Port Hacking - mixed bag

[Yowie]

The forecast was for a light westerly early, then increasing during the day, so decided to head out early this morning. Was getting the boat ready, shortly before launching at first light on the horizon, the westerly hit with a bang. There was no thought of going home, so punched my way against the wind chop up past Lilli Pilli.

Anchoring was a bit difficult with the wind, so persevered, the anchors held and into the fishing. Baits used were salted fish strips, squid strips and pillies. Just after sunrise, the wind dropped to none at all, so conditions a bit more pleasant for a few hours until it returned.

Pulled out the fish in the photo on the various baits, the jackets on small pieces of squid.

I also released a few fish. A 52cm tailor, hooked in the side of the body which made for a longer fight, a jewie somewhere between 55 and 60cm, a kingie about 50cm, a salmon about 40cm, a bream about 32cm and a small red gurnard, and the usual quantity of small reddies. A bit of variety and a feed or 2.

 

Forget to mention, also released 2 trevally, one low 30's the other high 30's. One of those days when everything wanted to bite, expect for a flattie.

Edited June 7, 2022 by Yowie

[Blackfish]

Very nice mixed bag Yowie.

[bessell1955]

A very mixed bag indeed!

[Isaac Ct]

Great bag Yowie, flounder are probably my favourite estuary fish to eat so I am quite jealous just looking at them.

Well done.

[Yowie]

2 hours ago, Blackfish said:

Very nice mixed bag Yowie.

Thank you. More variety than I expected for the conditions.

1 hour ago, bessell1955 said:

A very mixed bag indeed!

Thank you.

51 minutes ago, Isaac Ct said:

Great bag Yowie, flounder are probably my favourite estuary fish to eat so I am quite jealous just looking at them.

Well done.

cooking up a few fillets tonight, including flounder fillets.

[Isaac Ct]

5 minutes ago, Yowie said:

cooking up a few fillets tonight, including flounder fillets.

Dam it!! I never fillet flounder, I will usually just gut and scale it and pan fry it in butter, but I know people in america do because they get much bigger ones. How much meat do you get of it?

[Scooter0069]

Nice mix bag Yowie 

[Yowie]

2 hours ago, Isaac Ct said:

 How much meat do you get of it?

All the meat, however, it is not like filleting a normal fish where you just run the knife down the back bone. If you did that with flounder you would get bugger all in the fillet. Same with filleting a John Dory, which is where I learnt the filleting technique.

What I do is run a knife around the area I want to fillet. A knife with a round end, not a knife with a sharp pointy end. Cut the skin and meat down to the bones in the area you want to fillet, but not through them, then gradually run the rounded end of the blade under the meat in a sweeping motion to cut the meat away from the back bone. It takes a while and might seem a bit fiddly, but you can remove all the meat. Once the fillet is off, just a matter of removing the rib bones from the fillet.

It does take practice, and is time consuming, but you will eventually work it out. The fillets will be a little bit chopped up, from the filleting technique. When done properly, after some practice, all the meat will be removed leaving a clean backbone, and a nice fillet minus the bones. 

[Yowie]

14 minutes ago, Scooter0069 said:

Nice mix bag Yowie 

Thank you. Worth the effort of the cold windy conditions.

[Larkin]

Nice catch! 
you pull all those out of the same spot?

[Scooter0069]

Yowie 

here a link for filleting technique that I tried and it worked really good 

https://youtu.be/kd-0LIA7Ri4

[Yowie]

8 hours ago, Larkin said:

Nice catch! 
you pull all those out of the same spot?

Yes, the same spot. Just one of those days where the fish were all there. Unusual for this time of year. 

[Yowie]

8 hours ago, Scooter0069 said:

Yowie 

here a link for filleting technique that I tried and it worked really good 

https://youtu.be/kd-0LIA7Ri4

The filleting starts off differently to me but finishes the same way. Bigger flounder which does help, but not caught around Sydney.

Like him, start with the white side to fillet, as it is a thinner fillet than the dark side.

[Rebel]

Great haul.

Well done.

[big Neil]

The photo reminds me of "the animals came in two by two". Do you cook the Flounder whole? Good result, reward for persevering with the wind. bn

[jenno64]

With all the rain cleared for a bit, you catch almost looks biblical Yowie; lots of 2 x 2s!

[LuckyFil]

Lovely mixed bag and those Reddies are perfect sized to be good eating. A big snapper is impressive to look at (and to catch) but those pannies are great on the plate .

[Yowie]

4 hours ago, Rebel said:

Great haul.

Well done.

Thank you, certainly happy with the result.

4 hours ago, big Neil said:

The photo reminds me of "the animals came in two by two". Do you cook the Flounder whole? Good result, reward for persevering with the wind. bn

Fillets of flounder, a little more more effort than a straight fillet off a normal fish. No bones, so easier to eat. Cooked the flounder fillets last night, crumbed and pan fried, delicious.

2 hours ago, jenno64 said:

With all the rain cleared for a bit, you catch almost looks biblical Yowie; lots of 2 x 2s!

It was just one of those days when the fishing gods sent the fish around my boat. At this time of year the catch is usually much less. It makes up for the time I was away in May in the caravan, with bugger all fishing happening.

2 hours ago, LuckyFil said:

Lovely mixed bag and those Reddies are perfect sized to be good eating. A big snapper is impressive to look at (and to catch) but those pannies are great on the plate .

I rang my fishing mate, and he volunteered to take a reddie, no hesitation at all. 😂

[GordoRetired]

Nice mixed bag there. Interesting that you fillet the flounder, I always grill mine whole, figure that way I get every little bit of flesh off them. I Love flounder, a beautiful fish to eat. 🙂

[Yowie]

8 hours ago, GordoRetired said:

Nice mixed bag there. Interesting that you fillet the flounder, I always grill mine whole, figure that way I get every little bit of flesh off them. I Love flounder, a beautiful fish to eat. 🙂

The only piece of fillet that I waste is that with the rib bones in it. My son really likes flounder, but, no bones at all. (fussy family, don't like bones in fish  🤣) Flounder is also one of my favourites.