Talter Bass

[michael_cb_125]

Good afternoon everyone.
I have always had a fascination with deepwater reef species. I have been fortunate enough to keep many deepwater species, of which bass and basslet are my favorites.

As well as keeping marine tanks, I am also an avid offshore fisherman/spearfisherman.

I am located in NC.

On the last few trips we have been deep drop fishing in 300 to 1600 feet of water. We are pulling up some amazing large good eating fish, but the aquarist in me wants to know what smaller species are on our offshore reefs.

Well, on the last trip we changed over to tiny little hooks and dropped into 400 feet of water. We pulled up several tatler bass (Serranus phoebe). This is a species that I have seen available in Japan for large sums of money, and I fish that I have had interest in for quite some time. I plan to attempt to bring one of these guys home alive. Decompression is a huge issue at this depth, and the 4 we caught on our last trip were suffering from extreme barotrama. My plan next time is to use an electric reel, and bring the fish up at an extremely slow rate, hoping the wahoo, cudas and sharks do not eat it. At that point needling may still be necessary, and I am comfortable doing this.

We are also picking up some amazing wrasse and scorpions, which would need larger systems. I have had several red snapper puke up Banks Butterflyfish (P. aya) as well. God I would love to catch one of those. I have three in the past and they were amazing fish.

Just a random post about some neat fish that most folks don't know are right here on the east coast.

Here is a list of "aquarium" fish we either catch or see on camera at depth:

Spanish Hogs
Cuban Hogs
Wrasse Bass
Banks Butterfly
Fourspot butterfly
Blue angels
French angels
Queen angels
Random Toby puffers
More wrasse species than I can count
More lionfish that you would ever image.
and the holy grail Longfin Bass (Hemanthias leptus), which are generally at depths off 800 feet or more.

 

[michael_cb_125]

I don't have any photos of the tatlers, but here is a scorpionfish from 320 feet of water.

 

[SteveMM62Reef]

Have you checked the tide pools and back bays during the Fall when the water cools? I’ve found tropical reef fish there, back in the late 80’s and early 90’s. They are easy catching as the water temperatures have slowed them down. Also I found tropical reef fish in the Fall around Cherrystone, VA.

 

[michael_cb_125]

We regularly find lookdowns, juvenile angelfish, sargassum fish, and many others during mid to late Sept. We also find purple and black tube anemones with tube the diameter of your forearm. Octopus, arrow crabs, non comensal pistol shrimp, mantis, etc.
My coolest find yet from inshore was a juvenile Popeye

 

[i cant think]

Dang, you guys in tropical climates get some amazing animals show up.
The only two coolest things I’ve found over here in a rock pool were a Corkwing Wrasse and a Longspine Sea-Scorpion.
I don’t have any photos of these species however here’s a couple from a simple search.

Absolutely love some of the life we get but in most cases it’s not as exquisite as what you get over in places such as Australia/Indonesia, the Florida Keys/Caribbean, Japan ect… Most commonly found are what we know of as Shannys (Although I think that’s only used over here and most other places call them the Common Blenny), Rock Gobies and Common Gobies.
I would love to go rockpooling again and its definitely on the to-do list. Some animals you can find are so intriguing and surprising - sometimes I wish I went for a native tank with cold water so I could have my own Longspine Sea-Scorp.

 

[michael_cb_125]

I am located in North Carolina, specifically I fish in the northern Onslow Bay. This is an amazing amazing for marine diversity. We literally have everything from tropicals to cold water species, and everything between. Ultimately it just depends on the time of year and how the Gulfstream is behaving.
We also have one of the largest, if not the largest deepwater coral systems in the world.
The Lophelia Coral Banks are located about 80 miles from my beach. They start at 900 feet and extend deeper.

Our shallow water (40 to 350 feet) corals are primarily non photo gorgonians, and are just am amazing as anything in even the Red Sea.

We are really starting to explore the deep water here in NC, if there is interest I will start a Thread on this subject. I know it is not totally aquarium related, but some may find interest.

 

[michael_cb_125]

*not my photo*

This is a species that may peak some interest.
We have yet to find a male such as this, but I know they are there, as females are found in the bellies of grouper we catch.

Can you imagine this fish in a display!!!

On a side note, gutting the bottomfish that we keep is what made me very interested in the smaller species. You never know what is in the belly of a hungery snapper or grouper.

 

[CC_N]

What deepwater fish exactly have you gotten and how did you get em

 

[Dburr1014]

Good afternoon everyone.
I have always had a fascination with deepwater reef species. I have been fortunate enough to keep many deepwater species, of which bass and basslet are my favorites.

As well as keeping marine tanks, I am also an avid offshore fisherman/spearfisherman.

I am located in NC.

On the last few trips we have been deep drop fishing in 300 to 1600 feet of water. We are pulling up some amazing large good eating fish, but the aquarist in me wants to know what smaller species are on our offshore reefs.

Well, on the last trip we changed over to tiny little hooks and dropped into 400 feet of water. We pulled up several tatler bass (Serranus phoebe). This is a species that I have seen available in Japan for large sums of money, and I fish that I have had interest in for quite some time. I plan to attempt to bring one of these guys home alive. Decompression is a huge issue at this depth, and the 4 we caught on our last trip were suffering from extreme barotrama. My plan next time is to use an electric reel, and bring the fish up at an extremely slow rate, hoping the wahoo, cudas and sharks do not eat it. At that point needling may still be necessary, and I am comfortable doing this.

We are also picking up some amazing wrasse and scorpions, which would need larger systems. I have had several red snapper puke up Banks Butterflyfish (P. aya) as well. God I would love to catch one of those. I have three in the past and they were amazing fish.

Just a random post about some neat fish that most folks don't know are right here on the east coast.

Here is a list of "aquarium" fish we either catch or see on camera at depth:

Spanish Hogs
Cuban Hogs
Wrasse Bass
Banks Butterfly
Fourspot butterfly
Blue angels
French angels
Queen angels
Random Toby puffers
More wrasse species than I can count
More lionfish that you would ever image.
and the holy grail Longfin Bass (Hemanthias leptus), which are generally at depths off 800 feet or more.

@Jay Hemdal had a DIY pressure chamber he had made. May want to talk to him. Instead of fighting off sharks at a slow rate maybe drop the fish in a chamber? IDK?
Cool fish, anyway.