Out to the beach again, came home with more tailors

[martymonsta]

Also better to fillet when the fish is cold rather than room temp. Stick them in the fridge for a couple of hours before filleting.

Marty

[wchh]

Invest in a good filleting knife and a sharpening stone. Makes life a lot easier. Nice fish.

I am using a $15 knife bought from Big-W, time to look around for a better one if only the fishing is consistent!

[tw9635]

Solid tailor, beach fishing is amazing. Tailor curry is quite nice. I would use the heads for burely and mash it up.

[wchh]

Solid tailor, beach fishing is amazing. Tailor curry is quite nice. I would use the heads for burely and mash it up.

I used to do a bit of rock fishing as well before but since tried beach fishing in 2008, I enjoyed more success on the beach than from the rocks, and what a relexed way of fishing!

With the King tide and huge waves tonight, I am afraid we will be losing a lot of sand and the beach will be harder to fish from.

[ginko]

Anyone else with a better filleting technique?

1. very sharp, long flat carving/fileting knife

2. slice under the pectoral fin, towards gills, all the way into the spine, and up to the back of skull

3. swivel knife and slice from skull backwards along the edge of the dorsal fin

4. around end of dorsal spine and behind rib cage, insert knife right across to belly-side of the fish, and continue slicing all the way back to the tail

5. turn fish around, and slice meat away from ribcage, working from back to front of fish, eventually re-joining original slice into the fish.

6. repeat opposite side

7. with tailor, and especially salmon, I want to remove the dark red flesh: so I then turn each filet, skin side down, and slice from tail-end forwards with the knife just skimming along above the skin and thin layer of red meat.

8. each filet is then cut down the mid-line and any remaining red meat is excised from the mid-line, leaving clean filets.

This seems to yield decent fillets, but it takes a fair bit of time... any better ideas?

All red meat and frames are put into the freezer in a big ziplock bag for use as burley next trip.

I too, missed fishing on the weekend for reasons that had nothing to do with the weather.

Edited June 5, 2012 by ginko

[Noodles]

They are a couple of nice sized fish you've caught there. I love catching tailor from the beach. Tailor make good curry, and are great smoked (a little salt and some brown sugar over Australian hardwood) but don't under-estimate these fish just cooked either on a hot pan or under a grill. They do not like oil as they will take on any poor flavours due to being a rather oily fish already. Keep it very simple and enjoy their natural flavours. The most important thing to remember is to bleed them by cutting the throat from underneath right to the bone as soon as they are caught. When fishing from the beach I always do this then stick them headfirst into the sand. In the boat they go into a bucket of water to bleed out, then the esky. They must be looked after or they will turn to rubbish quickly but many fish are like this.

Dogs love tailor heads and frames (so do the foxes at Putty Beach) but they do make good stock for soups. Nothing wrong with putting them in your vegie patch though.

They do have relatively soft flesh so a sharp knife is essential for filleting and just follow the bone lines. If it's hard to do then you are trying to cut in the wrong places. Do not let anybody tell you that you cant freeze them. I have frozen tens of dozens of them over the years and they come out of the freezer just fine. Fillet them and put the flesh sides together then wrap tightly in clingwrap, then in a bag and they are good for months.

Tailor will always surprise you and show up right when you think nothing will happen. Part of the lure to the surf, although I have been disappointed many times after a long drive but the good ones make up for it.

[Noodles]

Anyone else with a better filleting technique?

1. very sharp, long flat carving/fileting knife

2. slice under the pectoral fin, towards gills, all the way into the spine, and up to the back of skull

3. swivel knife and slice from skull backwards along the edge of the dorsal fin

4. around end of dorsal spine and behind rib cage, insert knife right across to belly-side of the fish, and continue slicing all the way back to the tail

5. turn fish around, and slice meat away from ribcage, working from back to front of fish, eventually re-joining original slice into the fish.

