Butterfish movements/habits....
Printed From: The Fishing Website
Category: Diving
Forum Name: Spearo's Corner
Forum Description: Free-divers & spearos chat about their sport
URL: https://www.fishing.net.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=22162
Printed Date: 28 Jul 2026 at 12:44pm
Topic: Butterfish movements/habits....
Posted By: Mtn Breeze
Subject: Butterfish movements/habits....
Date Posted: 30 Jul 2007 at 6:28pm
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I've been out a few times over the last few weeks in the usual local spots after the usual local species(Butterfish,Moki,crays and paua)and I don't think I've seen one legal-length butter(heaps of juveniles though).This in spots that other times of the year hold truckloads of them.Anyone shed some light on their annual habits/movements etc,if any??
ps - re. crays.......went out two days ago in great conditions(4-6 metre viz.Yeh,yeh,I know......that's crap viz for you N.I. fellas but superb down here)and got onto quite a few bugs.Managed to haul out about 12 or so and bugger me,eleven of them were in berry.DON'T YA HATE THAT !!!! ------------- www.wildnaturenewzealand.co.nz" rel="nofollow - http://www.wildnaturenewzealand.co.nz |
Replies:
Posted By: Nick.
Date Posted: 30 Jul 2007 at 6:51pm
| All the crays I pulled out on Saturday were in berry too, no fish in shore in the Bay of Plenty, heaps of bait fish but didnt see a single JD, moki, kingi or snapper in 3 hrs. |
Posted By: herby
Date Posted: 30 Jul 2007 at 7:02pm
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Sometimes its not even worth trying for crays when theyre like that eh, the damage you must do to them compared to the reward... Ever tried crayfish caviar?
Dunno bout down there, but the butterfish up here seem to stay put year round.
Maybe I'm being narrow minded but they're a reef fish so where could they go? Try looking round the next point or something? Seems to be bigger groups of them this time of year so that would mean less in areas they would normally be dispersed through and big aggregations where you would normally find one or two. e.g., if you dont find an aggregation you dont find any? Once you find a group go hardnuts. boom boom boom.
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Posted By: ThomasW
Date Posted: 30 Jul 2007 at 7:53pm
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I only saw 1 legal size butterfish on my last trip down to Kaikouria. Visibility was good and the sea was calm. They are normally numerous down there.
Been too big of a whimp to go diving lately. Waiting for the weather to warm up a bit. I have heard from a commercial fishermen that butterfish show up in numbers at a certain time of year... but forgotten the details. They might go off to spawn? |
Posted By: Andrew
Date Posted: 30 Jul 2007 at 8:08pm
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was out stephens passage/island area on sat nailed a nice 2kg butter along with some nice turkeys and other usual fish. ------------- www.projectlocal.co.nz Everything fishing,scuba diving and spearfishing in New Zealand. |
Posted By: S.O.T
Date Posted: 30 Jul 2007 at 8:48pm
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Went out to Mana Island today and saw 2 very small butters. Usually this place holds a number of different species but there was absolutely zilch today. Maybe the've gone to deeper water as the shallows (3 - 15 meters) cool right down??? Or maybe we just couldn't spot anything in the 3 meter vis! We did dive another location a few weeks back , and like Herby stated, there were 2 bays with nothing in sight (which usually contain fish)and then we moved into another and there was tons there... Winter mystery.
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Posted By: oldfela
Date Posted: 30 Jul 2007 at 9:02pm
| you have to rember that they are a reef fish and you can only shoot them once, you should spread your hunting out over a larger area , you may not be the only diver hunting the area , be lides this I think our mainland butters move around a bit in the winter, or when the tide is not runingthey are feeding in the weed aor hid up under rocks etc ,have a good look around and you will find them |
Posted By: herby
Date Posted: 30 Jul 2007 at 9:06pm
A fish you can only shoot once? No. Never... 
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Posted By: herby
Date Posted: 30 Jul 2007 at 9:10pm
| Oh yeah saw a pair of your fins the other day tunahunter, good lookin pieces of footwear. Might have to treat myself in the not too distant future! Would they fit in nemo pockets? |
Posted By: oldfela
Date Posted: 30 Jul 2007 at 9:17pm
| yes they will fit nemo,s as long as you can get the rusted bolt undone, what fins did you see |
Posted By: herby
Date Posted: 30 Jul 2007 at 9:21pm
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Super snoopers. That crappy rusty metal drives me nuts, youd think the ammount of effort it takes to test and then manufacture a fin blade like a nemo, a stainless screw would be a natural choice? |
Posted By: oldfela
Date Posted: 30 Jul 2007 at 9:29pm
| I have s/s cap scews to replace these , my latest fins are supper shiney smooth and allmost clear with the sea weed camo lay into it , |
Posted By: long john
Date Posted: 30 Jul 2007 at 9:33pm
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Gaz is there any way to get the blades see-thru like omer ice fins or does glass always have a colour to it? I know this sounds dumb but i remember clear fiberglas corro for roofing from back in the day ------------- Proud member of the Glen Innes Spearfishing Club |
Posted By: long john
Date Posted: 30 Jul 2007 at 9:45pm
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as far as berried crays; at this time of year, just look at the forelegs and only go for the males, the reason being that more than half the crays with only one leg broken off will die.
