Mixed bag for the Christmas dinner table

[Aardvarking]

I know from the title it may seem like I'm posting this a bit late or I've lost my calendar, but I come from a Ukrainian family and we celebrate Christmas on the 7th of January instead of in December. Anyway, it is a tradition to have a bit seafood meal on christmas eve, so I thought I'd head out for a fish to contribute to that meal. I don't want to disclose the exact spot because it's not all that well known, but I'll say that it was in Wollongong.

After about 4 hours of fishing I ended up fish a whole ton of species. I started off the day catching a bunch of yellowfin bream, before moving to a new spot where I was catching a ton of wrasse, various small rock cod and what I now know to be an Eastern Kelpfish. I was planning to release the kelpfish because I didn't know enough about it to keep, but it was very badly hooked and it was clear it wasn't going to survive, so I took it home with me. Does anyone know if they taste any good, or are they better off being chopped up for bait? I had a bit of a wild ride after hooking a huge stingray, which after 10 minutes of nonstop swimming was well on its way to spooling me, before it thankfully spat the hook just as it reached the backing. After another 5 minutes rewinding all my line back onto my reel I was back in business, and caught a cod I've never seen before. Does anyone know what species this guy is?

There was also an interesting wrasse I caught which I can't quite identify, here is a photo of it:

After my 2nd spot dying down a bit as the tide went out, I tried a third spot and found myself pulling in black drummer by the bucketful, not bad with my 6lb mainline and 8lb leader if you ask me. The biggest one I ended up catching was 35cm, which put up a hell of a fight. 

Here is the haul for the afternoon, minus all the fish I put back:

And just as a side note, no matter how many fish I cut open, I don't think I will ever be prepared for the horror that is a black drummers stomach.

[rickmarlin62]

no1  wirrah cod..not very good eating..no2 male crimson banded wrasse..fair eating fresh but don't freeze well..the kelpfish are rubbish.ive never heard of anyone trying to eat them...the drummer have a black stomach lining but don't let that put you off..best to fillet then skin and debone ...great eating..rick

[Aardvarking]

10 minutes ago, rickmarlin62 said:

no1  wirrah cod..not very good eating..no2 male crimson banded wrasse..fair eating fresh but don't freeze well..the kelpfish are rubbish.ive never heard of anyone trying to eat them...the drummer have a black stomach lining but don't let that put you off..best to fillet then skin and debone ...great eating..rick

Great, thanks for the help. I reckon I'll just put the keplfish in the freezer and cut him up for bait and burley then.

[savit]

Bream. I would consider making Ukrainian  taranka (air-dried salted fish)  though it will take time. 

Drummer. I cook whole cleaned drummer with a bit of garlic/pepper/salt  in a foil in oven, and prefer drummer to bream. Never had issues with drummer stomaches though likely  it depends where they lived and what they usually  ate. 

Kelpfish.  Never kept kelpfish , though I believe  Chinese eat it, so presumably  it is not so bad if cooked properly. 

[Koalaboi]

Both drummer and luderick have a black lining ion the stomach. I keep a brush for doing the dishes in my kit and use it to clean of the black lining when I clean the catch.

When I fillet and bone the fish I don't use that part anyway.  

Black drummer are one of the best eating fish you can get IMO. Well done on catching them on such light gear.

KB

[big Neil]

Pretty good session mate. Hope you all had an enjoyable Ukranian Christmas celebration. You certainly played your part. Cheers, bn

[zmk1962]

Great write up too - must have been exciting seeing line peeling off to the backing !

cheers Zoran 

[Sigma]

Well done Aardvarking... pretty big selection there! 

I had the same plan as you cause my Xmas is tomorrow as well.

I had the boat ready to go this morning at 3am....... and my mate pulls out in the last minute. 

Oh well, seafood salad the Mrs made still looks good. 

[Aardvarking]

Another thing I forgot to mention, I caught every fish on a single raw chicken thigh I got from coles, which costed me less than 2 dollars! It was my first time trying that as bait, so I think it's safe to say it won't be the last.

10 hours ago, savit said:

Bream. I would consider making Ukrainian  taranka (air-dried salted fish)  though it will take time. 

Drummer. I cook whole cleaned drummer with a bit of garlic/pepper/salt  in a foil in oven, and prefer drummer to bream. Never had issues with drummer stomaches though likely  it depends where they lived and what they usually  ate. 

Kelpfish.  Never kept kelpfish , though I believe  Chinese eat it, so presumably  it is not so bad if cooked properly. 

Unfortunately I won't have time to make taranka, but I have had it before with bream and it is one of my favourite ways to prepare fish for sure. I've never actually eaten drummer before, so thanks for that advice. The issue I had with the stomach was really just the sheer mass of this spiralling mess I didn't expect, and the fact that all the fish there lived mainly off kelp, so the smell wasn't at all pleasant.

8 hours ago, Koalaboi said:

Both drummer and luderick have a black lining ion the stomach. I keep a brush for doing the dishes in my kit and use it to clean of the black lining when I clean the catch.

When I fillet and bone the fish I don't use that part anyway.  

Black drummer are one of the best eating fish you can get IMO. Well done on catching them on such light gear.

KB

I think I'll try filleting the bigger one and cooking the smaller one whole like savit suggested, see which one I prefer. As fun as drummer are with 6lb line and a 1-3kg rod, I think I might upgrade a touch next time. One of the bigger ones nearly broke my rod when he did one last run as I tried to leader him up!

Edited January 6, 2018 by Aardvarking