John Dory JetSki Fishing off Sydney

[Larkin]

Gday Raiders,

Headed out on Thursday for a fish on the JetSki up around the deep reefs off Maroubra/Coogee.
Plan was to get out there, and back in before the forecast winds. 
Loaded up on yakkas in Yarra bay, and after 30mins had at least 10 in the bait tank

Plan was to target John Dory in a new spot using livies off the bottom, as well as Snapper using salted bonito strip baits with my second rod. I’ve been exploring and trialing spots for John Dory for the last 6-8 weeks. Fishing livies off the bottom on deep water reefs around ledges, holes, flat weedy/reefy terrain ect. testing and trialing spots.

Yesterday was the day - and what a fish! Think I smashed the old Fishraider John Dory record too!

What felt like a very large trag ended up being my holy grail fish! A 56-58cm (mouth closed/mouth open size) Huge John Dory!

You better believe I was cheering! 

Got to thank wazza 👍👍 @wazatherfisherman who not only inspired me to chase these fish after reading his John Dory article, but whose John Dory rig did the trick! He recommended a short hook line to restrict the movement of the livebait.

Heres the rig I used for those interested. 
Paternoster rig, 3 way swivel, 8oz snapper sinker. 1.4m sinker line, 40cm hook line. The long sinker line keeps the livie in the strike zone around a meter off the bottom, the short hook line restricts the livies movement making easier for a John Dory to catch. I run 20lb to the sinker (breakaway in case of snags) and 50lb to the hook. By catch is kings, Trag ect so better to use heavier line.

Anyway, dory wasn’t the only fish - managed to get 7x Trags over 50cm (2x released) and two pinkie snapper. Surprisingly zero bycatch and left the fish biting. Back at the ramp by 11am.

 

Edited September 8, 2023 by Larkin

[bessell1955]

Now that was indeed a very successful fishing trip. 

[Little_Flatty]

Look at that bucket mouth! I haven’t seen many dory, but that must be a stonker!

Well done!

[whiskey299]

Well done Chris! 

[kantong]

a very solid day out there! well done. Which of those of fish fight the hardest?

[Isaac Ct]

Yessss, what a fish. Great to see you get one finally.

Well done. Good feed to be had.

[wazatherfisherman]

That is a dead-set beauty! Let us know how you rate it eating-wise. Great you targeted them and got such a good one. Hope it's the first of many

[Larkin]

2 hours ago, bessell1955 said:

Now that was indeed a very successful fishing trip. 

Thanks Bessel! 
Knew it was going to be a cracker as I had the lucky charms say hello - Pod of dolphins wake riding my ski on the way out!
 

2 hours ago, Little_Flatty said:

Look at that bucket mouth! I haven’t seen many dory, but that must be a stonker!

Well done!

Thanks Mike! 
Yeah, they’re crazy looking! Wife got sent a pic and she said “what’s that weird looking fish!”
I think they look amazing!

2 hours ago, whiskey299 said:

Well done Chris! 

Thanks Brad! Had a top day out there!

1 hour ago, kantong said:

a very solid day out there! well done. Which of those of fish fight the hardest?

The snapper fight the hardest. Trag don’t really fight, just feel heavy with some tail kicks - when they’re up higher in the water they get barotrauma, so just lay there on the surface. The dory was similar to a large trag, felt quite heavy due to its shape resisting water on the way up.

59 minutes ago, Isaac Ct said:

Yessss, what a fish. Great to see you get one finally.

Well done. Good feed to be had.

Thanks Isaac!

as you know, been chasing one for a while. Reading and researching what ever I could find about them to try and work out what type of underwater structure they hang around.

Edited September 8, 2023 by Larkin

[Yowie]

Nice bag of fish, especially the dory, should be good on the plate. At that size, your fist will fit inside it's mouth - it is the last thing many small fish see. The big mouth opens quickly and a vacuum sucks in the small fish, though I have found some dory with near legal size blackfish in the stomach.

