and sendah will have some good eating now and then


----------



## barty b (Dec 31, 2004)

Nassau sound is full of those things,get one about every flounder trip,Are they really good to eat or ya'll just BS'n,cuz,I'll try anything,once.


----------

