Banjo shark eating

[slothparade]

Are banjo sharks good eating or not worth it? 

[noelm]

Banjos are at best just OK, Shovelnose are quite good, unless you really need a feed, just toss Banjos back.

[big Neil]

12 hours ago, slothparade said:

Are banjo sharks good eating or not worth it? 

Good question, I've always wondered what they would be like on the plate. Thanks for the reply noelm, answers the question.

bn

[noelm]

Banjos have a lot of blood meat and sinew, the amount of edible flesh return is tiny, and the taste is just OK, so (in my opinion) not worth the trouble. Shovel nose, although look kind of similar (in so much as the tail is the edible part) are much whiter flesh and almost Flathead like to eat….almost! 

[bessell1955]

An interesting post!

[slothparade]

1 hour ago, noelm said:

Banjos have a lot of blood meat and sinew, the amount of edible flesh return is tiny, and the taste is just OK, so (in my opinion) not worth the trouble. Shovel nose, although look kind of similar (in so much as the tail is the edible part) are much whiter flesh and almost Flathead like to eat….almost! 

Heard lots of mixed reviews about banjos, quite a few say they're good deep fried and I was going to use the head for shark bait. Definitely want to try shovel nose, apparently very popular in Europe as fish and chips.

 

What about rays? Have a indigenous mate who loves them but also have another mate who says they're a bit chewy. I was thinking to do a thai green curry inspired thing with chilli's and coconut with the ray. But don't really want to waste a life if it's a bad idea. 

Thanks 

[noelm]

The best Ray to eat is the Eagle Ray or Bat Ray, the one with the “high” head, (I don’t eat them myself) but if you skin and poach (a fancy name for boil) them they are OK, they are kind of fibrous flesh, quite strange looking really, but, supposed to taste good. I am not one for eating all sorts of weird fish, being a simple person, I just eat what I want, don’t believe all the crap about some rubbish fish being a delicacy…..I reckon I have eaten just about every fish over the years, including Pike, sweep, Butchers and hundreds of other species, and most are “OK” but, given a choice, it’s normal old fish for me.

[zmk1962]

I second everything Noel has said. . Wayno and I were desperate one day fishing for flatties but all we caught were Banjos and Shovels ... so we decided the next thing we catch we will give a go on the chew.  Sure enough up came a 4ft Banjo and a 3ft Shovel. They were both a real pain to skin.... and without the head they do not leave a lot of fish. Banjo definitely had more blood meat. We filleted both and each took a banjo and shovel fillet ... cubed and battered as fish cocktails ... they were not too bad (banjo being more fishy) both being edible ... but honestly when you consider how little yield you get, the effort required to skin/prepare and the fact they are prone to accumulate mercury - so you really should not eat a lot ..... they are just not worth it.

Cheers Zoran

[noelm]

Certain times of the year when diving, there is literally hundreds of them covering the bottom, easy to catch bare handed, no idea what they are doing, probably something to do with breeding? We used to cook them on the rocks as teenage divers, but there was plenty of better fish around to eat. The flesh is quite “fishy” tasting.

[Fried Rice]

Tried a "black" stingray once that I speared many years ago at Durras. About 70 or 80 Cm across. From memory I took some skinned fillets and BBQ'd them. Should have BBQ'd my boot instead.

[AlbertW]

10 hours ago, slothparade said:

Heard lots of mixed reviews about banjos, quite a few say they're good deep fried and I was going to use the head for shark bait. Definitely want to try shovel nose, apparently very popular in Europe as fish and chips.

 

What about rays? Have a indigenous mate who loves them but also have another mate who says they're a bit chewy. I was thinking to do a thai green curry inspired thing with chilli's and coconut with the ray. But don't really want to waste a life if it's a bad idea. 

Thanks 

i missed out on that opportunity a couple years back when I only fished bait. Was fishing middle harbor with prawns and pillies and a 1 metery shovel nose decided to eat my prawn, thought it was weed at first because of how heavy it was and it wasn't fighting much, didn't know they were good eating at the time and just let it go. At least I got a trev for a feed a couple minutes before the shovelnose.

[slothparade]

1 hour ago, Fried Rice said:

Tried a "black" stingray once that I speared many years ago at Durras. About 70 or 80 Cm across. From memory I took some skinned fillets and BBQ'd them. Should have BBQ'd my boot instead.

Haha, yeah need to curry them. Uncle said would be easier to eat his leather belt