6. repeat opposite side

7. with tailor, and especially salmon, I want to remove the dark red flesh: so I then turn each filet, skin side down, and slice from tail-end forwards with the knife just skimming along above the skin and thin layer of red meat.

8. each filet is then cut down the mid-line and any remaining red meat is excised from the mid-line, leaving clean filets.

This seems to yield decent fillets, but it takes a fair bit of time... any better ideas?

All red meat and frames are put into the freezer in a big ziplock bag for use as burley next trip.

I too, missed fishing on the weekend for reasons that had nothing to do with the weather.

I fillet them from the head down or the tail up depending whether or not I'm left-handed at the time. I'm serious though. I do one side up and one side down as I find it easier that way. I do most fish like this except for flatties which I lay on their back and work from the inside down towards the tail.

One you understand the bone structure of each different fish you work to that. I sometimes fillet leatherjackets too.

[wchh]

Anyone else with a better filleting technique?

1. very sharp, long flat carving/fileting knife

2. slice under the pectoral fin, towards gills, all the way into the spine, and up to the back of skull

3. swivel knife and slice from skull backwards along the edge of the dorsal fin

4. around end of dorsal spine and behind rib cage, insert knife right across to belly-side of the fish, and continue slicing all the way back to the tail

5. turn fish around, and slice meat away from ribcage, working from back to front of fish, eventually re-joining original slice into the fish.

6. repeat opposite side

7. with tailor, and especially salmon, I want to remove the dark red flesh: so I then turn each filet, skin side down, and slice from tail-end forwards with the knife just skimming along above the skin and thin layer of red meat.

8. each filet is then cut down the mid-line and any remaining red meat is excised from the mid-line, leaving clean filets.

This seems to yield decent fillets, but it takes a fair bit of time... any better ideas?

All red meat and frames are put into the freezer in a big ziplock bag for use as burley next trip.

I too, missed fishing on the weekend for reasons that had nothing to do with the weather.

Thanks mate for the tips. I am trying to visualize the maneuver of the knife while reading the tips. I will definitely try those tips out this long weekend if I catch any.

Charles

[wchh]

They are a couple of nice sized fish you've caught there. I love catching tailor from the beach. Tailor make good curry, and are great smoked (a little salt and some brown sugar over Australian hardwood) but don't under-estimate these fish just cooked either on a hot pan or under a grill. They do not like oil as they will take on any poor flavours due to being a rather oily fish already. Keep it very simple and enjoy their natural flavours. The most important thing to remember is to bleed them by cutting the throat from underneath right to the bone as soon as they are caught. When fishing from the beach I always do this then stick them headfirst into the sand. In the boat they go into a bucket of water to bleed out, then the esky. They must be looked after or they will turn to rubbish quickly but many fish are like this.

Dogs love tailor heads and frames (so do the foxes at Putty Beach) but they do make good stock for soups. Nothing wrong with putting them in your vegie patch though.

They do have relatively soft flesh so a sharp knife is essential for filleting and just follow the bone lines. If it's hard to do then you are trying to cut in the wrong places. Do not let anybody tell you that you cant freeze them. I have frozen tens of dozens of them over the years and they come out of the freezer just fine. Fillet them and put the flesh sides together then wrap tightly in clingwrap, then in a bag and they are good for months.

Tailor will always surprise you and show up right when you think nothing will happen. Part of the lure to the surf, although I have been disappointed many times after a long drive but the good ones make up for it.

I caught many tailors over the years until recently I rate them low in the preferred catch list (Jewfish, flathead, bream, whiting, tailor). In the last couple of weeks I tried a couple of times lightly grill them and this time tried green curry, both ways the fish are not bad eating at all. I even popped a few cuts of the salmon fillet into the curry stew and they are surprising eatable, apart from a bit firmer than the tailor fillets.

[josamill]

Nice session......been catching tailor and salmoln from 2 great gutters at Palm Beaches over the last 4 weeks. Blue surf poppers and pillies. I'm with Morwong re letting them go if they are in good shape..........no such mercy applied to the odd flathead that arrives at my feet!