whiskey299

Haha yea I'm not ashamed to admit it, fishing in Sydney is tough at times! When the catch is fresh and hasn't been exposed to the air that long you can leave the red flesh on and isn't necessary to cut off. As the fish ages in the fridge or is exposed to air it starts to turn brown and develop an odour. That's when I start cutting it off. I don't really notice much difference in taste so I always leave it on for the first 1-2 days. I do this with most fish except for Aussie Salmon lol. Thanks Thanks Recipe will be uploaded soon You're welcome!

Lol I forgot my mirage drive at home, luckily I have an electric motor. So I had to put something in there to stop all the water splashing up. 😂

Thanks!

Caught in Sydney offshore approx 47m. not sure what species of flathead this is? not seen pretty colours like this on flathead before

Thanks all. I can't really take credit for all the dishes as my wife is a much better cook. I catch, clean and slice, that's my contribution. I'll try and dig up the ceviche recipe and fish cake recipe and post it into the Kitchen section if anyone is interested.

Thanks Derek! Hope your are well and enjoying some quality fishing time, well hopefully not in this wet weather Sydney’s getting smashed with.

Yea when rigor sets in and you straighten a fish to fillet it loosens the flesh and this is very noticeable on Aussie salmon. BTW I can only eat Aussie salmon sashimi or ceviche, I’ve found it eaten cooked just isn’t my cup of tea. that’s great you’re looking after your catch, it makes a massive difference in quality and being able to store in the fridge or freezer longer. So much so I’ve converted my boat buddies. Those concrete cleaning tables are loaded with bacteria but your suggestion of bringing your own chopping board is a pretty good idea! Cheers Brad

Hi Phil That’s actually not a ball sinker but a black rubber bead I put on to prevent tip damage. I like to do that for all the rods I use on the yak as I can just unhook everything wind up all the slack when fishing is done. It just keeps the line tidy that way and doesn’t tangle during transport. As for getting a sashimi knife (aka yanagiba) honestly it’s not necessary needed unless you need a long knife to complete the cut in one stroke. Ie avoid back and forward cuts which can ruin the flesh on delicate flesh. What I think is more important is learning how to sharpen a knife so it’s a pleasure to use. A yanagiba is a single beveled knife and a very different technique is use to sharpen them and you need to invest in time and a bit of money gets whet stones. So if you’re not keen on that, probably best to get a long chef knife instead. I actually find myself reaching for my Global chef knife more often than the yanagiba. The chef knife is easier to sharpen for me personally on the whet stone. I have Tojiro Sushi Sashimi Chef Knife Shirogami Steel Yanagiba 270mm F-909. I bought it to try out many years ago and it’s an ok knife what I’ll call a budget knife. Most of these knives are made of steel that have a high carbon content so they remain sharp longer but will rust easier. So you’ll need to maintain the knife by applying some oil after use. If I were to buy another yanagiba I personally would consider getting the Global G11, I haven’t tried this but it fits my price range.

Great catch Chris! Cracking the meter mark is definitely a memorable moment. congrats on the PB While there is a debate as to which species is the better eating I personally prefer jewfish over trag. I’ve noticed with trag it’s best eaten fresh, even after bleeding and vac sealing, the trag still has a slight fishy odour. It’s still a great eating fish but I find jewfish a much better eating and I enjoy the texture more. My boat buddy has been busy with work and overseas so we’ve been itching to go offshore and have been waiting for what fells like eternity (6 weeks 😂) and still waiting. Hopefully next week we might see you on the water.

