It's like crabs people think they are doing good by releasing all the females but they cant impregnate them selves

 pretty sure there is an alpha male in the school and if removed the school can stop breeding. the breeders are determind by their extra long rear dorsol fin or so ive been told. anyone know if this is true.

I have always thought the longer fin on top meant Male and the absence of it Female(well the carcasses i have sent to fisheries seem to follow this rule?)

Havent spent alot of time diving with Dhui Schools but from what i have seen underwater at the Abrolhos there seemed to be distinct separate schools of Male and schools of Females at locations where they schooled. Some of these schools would have over 10 Males or Female ranging from ones maybe just undersized to ones about 12-15kg.

Then again i have also seen plenty of individual Dhuis swimming around when diving.

Interestingly for me anyway over the last 3 years 90% of Dhuis caught on my boat have been Male. And of Dhui's over 10kg all have been Male.

I personnally dont release Dhuis unless undersized, as the rule on my boat has always been first two legal Dhuis are kept(regardless if they are just legal or monsters) then we stop fishing for them and move to target other species. As yet i have been lucky to not catch another Dhui after, while going for different species.

The exception to this for me on my boat is if i catch Dhuis in very shallow water i would consider letting them go to try for a bigger one. I know there is alot of evidence(especially on here from Paul G's tagging), that counters the claim that Dhuis brought up from deep dont have much chance for survival, but i just like doing it the way i do it for my boat at least, and so far i have managed to get 2 decent sized Dhuis every trip, bar one.

Good point............... i dont plan to fish in depths of more than 20 metres, but i like your rule, maybe we should all adopt it and leave it up to the fish to decide who takes the bait.

kenny

 That's how I fish out of my boat.  I also don't want to tempt fate when fishing offshore from Perth, if it's a keeper I keep it

..........Nail..........Head...........

Bird in the hand.......

We dont fish to deep so i put my boat size limit up to 600mm anything that size or smaller goes back.It doesnt matter if male or female.In saying that if fishing deeper than say 35mtrs depending on fish condition it may be kept,depends on how the day is going.