[Larkin]

52 minutes ago, wazatherfisherman said:

That is a dead-set beauty! Let us know how you rate it eating-wise. Great you targeted them and got such a good one. Hope it's the first of many

Thanks Wazza! They are a Beautiful looking fish!

Tried different types of structures out there over the last month or two - it’s the one thing I wasn’t sure on when searching for them.

This time tried some flat ground adjacent to structure. There was a school of fish down there that I had pegged as leatherjackets, but ended up being a big school of trag. I wanted to keep trying for more, but reached bag limit for trag and didn’t need to take any more fish.

19 minutes ago, Yowie said:

Nice bag of fish, especially the dory, should be good on the plate. At that size, your fist will fit inside its mouth - it is the last thing many small fish see. The big mouth opens quickly and a vacuum sucks in the small fish, though I have found some dory with near legal size blackfish in the stomach.

Thanks Dave!

Yeah that mouth is like a trunk!

& I didn’t know they have a row of hooked spines along the rim of their body at the rear - like little sickles. 
 

Going to keep it simple, filleting and serving with a lemon butter cream sauce. 

 

[noelm]

That’s one might fine Dory! Seems like lots of Trag around at the moment?

[Bardy]

Hey Chris..

Nice Dory !... Can I ask when u say "deep reefs" would u mind if I ask what depth ?   Are we talking 60 meters or deeper ?

Cheers Pb

[Larkin]

3 hours ago, noelm said:

That’s one might fine Dory! Seems like lots of Trag around at the moment?

Thanks Noel! Was cheering when it came on board.

Yeah, Plenty of trag on the offshore reefs at the moment. Schools of them.

1 hour ago, bardi said:

Hey Chris..

Nice Dory !... Can I ask when u say "deep reefs" would u mind if I ask what depth ?   Are we talking 60 meters or deeper ?

Cheers Pb

Hi PB, this was caught at 60-65m, but I’ve been trying 40m up to 90m. Still have a few more spots to test out.
 

[Larkin]

John Dory with a Lemon Butter Sauce.

Stunning fish on the plate! 
Have tried plenty at restaurants - but this was next level. Fillets were thick and juicy. Delicate white meat, and that sauce….

[noelm]

They are pretty good on the plate, funny flesh texture isn’t it? We usually get one or two a year while Flathead fishing, they take a full Flathead and don’t let go.

[Yowie]

33 minutes ago, Larkin said:

John Dory with a Lemon Butter Sauce.

Stunning fish on the plate! 
Have tried plenty at restaurants - but this was next level. Fillets were thick and juicy. Delicate white meat, and that sauce….

Yum!!

[Yowie]

5 hours ago, Larkin said:

Going to keep it simple, filleting and serving with a lemon butter cream sauce. 

 

Looks like you removed all of the fillet. Being a thin bodied fish, I do not fillet them like a normal fish (same as flounder). Normal fish filleting is a quick slice off the backbone. With these and flounder, a slower filleting exercise using the point of a rounded knife to remove all meat from the backbone.

[Bardy]

58 minutes ago, Larkin said:

Thanks Noel! Was cheering when it came on board.

Yeah, Plenty of trag on the offshore reefs at the moment. Schools of them.

Hi PB, this was caught at 60-65m, but I’ve been trying 40m up to 90m. Still have a few more spots to test out.
 

Thank Chris.. Ive seen u out there on the "Ski" occasionally, mainly off PH. I usually fish mid week too to avoid the crowds. Next time I do, I will pop by and say "hi"   ..   Cheers Paul

[Isaac Ct]

1 hour ago, Larkin said:

John Dory with a Lemon Butter Sauce.

Stunning fish on the plate! 
Have tried plenty at restaurants - but this was next level. Fillets were thick and juicy. Delicate white meat, and that sauce….

