In a little over a decade, the fingermark has emerged from virtual obscurity as 'just another tropical reef species' to become one of our premier northern sport fish. These days, fingermark are right up there along side the traditional 'big two' of tropical inshore waters; the barramundi and the mangrove jack.

A large part of this new-found popularity can be credited directly to the writings of people like Vic McCristal. During the late 1980s, Vic developed a passion for targeting big Queensland fingermark on deep diving lures. His eloquent descriptions and striking photos of this handsome, enigmatic fish captured the imagination of readers. Other writers followed Vic's lead, and within a few short years, the fingermark's fame was firmly established.

Whether you call them fingermark, fingermark bream, golden napper, spotted scale sea perch, red choppers, reddies or big scale reds, there's no denying the sheer charisma of these hard-hitting, strong-fighting, sweet-fleshed Lutianids.

Fresh from the water, fingermark are one of our most attractive tropical sport fish. Their tooth-filled heads and powerful gill covers gleam like newly-minted copper coins, while lightly speckled flanks and the indistinct dark splotches ahead of their thick tail wrist help to separate them from closely related fish like mangrove jacks and the more exotic Papuan black bass.

On a line, fingermark hit and pull every bit as hard as any jack, but because they are often larger, and tend to be hooked in slightly deeper water, they are much more likely to make repeated, determined runs. These powerful lunges frequently take them towards the line-cutting sanctuary of submerged rock bars, sunken timber, pylons or oyster encrusted ledges, testing angler and tackle to the very limit. It's not at all unusual to see a fisherman's hands trembling uncontrollably after an encounter - successful or unsuccessful - with a big fingermark!

On a plate, fingermark also have few peers. In fact, many fish fanciers rate them well ahead of barramundi in the culinary stakes, listing them alongside, or close behind, other highly-prized tropical delicacies such as red emperor and coral trout.

With credentials like these, it's difficult to understand why fingermark remained unsung by the popular angling press for so long. Perhaps it has something to do with their behaviour and 'catchability', which has always been more problematic than that of mangrove jacks, estuary cod and barra.

Sure, reef fishermen had been pulling them from inshore grounds for years on heavy handlines, but it wasn't until the advent of sophisticated, easy-to-use depth sounders and deep diving lures that sport fishers really began to tap into the true potential of the fingermark fishery.

The fact is, fingermark behave and feed quite differently to mangrove jacks. In my experience, fingermark are more likely to be found close to the bottom in at least three or four metres of water, relating closely to significant structural elements such as isolated deep snags, wrecks, holes, distinct drop-offs and submerged rock bars. Here, they prey primarily on crabs, prawns, octopus and squid, with bait fish such as mullet and herring playing a less significant role in their diet.

These behavioural traits help to explain why specific techniques such as deep fishing with live and dead baits (particularly squid, which fingermark find irresistible), trolling with deep diving lures and vertical jigging with Rattlin' Spots and similar noise makers are far more effective strategies than the standard tropical estuary approach of' casting-and-retrieving shallow to medium depth lures around snags.

Beyond these basics, we still know relatively little about this magnificent fish. How abundant and widespread is it? What are its habits and life cycle? Is it prone to over-fishing, and if so, what can we do to prevent stock depletion?

Happily, these questions and many others are likely to be answered as a result of research being undertaken right now in North Queensland. To find out more about this valuable work, I interviewed Mike Cappo from the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) in Townsville.