Bate Bay and Port Hacking weekend

[Yowie]

Headed outside to Bate Bay on Saturday with my mate on his boat, a 25 footer with plenty of room to keep out distances from each other. Catches in the first photo. Drifted just past Jibbon bommie for the flatties, the biggest at 49 cm, and the flounder at 34cm, plenty of spikies as well.

Just before sunset, we anchored at his reef spot, but not much about. The reddie about 33cm and the lone tailor, plenty of slimies which were used as strip bait, then a few mongrel Barry Couta turned up so headed home on dark. No whales to be spotted out there, but one very fat and large seal came close to the boat so we moved away from him. Was not going to donate my fish to him.

Thinking that the Covid lockdown could be not good for fishing, I headed out by myself this morning to Bate Bay for the flatties and flounder in the second photo. Again plenty of spikies about. I don't usually fish up river on a weekend due to the large number of boats, jet skis, paddle boarders, canoes, kayaks cruising about, including high powered speed boats running along the main channel, but decided to have a go at Maianbar flats after heading back in from Bate Bay.

I pumped some nippers and waited for a long time before the whiting showed up. Lost plenty of baits to little toads, and was thinking that would be it, then a whiting showed up. Waited a bit longer, then the others hooked up. Average sized fish, but one better one was there. It took a little while to lead it to the net, and it weighed 1.5 pound. That was enough so headed for home.

 

I will be freezing a few meals from this lot.

Edited August 15, 2021 by Yowie

[jenno64]

You are loving lockdown👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

[wchh]

Wow! Some very good quality fish as always.

A whiting at 43cm did not come short in securing your supply for the week, congratulations!

Charles

[Yowie]

10 hours ago, jenno64 said:

You are loving lockdown👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

Yes and no. At least I found some fish. I don't like freezing my catch, would rather eat it fresh. 

[Yowie]

30 minutes ago, wchh said:

Wow! Some very good quality fish as always.

A whiting at 43cm did not come short in securing your supply for the week, congratulations!

Charles

Thank you. Happy with the big one.

[big Neil]

Good onya Yowie for getting out and catching quite a few decent fish. 3 of my favourites among that lot...flatties, flounder and whiting. YUM. Cheers, bn

[Isaac Ct]

Great job yet again Yowie.

[puddlejumper]

Nice job mate, making me jealous👏 

[Yowie]

2 hours ago, big Neil said:

Good onya Yowie for getting out and catching quite a few decent fish. 3 of my favourites among that lot...flatties, flounder and whiting. YUM. Cheers, bn

Thanks Neil, I was happy with the results. Also some fish for mum and my daughter and son, and some left to freeze for later.

[Yowie]

1 hour ago, Isaac Ct said:

Great job yet again Yowie.

Thank you. Can be a bit quiet at this time of year, however, found a few.

[Yowie]

41 minutes ago, puddlejumper said:

Nice job mate, making me jealous👏 

A couple of good days for a change.

 

[Rebel]

Well done as usual.Great haul.

[mrsswordfisherman]

4 hours ago, Yowie said:

Thanks Neil, I was happy with the results. Also some fish for mum and my daughter and son, and some left to freeze for later.

@Yowie I have to ask you, are you and your family pescatarians? 
 

[Yowie]

1 hour ago, mrsswordfisherman said:

@Yowie I have to ask you, are you and your family pescatarians? 
 

No. Like me, they also like a nice chunk of rump, a t-bone, fillet steak, etc from cow, sheep, pig, chook, turkey, duck and a few others. Mum has been eating fish all her 90 years, my adult kids eat it through persuasion (it is brain food and good for you 🤣) Just have to see if their young kids will be fish eaters.

Mum's sister has now gone, however, I saw her eat 3 meals of fish a day for 2 weeks straight, when I was holidaying at Lake Illawarra as a teenager. She would eat any fish that I caught, plus a feed of prawns. 😂

Edited August 16, 2021 by Yowie

[Yowie]

2 hours ago, Rebel said:

Well done as usual.Great haul.

Thank you, happy with the catch for this time of year.

[GordoRetired]

As usual you come home with a decent haul of fish. Well done.
On freezing fish, I find that Flathead do freeze well. I put the fillets into those glad lock bags, making sure to get all of the air out as I seal them. When I want to eat them defrost in the fridge during the day and they taste almost as good as fresh.
Max time I like to keep them frozen is probably 6 or 7 weeks.