Looks delicious mate, if you don't mind posting how you cook the trags? You have mentioned you batter them like fish and chips,, keen to see exactly how you do it.

[Larkin]

2 hours ago, noelm said:

They are pretty good on the plate, funny flesh texture isn’t it? We usually get one or two a year while Flathead fishing, they take a full Flathead and don’t let go.

I’ve had John dory from restaurants and the fish shop, but this fresh was a different fish - very delicate meat, yet firm, and came apart in squares.

Would love to catch one flatty drifting - beats bringing up a small flatty

 

2 hours ago, Yowie said:

Looks like you removed all of the fillet. Being a thin bodied fish, I do not fillet them like a normal fish (same as flounder). Normal fish filleting is a quick slice off the backbone. With these and flounder, a slower filleting exercise using the point of a rounded knife to remove all meat from the backbone.

These fillets were thick - around 2cm. All the meat came off nicely and next to no waste. They have a few different muscles - around the rim similar muscles to those of leatherjackets. Towards the centre there’s a muscle separation too.

It was enough to feed both me and the wife!

[Larkin]

2 hours ago, bardi said:

Thank Chris.. Ive seen u out there on the "Ski" occasionally, mainly off PH. I usually fish mid week too to avoid the crowds. Next time I do, I will pop by and say "hi"   ..   Cheers Paul

Hi Paul - yeah mate, you see me out there come say hello. nice rig!

[Scooter0069]

Great bag as usual Larkin and that fish looks so good on the plate well done 

[Larkin]

2 hours ago, Isaac Ct said:

Looks delicious mate, if you don't mind posting how you cook the trags? You have mentioned you batter them like fish and chips,, keen to see exactly how you do it.

Hey Isaac, 

pretty simple mate, but a couple of things you need to do to get the batter crispy.

Plain Flour

Any Beer - I use Corona

Salt

Deep pan or deep fryer. I use a deep frying pan coz the wife got rid of the deep fryer for an air fryer 😝.
Fill with at least 3cm of Vegetable oil. ETA or crisco brands are good. 

In a mixing bowl put about 2-3 measuring cups of plain flour and about 1/2 to 1 level teaspoon of salt.

poor in the beer and mix - I use a fork to mix so I can get rid of any lumps. You don’t want it too runny like water, or thick like dough, Just in the middle so it sticks to the fish but not thick.
 

Heres the secret. Not really but you got to do it this way to get a good batter crisp. Cold fish fillets straight out of the fridge, cold beer straight out of the fridge. 
Hot oil that’s already up to frying temperature. When cold hits hot, it makes the batter crispy.

Flour the fish in plain flour, do a few at a time, then straight in the batter - run your forefinger and thumb down either side of the fillet to take off sone of the batter, and straight in the hot oil.

keep flipping them over in the oil as each side gets that golden colour

Use paper towels on a plate to soak up any excess oil. Remove and serve on a plain plate - and eat straight away. If you leave it too long the batter will go soft. 
 

I do other variations like blending rice flour 50/50 with plain flour to keep it crispy longer, but I prefer the taste of the original way. Sometimes I’ll add honey and lemon into the batter too, but you don’t need to.

Edited September 8, 2023 by Larkin

[Larkin]

52 minutes ago, Scooter0069 said:

Great bag as usual Larkin and that fish looks so good on the plate well done 

Thanks scooter!
Tasted even better than it looked!

[big Neil]

I love your posts, Larkin. The research, planning, and execution of your trips are first-class and lead to well-deserved results. Whilst JDs are an unusual-looking fish, they obviously serve a purpose in the scheme of things piscatorial. They always bring back the memory of the first meeting with Waza. Immediately I was taken by his depth of knowledge about the elusive JD. Of course, I have since learned that his knowledge is far more extensive. His willingness to share it continues to reap rewards for many Fishraiders.

Yet another example of the benefits of being on this site.

ps. Your meal looks absolutely scrumptious...now that's something I know about.

bn