------------- Proud member of the Glen Innes Spearfishing Club |
Posted By: oldfela
Date Posted: 30 Jul 2007 at 9:48pm
| I will let you know soon as i,m going to lay some up as clears they should be 99% clear. the camo seaweed one you can see the pink of your hand through the fin ,so with out the photo they should be clear , |
Posted By: Diver Dan
Date Posted: 30 Jul 2007 at 9:49pm
| Butterfish at this time of year do seem to head deeper in the south. Not sure if it spawning though as they tend to be serial spawners, spawning through much of the year. Go and have a latte instead |
Posted By: oldfela
Date Posted: 30 Jul 2007 at 9:51pm
| LJ I did not realise you were that old |
Posted By: oldfela
Date Posted: 30 Jul 2007 at 9:55pm
| all the butterfish hens that I got on saturday were heavey in row,and in shallow but all the big ones were all together,and took a bit of finding , small ones every were |
Posted By: ThomasW
Date Posted: 30 Jul 2007 at 10:58pm
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males occur in deeper waters than females. Consequently, sex ratios vary with locality, but females often outnumber males.
The spawning season extends from July to March in Cook Strait, peaking in September-October. The spawning season in southern New Zealand appears to be shorter, likely August to January, peaking in October-January. Postlarvae quickly settle out from the plankton. The only information on movement relates to feeding behaviour involving small-scale movements within seaweed beds. There is no information on movement along the coastline within a weed-bed habitat, or potentially longer migration between such habitats separated by open coast. However, the latter seems unlikely on any substantial scale, and butterfish populations are probably quite localised. Source: http://services.fish.govt.nz/fishresourcespublic/Plenary2006/BUT_06.pdf - http://services.fish.govt.nz/fishresourcespublic/Plenary2006/BUT_06.pdf |
Posted By: Paul G
Date Posted: 31 Jul 2007 at 8:09am
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Most of the time you can see the hump in the tail of crays with eggs. Just take a look before you grab them.
LJ: what do you look for on the fore legs?
How do you guys prepare butterfish? Have tried them a couple of times (probably fried in butter) but not so keen.
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Posted By: herby
Date Posted: 31 Jul 2007 at 8:22am
I cant answer for what LJ looks at but you can tell from the proportions of the front legs usually if a cray is male or female. Males have proportionally larger front legs, see pics below::
 Above is a female with its wussy front legs, whereas the one below is a boy. Look at his guns.
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Posted By: Andrew
Date Posted: 31 Jul 2007 at 2:23pm
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butterfish is quite a soft fillet crumbles easy,i've used it in thai currys,fryed and cooked in sour cream wine and garlic sauce,all very nice.aslo eaten a large amount raw ------------- www.projectlocal.co.nz Everything fishing,scuba diving and spearfishing in New Zealand. |
Posted By: Phil G
Date Posted: 01 Aug 2007 at 9:57am
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If I'm looking for Butterfish and I see some little ones, that is a sure sign that the bigger ones are not too far away. It is just a matter of carefully searching around (without blowing your cover). The smaller ones are often in the shallower exposed areas and the bigger tend to be a bit deeper. (there are heaps of generalisations here). Often as said earlier that they are all spooning in an area or gut killing time, that is the best time to get them. The tide or time of day can effect where they are which could explain why they are there one day and not the next. My guess they are there somewhere its a matter of hunting them. |
Posted By: DeKay
Date Posted: 05 Aug 2007 at 10:28am
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Thanks Herby! I used your advice on Friday while cray gathering and it worked a treat. I took 5 males and did not touch a single female after looking at the legs for identification. Thanks again  Damien |
Posted By: long john
Date Posted: 05 Aug 2007 at 7:37pm
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Ah, good on ya deek. Herbys pics are spot on. Just saves a lot of unhappy girls. O.K, I'm off to hug a tree now... ------------- Proud member of the Glen Innes Spearfishing Club |
Posted By: Mtn Breeze
Date Posted: 18 Aug 2007 at 8:37pm
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FOUND SOME!!!!!.........Jase and I went back over the 'Port' today and finally managed to get onto some 'winter butterfish'.....in bulk!!!! And in only two metres.Very,very localised pockets of them.So much so that of the nine I twacked,seven of them were from an area between two huge rocks about the size of an average sized bedroom.Also bagged couple of Moki,Paua and a cray.
