ULTIMATE ANGLING - the Ultimate SA Fishing website

References, Databases and Records => Fish Species Database & Fish ID => Topic started by: REEFMAN on June 27, 2010, 12:37:42 PM

Title: KING MACKEREL; COUTA
Post by: REEFMAN on June 27, 2010, 12:37:42 PM

Couta
(http://africanaquatics.co.za/FISHING/Fishing%20stuff/FISH%20ID/FISH%20ID/MACKEREL%20-KING.jpg)

Title: Re: KING MACKEREL; COUTA
Post by: John F on February 04, 2011, 10:48:21 PM

A few of my fav pics of couta....

Title: Re: KING MACKEREL; COUTA
Post by: John F on June 20, 2013, 09:54:22 PM

(http://www.ultimateangling.co.za/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=14320.0;attach=86552;image)

                                                       Couta age-length curve. From Govender, 1992.


Reference:
Govender, A. (1992). Biology and population dynamics of the king mackerel (Scomberomorus commerson, Lacèpede, 1800) off the coast of Natal. MSc thesis, 117 pp. Durban, University of Natal.

Title: Re: KING MACKEREL; COUTA
Post by: dugong on June 21, 2013, 08:07:32 AM

Also known as a 'Kingfish' in the US and most parts of the world, in Mozambique callea a 'Serra'
This is what a 34.5 kg couta looks like and "serrated"

Gonna catch me one tomorrow!! :rck"

Title: Re: KING MACKEREL; COUTA
Post by: Cam Mundy on June 21, 2013, 09:12:17 AM

The ones we get in the Gulf are Narrow Banded kingfish slightly different to the ones back home they seem to grow bigger though and are just as tasty so no complaints!

Title: Re: KING MACKEREL; COUTA
Post by: John F on June 25, 2013, 09:33:37 AM

IUCN RedList Category & Criteria: Near Threatened ver 3.1

Title: Re: KING MACKEREL; COUTA
Post by: ENGELSMAN on June 25, 2013, 02:04:41 PM

they get big at inhaca as well  :hnthnt:

Title: Re: KING MACKEREL; COUTA
Post by: ENGELSMAN on June 25, 2013, 02:06:25 PM

another

Title: Re: KING MACKEREL; COUTA
Post by: ENGELSMAN on June 25, 2013, 02:07:34 PM

These 3 fish were 20.2kg/20.00kg and 17.3kgcaught may this year at Inhaca.

Title: Re: KING MACKEREL; COUTA
Post by: jaenswart on July 14, 2013, 04:52:33 PM

Just more details about those 2 monster couta aka narrow barred. They ended up officially at 44kg and 56kg

The fish were caught off the Sunshine Coast in South East Queensland by an old friend of mine. The reef that they were caught at is called the Inner Gneerings. It is an area where a lot of big fish have been caught over the years and up until this fish(56kg/123lbs) was caught the heaviest fish I had heard of being caught there was 50kg/110lbs. The 110 pounder was caught there about 35 years a go by a local here referred to as "Mr Mackerel" and all the old fellas that speak of it all talk in pounds as they all grew up in a time before we had the metric system here in Australia. Our fishing techniques here are widely varied, as I am sure yours are over there,but these fish were caught slow trolling large Yellowtail Scad.

(http://i448.photobucket.com/albums/qq201/ScottyBw/iphone027_zps60bc72e0.jpg)


ref: kingfishconnection

Title: Re: KING MACKEREL; COUTA
Post by: carll on July 17, 2013, 06:53:31 PM

Mamma Mia !  those are monster couta's !!

Title: Re: KING MACKEREL; COUTA
Post by: super_daav on January 11, 2014, 09:04:12 AM

Jeez some bus couta there!

Title: Re: KING MACKEREL; COUTA
Post by: Bwana on January 12, 2014, 11:59:55 AM

Those are some BUS couta! Makes my eyes water, would love a shot at one of those. The biggest couta I've personally witnessed is this monster of 41kg caught in the Transkei two years ago to win the Shelly Beach Festival 2012. The guys on the boat Rya Mara caught it and reckoned at one point in the fight they nearly cut it away as they thought it was a shark!  :shk . In the pic I am 1.75m tall so that gives you an indication of the sheer size of this beast. It was at the scales next to a 26kg couta and it looked as if the 26kg would fit easily into this fish's mouth!!!

Title: Re: KING MACKEREL; COUTA
Post by: jaenswart on January 20, 2014, 08:28:26 PM

Commercial capture of narrow-barred mackerel in tonnes from 1950 to 2009

(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c8/Fisheries_capture_of_Scomberomorus_commerson.png/800px-Fisheries_capture_of_Scomberomorus_commerson.png)

Title: Re: KING MACKEREL; COUTA
Post by: Gerhard on January 10, 2015, 04:02:28 PM

Ok guys who have hunted and caught those crock couta in the past.


What is the best water temp to hunt them...


Water temp here has started falling to just below 19C and I expext it to drop to around 17.5C by month end.


Do the Couta still hang around in this temprature or do they follow warmer water of say 19C?

Title: Re: KING MACKEREL; COUTA
Post by: dugong on January 11, 2015, 07:39:01 PM

Generally a bit warmer but in winter you get them on the south coast  here in 19-20 deg, in the States they also fish for them in 20-23deg water but they are much smaller fish, I would imagine that 17.5 is a bit too cold?

Title: Re: KING MACKEREL; COUTA
Post by: SAfish on January 11, 2015, 08:57:51 PM

Gerhard, the only way to find out is to go and throw some lures!  :hehe: :tite

Title: Re: KING MACKEREL; COUTA
Post by: John F on November 23, 2016, 05:42:47 PM

Thought I'd share this croc caught this past weekend in Bilene. I'm sure the anglers don't mind sharing it here (it's pretty much all over social media anyway!)...

Reported weight 37 kg!

Title: Re: KING MACKEREL; COUTA
Post by: REEFMAN on April 21, 2017, 07:02:12 AM

Thank you EduOceans for these interesting facts about king   mackerel/couta.

To date there have been 1356 king mackerel tagged on the   ORI Tagging Project. Of these, 54 have been recaptured. The average   distance moved by recaptured fish was 405 km, with one adult moving 1552   km from Bazaruto to Port Edward. Such recaptures confirm the highly   migratory behaviour of these extremely fast growing fish. Remember,   although this species does not have a minimum size limit they do have a   daily bag limit of 10 fish per person per day. "Don’t catch your limit,   limit your catch”

Title: Re: KING MACKEREL; COUTA
Post by: Timothy Scriven on April 29, 2017, 11:48:31 AM

 The one fish species i really miss catching.