42cm Fat Pittwater Blackfish

[roosterman]

hi guys,

i went to my local luderick spot on sat morning for a sunrise luderick session and fellow raider sails met me there hoping we could get into a few more big blackfish.. the tide was looking better than last week and with the rain the water had plenty of color in it.... we had baits in as the sun started to peep its head up and started to burly..after about half hour or so a local old timer joined us in the hunt for these magnificent beasts... well after an hour or so and no downs and trying many drifts and depths i raise my depth 6" and immediately bang my float dissapeers like a rocket.. i let him take it right out of sight and then lift my rod to set the hook. im on... now this luderick gave a bit of stick and stayed in the clear deep for about a minute then headed for the usual structures...after a few nervous moments my #1 net man Sails has the net in water and i guide him into net and onto the deck.. now i called this luderick for only 37cm/38cm at first as he didnt give me the sort of trouble ive got recently from the 40cm+ ones... when i got home to clean him (i only live 5min from spot) i was pleasantly surprised to see him measure just over 42cm.he was real thick so i got the scales out and low an behold he went 1.37kg .. now thats one fat luderick... this was the only down of the morning and pulled the pin at 8am satified on getting 100% hookup rate as of late ive not done as good.mainly cause of getting smashed by huge ones but you get that here sometimes.... the old guy told me this week was real hard going and barely a down all week.... i thought with the conditions we should of done better.... this luderick showed no signs of spawning so it looks like the runs finished but dont let that put you off guys as these great fish are a year round prospect,just easier to catch when they are in spawning mode... this doesnt mean that everywhere is finished just the ones ive got the last 2 weeks but a pretty good indication they are starting to split up again...

thanks cam for the company mate,was a pleasure to wet a line with you, just a pitty there was no downs but was a nice morning anyway.... cam spoke to me about the fish he cooked last week being rubbery and tough and i had not experianced it so had no answer for him... well i baked my fillets like i do and i couldnt believe it .. fish was rubbery and tough.... i cannot ever remember having this happen before and fish was not over/under cooked.. i have cooked much larger ones than this so i think its not the size that caused this but am very curious as to what is..... anyway masters of the black art have you ever experianced this???

fish was bled properly(i slit throat and bend head back slightly) at spot and cleaned within 15 mins of being bled...

Edited August 26, 2007 by roosterman

[abiasin]

wow he is well fed, well done mate on a great blackie.

[Capt Hook]

Nice catch Roosterman...sheez...it does look like a fat one...no wonder it had some good weight to it...

I hope they're still about next weekend...I'll be putting some hours in with Cass for our last comp weekend for the year and hoping to get some good points targetting these fish...

[Luringbream]

Top fish steve!

I had a sluggish day on the niggas last thursday, not even one down all day!

DAN

[kingiemaster]

I have been cathcing blackies all season (all from Northhead) and have had the same problem with rubbery flesh. I thought it might be how I was cooking them ie baking or grilling etc or the ingriedents ie garlic, pasley etc but having tried many variations over the past couple of months I still experiencing the rubbery flesh problem. Size of the fish doesn't seem to change this either.

I now think it might be the weed they eat this time of year or somehing to do with spawning as I don't seem to have this problem in the spring or summer.

I plan to do more sessions over the next couple of months before I get stuck into the Kings in the harbour fulltime, so I'll keep you posted and test my theory.

[dazzassj6]

thats the fattest fish i ever seen!

[arpie]

Hi Steve

That is one pig of a blackie!!! He must have beaten all the other fish to the bait every time! So thick & deep in the belly! Glad he gave a good account of himself - the big ones tend to do that, eh??

Re the rubbery fish - I have noticed different 'flesh types' within the same bunch of fish I have caught. Some have quite white flesh, whereas others have a yellowy flesh. It didn't seem to relate to the biggest or smallest of the fish - & haven't separated them to see if any were or weren't tough when cooked. I know the bigger ones need that little bit longer cooking as they are usually so much thicker, especially on the shoulder. Keith 'sent one back to the chef' (me) one night as his was tough, but I reckoned I just undercooked it. Now I test the big ones with a skewer, to be sure, to be sure!

Lots of biiiig blackies in the lake just now - haven't tried the wall for a week or so now, since before the rain!

Enjoying the lake too much!!

Cheers

Roberta

[Capt Hook]

That's not a Blackfish...that's a Pigfish...

Low tide just before 6 am this Saturday Morning Steve...

Cassie and I are going collecting cabbage and hopefully catch a stack of these for the weigh in on Sunday afternoon...

I'm hoping to pip her for the biggest...but she's fluckey...she's got me for size on a Bream,Trevally and Flatties so far...and didn't take her long to pip me for Blackies...

[roosterman]

thanks for the replies guys,

ive racked my brain as to whats made this fish rubbery and something in the back of my mind tells me somrthing about males and after spawning... i could be thinking of something else though... he was full of that coarse brown ribbon weed but i think the others i got over the weeks have had this..

it sure was one fat greedy bugger thats for sure capt hook, i dont know if i will try sat morn as the tide sucks for my local and i have kids party to get to... then again you never know i may change my mind.. are you headed to same spot again???

hi roberta,yeh the big blackfish are really on but i think the numbers are not like a couple weeks ago,at my spot anyway... i upped my trace to 10lb to give it to em more and this also has decreased the down rate but im able to give them heaps more stick when needed..

to anyone reading this rubbery fish debate if you can definitely rule out the cooking process (i bake fish so is fairly precise except adjusting to size of fish) then there is prob something wrong with the flesh... the more i think as i write this i am leaning towards male fish and possibly after spawning, what do you think roberta,kingiemaster.. was the rubbery ones you got male and if so were they milking or finished there thing......

[mark84]

mate that is a fat blacky looks great i havnt caught any in the last week but have been eating them every second night all this month an i cant say i have had any rubbery ones exept for when i smoked 6 of them 1 was rubbery and chewy crap! i thought it was something i did? interesting . and i did get a few that were milking????