ESTUARY perch are often described by some anglers as “the barra of the south”. To aficionados of real barramundi in northern Australia that may seem like a stretch but hear me out. There are lots of similarities, and us southerners can’t always afford to be fussy!
Like barra, estuary perch (Percalates colonorum) are aggressive top order predators and implosion feeders, they have a scooped forehead with upward facing eyes, and attack a range of lures and baits with gusto. Not only that they are a solid, handsome, shiny fish that hit and fight hard and happily occupy a variety of different habitats from freshwater to saltwater. To top it off they are great on the plate, although personally I haven’t killed one for decades… they’re far too good to catch just once. Sounds just like a barra, right?
SIZE AND RANGE
One area in which estuary perch, also know colloquially as
