This is the kind of fish that I love. They are called Garfish or Needlefish but they are…

chryptof · August 26, 2026

This is the kind of fish that I love. They are called Garfish or Needlefish but they are also known as Belone Belone.

I just love every aspect of them: the way they look, the way they taste, the way they fight/jump when they get caught, even the green/bluish color of their bones.

I had caught a few more already this summer but they were small. Not that I care about how big they are because you can use the small ones as bait to catch bigger Garfish. Yes, that's correct, they are true cannibals!

[[Hobby]] [[Fishing]] [[Garfish]] [[Needlefish]] [[Belone Belone]]

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chryptof · August 26, 2026

There is something very special/unique about these fish and that is that they can be caught with a hook-less setup by using "Garfish Thread" or "Matasinna".

These Matassina are multi-strand silk or nylon ropes that you reel with short, erratic twitches through the water to trigger these predator fish to strike in an aggressive way.

Because these fish have hundreds of tiny needle-sharp teeth, they will tangle inside the fibers of the Matassina and they will be caught without being "injured" by a hook.

This setup is especially interesting if you want to use these Garfish as bait for bigger fish and you don't want them to smell something (bloody) "fishy" about your bait.

This technique is a very old one from times the people were using camel hair to catch Garfish.

Matassina come in different colors (red, yellow, blue, white & green) today but I only had success with white and yellow. The fish above was caught using a white Matassina.

[[Hobby]] [[Fishing]] [[Garfish]] [[Needlefish]] [[Belone Belone]] [[Matassina]] [[Garfish Thread]]