The sooty grunter is endemic to northern Australia from the upper Burdekin River in Queensland to the Daly River in the Northern Territory. It has been reported from southern New Guinea. Abundant throughout coastal drainages of Northern Territory, Gulf of Carpentaria and north eastern Queensland. Sooties are also known to turn up in smaller, private landlocked waterways, such as farm dams and mining storages. They end up in these places either by stocking, or if they are endemic to the system prior to its being dammed, and will breed if granted access to flowing water. Usually found in large flowing streams especially in the upper reaches over sandy or rocky bottoms with sparse aquatic vegetation. Commonly caught around 25cm and get up to a maximum length 45cm. Banded grunter are mainly carnivorous but have a varied diet that can include aquatic insects, small crustaceans, algae and aquatic plants. They are an aggressive species which breeds prolifically. Females produce up to 400,000 eggs, and they appear to spawn over a wide variety of different habitats. Your best chances on grunter are to fish either side of the top of the tide and preferably the making tides leading up to the full and new moons. Fresh or live prawns and yabbies and fish fillet strips work very well, although the bigger fish will readily take a live bait such as a mud herring or a sardine. They are one of the best eating fish to come from the northern Australian waters, but being so easy to catch, do not have the glamour nor appeal of the more famous species like Jacks or Barramundi.