ROLL ON SUMMER, I SAY !!!!
------------- www.wildnaturenewzealand.co.nz" rel="nofollow - http://www.wildnaturenewzealand.co.nz |
Posted By: oldfela
Date Posted: 18 Aug 2007 at 9:29pm
| what was the vis like at the port, we,re going tomorrow |
Posted By: Mtn Breeze
Date Posted: 18 Aug 2007 at 9:49pm
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Hi Gary. Whites Bay was crud,Robin hood a couple of metres and over the other side and just out the front(up towards Robinson's point)was 3-5 metres.Water was 10-11 degrees.Good luck!! ------------- www.wildnaturenewzealand.co.nz" rel="nofollow - http://www.wildnaturenewzealand.co.nz |
Posted By: Andrew
Date Posted: 18 Aug 2007 at 10:14pm
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looks like it's going to be nice too, dam bronchitis sucks.
here's some nice fish from the other weekend  ------------- www.projectlocal.co.nz Everything fishing,scuba diving and spearfishing in New Zealand. |
Posted By: ThomasW
Date Posted: 18 Aug 2007 at 10:40pm
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I was planning on going diving (atleast fishing) this weekend. But I installed and started playing Heroes of Might and Magic III. Been playing constantly today and have no idea where the time went.
Last time I played that game was probably 10 years ago and I think I played it so much that I made myself vulnerable to a flu. I was dreaming about it in bed. But because of the flu I got out of school and had a 7 days of constant playing. So tomorow I have to decide Game vs fish 
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Posted By: Mtn Breeze
Date Posted: 18 Aug 2007 at 10:46pm
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No contest,Mily......get out there...get wet...freeze your zangers off...and twack something!!!! ------------- www.wildnaturenewzealand.co.nz" rel="nofollow - http://www.wildnaturenewzealand.co.nz |
Posted By: DeKay
Date Posted: 19 Aug 2007 at 3:21pm
I have a chest infection and civ4 kept me up till 3am saturday so no diving for me at the moment.
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Posted By: ThomasW
Date Posted: 19 Aug 2007 at 7:48pm
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I checked out Ocean bay today. Visibility ranged from a poor 2m to a good 3m. Inside the bay itself the sea was nice and calm but it was like a washing machine on the coast.
Saw quite a few small butters, a couple of Moki, heaps of Paua and I finally discovered where the crays were hiding. Although did not get any. In saying the above, I played my game all morning :D and would play a bit more tonight. civ4 is suppose to be a good game, Civ I and II were exceptional games. My brother did (or atleast helped with) the AI programming on the Civ4 expansion pack. |
Posted By: Mtn Breeze
Date Posted: 19 Aug 2007 at 8:20pm
How'd you get on there Gary???
------------- www.wildnaturenewzealand.co.nz" rel="nofollow - http://www.wildnaturenewzealand.co.nz |
tunahunter wrote:Posted By: oldfela
Date Posted: 19 Aug 2007 at 8:56pm
| just got home , had a good day vis only3-5 meters got some good terrys,butters ,moki ,paua mussel and crays so came home with a good feed , water was bloody cold , big roll out side this morning but droped of as the day progressed, the re were **** loads of good paua,s every were , the commerail boys carnt have been there for a while |
Posted By: Mtn Breeze
Date Posted: 19 Aug 2007 at 9:08pm
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Were you right out the front to get the Terrys? What sort of depth? I havn't seen any over the Port way before but then we don't often get very far up the coast when we do go round the corner ------------- www.wildnaturenewzealand.co.nz" rel="nofollow - http://www.wildnaturenewzealand.co.nz |
Posted By: oldfela
Date Posted: 19 Aug 2007 at 9:16pm
| the terry,s were in the port in about 9-10 meters , just burlied up for a while and in the came |
Posted By: Mtn Breeze
Date Posted: 19 Aug 2007 at 9:30pm
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Good one Gary !!! Can't say we've ever tried burley in the Port before.
------------- www.wildnaturenewzealand.co.nz" rel="nofollow - http://www.wildnaturenewzealand.co.nz |
Posted By: Bull
Date Posted: 20 Aug 2007 at 8:05am
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It's butterfish spawing time so the fish are very aggregated and in primo nick. However butters not my fav so good to see but don't bother killing them these days. Went out on weekend and it is very quiet apart for the aforementioned butters. ------------- http://www.squidfish.net/ �.��.���'�.�����'�.��.���'�.� ><((((�> |