Kingfish - the “King” table fish and handling the catch (and other things)

[Pickles]

After a recent thread where I was directed to recipes from “The Kitchen” segment of the forum, I received a bit of feedback suggesting kingfish were marginal eating quality at best and that snapper far outrank them.

We all have our personal taste preference, but with this aside, I thought I’d share how I handle all my fish for the table.

As fisherfolk (and I as a Koori - Gundungurra man) believe we are intricately connected to our land and have a responsibility to tend God’s magnificent creation - of which fish (food) is integral. This responsibility includes “hunting and gathering” it, ethically dispatching it, and responsibly managing it before consuming it. NEVER take more than you can use or share (size and bag limits). Although It is Gods creation, as a Koori, it’s a deeply held belief that “The earth is our mother” and if you respect your mother, she’ll look after you. Having said that, it is the same sentiment with God (I hold to “Father God” over “Mother Nature”) - this has always been a conundrum for me as an indigenous Christian. Anyway, philosophising over and back to the topic.

Once the fish is landed, I try to get it under control as quickly as possible (not letting it bruise itself flapping around on the floor of the boat) and then bleed it as quickly as possible. For me the jury is still out on iki jime (ikijimi), (except for flathead, which I usually treat this way). Never the less, I always cut the throat of my pelagics and with big Kingies, I have a curtain cord tail line I wrap and securely tie around the tail and bleed them over the side of the boat.

Then they are put on ice straight away. Cleaning the catch is best done in salt water and patted dry with a paper towel and then bagged / cryovac immediately.

Just my thoughts - handled this way, kingfish are a spectacular eating fish, but the bleeding and icing are essential.

[noelm]

Yep agree, how a fish is dispatched and cared for after capture makes a big difference to eating quality and flesh texture. For fish like Flathead and Bream, I personally don't bleed them, to me, they don't have "fishy" blood. Kingfish, Tuna, Dollies and Salmon, yes, bleed them every time. Having caught literally hundreds of big Kingfish, I think size for them makes no difference to taste, Dusky Flathead are not so good when bigger, same goes for Snapper for me, Jewfish on the other hand are the reverse, small ones are soft and useless, it's all about personal taste.

[frankS]

To add to the above, it is permitted to Gill and gutt fish at sea ( on the boat ) you just can't alter the size ( length ) of the fish. Gill and gut will add to the quality as well as bleeding and icing.

Frank

[Larkin]

Here is a website that lists all common fish species with ikijime brain spike location - picture and X-ray to be able to locate the brain.

https://www.ikijime.com