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Fin's Fish Guide

@finsfishguide

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Fin's Fish Guide is your fish identification app. Collect your catches and observations around the world. Download the app in your favorite appstore.

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The Atlantic Mackerel / makreel (Scomber scombrus)

• Gulls diving and water boiling? The mackerel are in
• In summer, huge schools come right up to the coast chasing sandeels and sprat
• The classic rig: a string of feathers. Cast, let it sink, jig it back
• From the rocks, a small silver spinner works just as well
• Caught one? Fish the same depth again: the school is right there
• Best at high tide, early in the morning and late in the evening

Put them on ice straight away, because mackerel spoils fast, but tastes so good.

What's the most mackerel you've ever had on one cast?

Save this one for next summer.

Identify and log your own fish with the Fin's Fish Guide app. Link in bio.

#mackerelfishing #makreel #zeevissen #northsea #finsfishguide by @finsfishguide

First collab with pro Spearfisher and capetown based guide Rex Walker @spearfish.capetown !

Rex logs his catches in the Fin's Fish Guide to keep a track record for himself and anyone who wants to learn from him. Give him a follow in the app if you know what's good for you ;) by @finsfishguide

The Amberjack is curious and swims right up to you. But shoot him badly and he'll drag you into the rocks.

• Grows up to 80 kilos
• Patrols wrecks, pinnacles and drop-offs, often in a pack
• Curious: a flasher or a strange sound brings the whole pack in
• Hang still on the drop and let him circle closer
• Aim for the spine just behind the head, and use a reel or a float line
• Be aware: in tropical waters, big ones can carry ciguatera

What's the biggest amberjack you've ever seen or caught? Drop your picture below!

Identify and log your own fish with the Fin's Fish Guide app. Link in bio.

#amberjack #ambervis #spearfishing #bluewater #finsfishguide by @finsfishguide

The Thresher shark doesn't hunt with his teeth. He hunts with a tail as long as his body: up to 3 meter!

Common thresher shark / voshaai (Alopias vulpinus)
• He herds sardines into a tight ball, then whips his tail over his head to stun them
• Almost 6 metres long, jumping clean out of the water
• Shy and harmless to divers
• Only two to four pups at a time, and threatened across much of his range

Spearfishers: keep the gun down. Log the sighting in the app instead.

Have you ever seen a thresher? Where?

Identify and log your own fish with the Fin's Fish Guide app. Link in bio.

#threshershark #voshaai #freediving #sharkconservation #finsfishguide by @finsfishguide

Anglers from all over Europe have a nickname for Amsterdam: Zanderdam. This fish is the reason.

Have you fished Zanderdam yet? Which canal gave you your best zander?

Log and share your catches in the Fin's Fish Guide app. Link in bio.

#zanderfishing #snoekbaars #streetfishing #amsterdam #finsfishguide by @finsfishguide

A carp has no teeth in his mouth and no stomach. That's exactly why the bait shouldn't be on the hook.

Common carp / karper (Cyprinus carpio)
- He sucks up a mouthful of mud, sorts it by taste and blows the rest back out. His only teeth sit deep in his throat
- Hair rig: the bait hangs next to a bare hook. When he blows the bait out, the hook catches his lip
- Setup: 12 ft rod, 2.5 lb test curve, big-spool reel, nylon 0.30–0.35 mm, lead 60–100 g
- Where: close to the bank, by reed beds, overhanging trees and drop-offs. Bubbles and rocking reeds give him away
- The oldest on record was 64

Unhook him on a wet mat and slip him back. In the Netherlands a carp always goes back.

Where did you catch your first carp?

Identify and log your own fish with the Fin's Fish Guide app. Link in bio.

#carpfishing #karper #karpervissen #hairrig #finsfishguide by @finsfishguide

You've probably eaten eel. But did you know raw eel blood is toxic? The difference between poison and dinner is heat.

European eel / paling (Anguilla anguilla)
- The toxin sits in the blood. In your eyes it burns for days; swallowed raw it can mean vomiting, arrhythmia, even paralysis
- Five minutes at 60 °C destroys it, so only eat eel cooked or hot-smoked
- In the smoker that takes 1.5 to 2.5 hours, until the eel is cooked right through
- Catching one: sliding sinker rig, sturdy hook, thick worm, cast in the evening near broken rocks, reed beds or deep holes
- Critically endangered: 5–20 years in our rivers, one trip to the Sargasso Sea to spawn, then he dies

In the Netherlands every eel goes back, and you may only fish for them in fresh water.

Ever caught one by accident? Where?

Identify and log your own fish with the Fin's Fish Guide app. Link in bio.

#europeaneel #paling #eelfishing #sargassosea #finsfishguide by @finsfishguide

Orange spots don't make it a plaice. A dab has them too. Here's how to tell four flatfish apart by touch.

- Plaice / schol (Pleuronectes platessa): 4–7 small bony bumps behind the eyes
- Flounder / bot (Platichthys flesus): spiky scales along the lateral line, and a square tail
- Dab / schar (Limanda limanda): rough as sandpaper all over, lateral line arched high over the fin
- Sole / tong (Solea solea): oval, small round head, one black spot on the pectoral fin

On a dark quay, touch first: bumps, sandpaper or spikes.

Dutch minimum sizes: plaice 27 cm, sole 24 cm, flounder 20 cm.

Which one fooled you? Save this for your next session.

Identify and log your own fish with the Fin's Fish Guide app. Link in bio.

#flatfish #platvis #seafishing #noordzee #finsfishguide by @finsfishguide

That grey mullet under the pontoon is probably older than your dog.

Thick-lipped grey mullet / diklipharder (Chelon labrosus)
- Males mature at 9 years and 42 cm, females at 11 years and 47 cm (UK waters)
- A 45 cm fish may never have spawned
- He grazes algae off the walls and skims the film on the surface, which is why he ignores your bait
- Fine in brackish water: mullet even get caught in the canals of Amsterdam
- Want one? Small hook, a little piece of white bread, and chum with oatmeal
- Lives up to 25 years and reaches 70 cm

How big do mullet get in your harbour?

Identify and log your own fish with the Fin's Fish Guide app. Link in bio.

#greymullet #harder #fishing #spearfishing #finsfishguide by @finsfishguide

The Garfish has bright green bones, and people throw it away because of that. But it hasn't gone off. That's what the bones look like!

Garfish / geep (Belone belone)
- The green is biliverdin, a bile pigment, and it's completely harmless
- It's only the bones; the flesh stays white
- In Denmark it's a proper food fish
- In spring he comes into knee-deep water, and by June his eggs hang on the eelgrass by sticky threads
- He grows to 75 cm on sand eels and sprat, and he jumps when you hook him

Green bones, white meat. Would you eat it?

Identify and log your own fish with the Fin's Fish Guide app. Link in bio.

#garfish #geep #seafishing #noordzee #finsfishguide by @finsfishguide

Three hearts, blue blood, and only one summer to live. Meet the common cuttlefish.

Common cuttlefish / zeekat (Sepia officinalis)
- Two hearts feed the gills, one drives the body
- The blood runs on copper instead of iron, and that makes it blue
- The skin repaints itself in 200 milliseconds, about one blink
- A W-shaped pupil that looks straight at you
- Lives 1–2 years, lays its eggs in the shallows from March to July, and then both parents die

So every cuttlefish you meet is in its only summer. Be gentle with him.

Divers and snorkellers: where have you seen them laying eggs?

Identify and log your own fish with the Fin's Fish Guide app. Link in bio.

#cuttlefish #zeekat #marinebiology #snorkeling #finsfishguide by @finsfishguide