[kingie chaser]

1 hour ago, GordoRetired said:

Max time I like to keep them frozen is probably 6 or 7 weeks.

If you get yourself a vacuum sealer you will get 6 months plus out of any fish.

These things pay for themselves in no time.

Edited August 22, 2021 by kingie chaser

[GordoRetired]

31 minutes ago, kingie chaser said:

If you get yourself a vacuum sealer you will get 6 months plus out of any fish.

These things pay for themselves in no time.

Must say I have been thinking about investing in one of those. Do you recommend one or are they all much the same?

[mrsswordfisherman]

We have a cheap Aldi one that is great @GordoRetired

It is an Ambiano vacuum food sealer and you can buy rolls or bags to seal the food. As KC said the fish keep well if you cryovac

[Yowie]

2 hours ago, GordoRetired said:

As usual you come home with a decent haul of fish. Well done.
On freezing fish, I find that Flathead do freeze well. I put the fillets into those glad lock bags, making sure to get all of the air out as I seal them. When I want to eat them defrost in the fridge during the day and they taste almost as good as fresh.
Max time I like to keep them frozen is probably 6 or 7 weeks.

Thank you. 

I do not freeze much fish at all, prefer to eat them fresh within a few days. I wrap my fillets individually in plastic wrap, then into a zip lock bag to freeze.

Edited August 22, 2021 by Yowie

[mrsswordfisherman]

22 minutes ago, Yowie said:

Thank you. 

I do not freeze much fish at all, prefer to eat them fresh within a few days. I wrap my fillets individually in plastic wrap, then into a zip lock bag to freeze.

It’s a must in the van @Yowie

We did a few charters and caught so many fish.

They cut and filleted them all and we cryovac’d and threw them in the Engel. 
They were delicious. 

[kingie chaser]

2 hours ago, GordoRetired said:

Must say I have been thinking about investing in one of those. Do you recommend one or are they all much the same?

Life's great when you live by the sea & have access to fishing on an almost daily basis so you can eat fresh but there are also so many more benefits to having a vac machine.

I have been using them professionally for 20+years & at home for about 7 years now.

I might have to put together a more in depth thread in the cooking section in the days to come.

Edited August 22, 2021 by kingie chaser

[leonardgid]

20 hours ago, kingie chaser said:

If you get yourself a vacuum sealer you will get 6 months plus out of any fish.

These things pay for themselves in no time.

very interesting, i have been thinking about buying one for a long time  but did not know  if they are this good , 

[leonardgid]

On 8/15/2021 at 3:07 AM, Yowie said:

Headed outside to Bate Bay on Saturday with my mate on his boat, a 25 footer with plenty of room to keep out distances from each other. Catches in the first photo. Drifted just past Jibbon bommie for the flatties, the biggest at 49 cm, and the flounder at 34cm, plenty of spikies as well.

Just before sunset, we anchored at his reef spot, but not much about. The reddie about 33cm and the lone tailor, plenty of slimies which were used as strip bait, then a few mongrel Barry Couta turned up so headed home on dark. No whales to be spotted out there, but one very fat and large seal came close to the boat so we moved away from him. Was not going to donate my fish to him.

Thinking that the Covid lockdown could be not good for fishing, I headed out by myself this morning to Bate Bay for the flatties and flounder in the second photo. Again plenty of spikies about. I don't usually fish up river on a weekend due to the large number of boats, jet skis, paddle boarders, canoes, kayaks cruising about, including high powered speed boats running along the main channel, but decided to have a go at Maianbar flats after heading back in from Bate Bay.

I pumped some nippers and waited for a long time before the whiting showed up. Lost plenty of baits to little toads, and was thinking that would be it, then a whiting showed up. Waited a bit longer, then the others hooked up. Average sized fish, but one better one was there. It took a little while to lead it to the net, and it weighed 1.5 pound. That was enough so headed for home.

 

I will be freezing a few meals from this lot.

love flounder , wish there were more then a bycatch  in Australia .

 

[Yowie]

3 hours ago, mrsswordfisherman said:

It’s a must in the van @Yowie

We did a few charters and caught so many fish.

They cut and filleted them all and we cryovac’d and threw them in the Engel. 
They were delicious. 

Show off 🤣.

We were looking at a cryovac gadget, but still do not have one.

Speaking of vans, I spent a fair bit of time today, looking in, on and under my van, checking things still work, and thinking when I will be able to head away again. I put the hail blanket on the van as I do not think we will be heading away for some time.