Since some ppl can’t enough of kingfish reports (not to mention any names @Pickles 😂) here’s one from early November when the bust ups were going crazy in the harbour. Today’s mission was to catch a top water #kingfish and it definitely wasn’t easy. Got to the spot for the first light feeding frenzy and I couldn’t get any interest with all the selection of lures I was using. Spent the next couple of hours chasing the morning bust ups without a single glance at my lures. Plan B catch some live yakkas and it didn’t take long to fill the livewell with a dozen of them. Even with the live yakkas I couldn’t get any interest. They call me 007, 0 bites, 0 fish, 7 hours! Then the rain came and it was wet, cold, miserable and dead boring. I was so bored I had a quick power nap on the yak 😴💤 while it continued to rain! Eventually moved spots and luckily I marked a massive school on the sounder. Before I knew it they were busting up all around me, casted the 3gram halco twisty and I was on straight away. What an awesome feeling to feel the rod load up and hear the reel scream. Kingfish measured 69cm not quiet big enough to tag for the @project_kingfish comp, but still a decent size on the EGI Pe0.6 setup. I decided to keep this fish and quickly took some photos and dispatched it. A properly looked after fish will always give you best eating quality on offer. After you have Ikejime, bleed and if possible ice slurry, which isn’t practical on most kayaks. So instead I use ice blocks when bagging the fish. Try not to bend and keep it as straight as possible before rigor sets in, otherwise when you straighten a curved fish it degrades the texture for sashimi. But if you’re just going to make fish cakes then just ignore everything I said 😂. I avoid using public filleting tables especially if they’re not made of stainless steel. I tried cleaning fish once at the boat ramp table (non stainless) and the fish deteriorated very quickly and developed the notorious fishy odour. Day 1: My wife replicated this recipe from a Japanese restaurant we ate at recently and it turned out pretty close. Day 2: Our usual goto ceviche recipe with the additional red szechuan chilli oil to spicy things up a tad Day 3: As requested by our youngest he wanted fish cakes and our goto recipe is from recipe_tin it’s basically a hash brown with fish mixed in and who doesn’t like hash browns! We adjust her recipe so there is an almost equal ratio of fish to potatoes. Dressed with sriracha and kewpie mayo. Gear used: Rod: NS Blackhole EGI S-702ML Reel: Daiwa 21 Caldia LT2000S Line: tasline elite PE0.6 Leader: Sunline FC Rock 12lb leader Lure: Halco Twisty 3gram

My boat for the last 3 years. Runs on a torqeedo 403 electric motor which is equivalent to a 1HP motor.

Congrats @DerekD we thank you for your efforts

Thanks that was unexpected but very much appreciated. As for Derek a new badge "Platinum" must be created for him!

Yep before I got the electric motor on the yak it was certainly hard work on the legs in the Hawkesbury. Getting an electric motor was one of the best decisions I’ve made.

Thanks Chris I Drop my pots in the Hawkesbury. Managed to even get a 2 nice mud crabs last season which was a pleasant surprise. one caught in March and one caught in April this year.

Great report Bob and good to see the banana hard at work. Definitely some big units out there and shame about loosing the good fish.

Well done Chris another great size

Thanks Bob. Unfortunately haven’t been all that successful with legal kings and with the water temp rising I’m going to shift my attention to crabs. Last season while not plentiful the quality of blue swimmer were great.

Yes it could have been sharks but as soon as I switched over to a circle hook I didn’t loose anymore fish. The sharks kept taking the live yakka instead of the strip bait. But I’ll never know and can just put it in “the one that got away” bag lol.

That’s the hobie mirage drive pedal system to propel the kayak with your legs.

I've been a bit busy to post any reports and most readers are probably sick of hearing about kingfish so something different this time. Plan A: Got cancelled Plan B: Go chase some kingfish to tag for the comp being run by @project_kingfish. But I couldn’t find the kingfish anywhere! Plan C: Target some reef fish to feed the family. It was a real sloppy day! The swell, the bounce back swell and the wind chop made it feel like fishing in a washing machine. The kayak got hit by waves from 3 different directions and it was challenging trying to hold position, really wish I had spot lock! Moving spots every few casts until the fish starting to feed towards the top of the tide and continued feeding on the run out. I was using a j hook with paternoster rig and lost 3 good #snapper when they swallowed the hook and cut through my leader, eventually switched over to a circle hook ftw! Managed to hook 2 annoying sharks on live yakka. What a royal pita! As a last cast special hooked a 51cm snapper which I thought was a #kingfish as it pulled some good string. Left the fishing bitting as I had already hit my bag limit and conditions were getting rough. #fishdistributionsystem working overtime today, gave most of the fish to family and uncles and kept 2 snapper and 2 scorpion fish to eat. Sharing is caring right? Gear used: Rod: Daiwa TD Black V2 Mangrove Masher 642MFS Reel: Daiwa 21 Caldia MQ LT3000 Line: #Tasline Elite PE 1 15lb Leader: Sunline FC Rock 12-20lb Sinker: 1-2 oz Bait: slimy/yakka strip

Nice catch, just wondering if you brain spike and bleed your catch? I have found that it definitely helps you get the best quality out of the flesh.

Well done! Good to see Mr Banana is back in the photos. Although a tad bit too ripe for me but perfect for making banana cake lol

Nice Pearl Perch, one of the finest eating fish in the sea.

Eye fly lures have been so hard to source and seem to be sold out at most places I’ve looked. Maybe I haven’t been looking hard enough but I managed to find these from Ottos so I’ll give these a go.