Outside Port Hacking

[Larkin]

Gday Raiders, fished just outside port hacking this week. 
Started by fishing soft plastics around Jibbon, one big hookup and an unstoppable run that ended up wrapping me in reef. Tried giving it some slack line - but no go. Was a good sized king. 

Live baited a few reef spots in northern bate bay - all my livies were getting munched by squid. 
Big squid are laying on the reefs now - and they’re everywhere. 

I took off one of the munched yakkas and threaded it onto a squid spike. Never tried a spike before, but found one in my tackle box so thought I’d try it this week. Tied it on a paternoster rig - got one and a second came off. Good way to get larger squid in deep water.

Had a good hit on a big livie that came off, a few small rock cod on the soft plastics but not much else.

Hit up the flatty drift for 1-2 hours. Drift was a bit fast, but took 6 fish ranging in size upto 45cm. 

And that’s family dinner sorted!

 

Edited May 31 by Larkin

[Robbo from Sydney]

14 minutes ago, Larkin said:

Gday Raiders, fished just outside port hacking this week. 
Started by fishing soft plastics around Jibbon, one big hookup and an unstoppable run that ended up wrapping me in reef. Tried giving it some slack line - but no go. Was a good sized king. 

Live baited a few reef spots in northern bate bay - all my livies were getting munched by squid. 
Big squid are on the reefs now laying - and they’re everywhere. 

I took off one of the munched yakkas and threaded it onto a squid spike. Never tried a spike before, but found one in my tackle box so thought I’d try it this week. Tied it on a paternoster rig - got one and a second came off. Good way to get larger squid in deep water.

Had a good hit on a big livie that came off, a few small rock cod on the soft plastics but not much else.

Hit up the flatty drift for 1-2 hours. Drift was a bit fast, but took 6 fish ranging in size upto 45cm. 
 

Another good feed of flathead there. Interesting to hear about the squid activity offshore

[Isaac Ct]

Good stuff Larkin, good feed there. Good to see some squid around.

[Larkin]

9 hours ago, Robbo from Sydney said:

Another good feed of flathead there. Interesting to hear about the squid activity offshore

Thanks Robbo!

Big squid full of eggs atm. Started to show up on the inshore reefs last week.

6 hours ago, Isaac Ct said:

Good stuff Larkin, good feed there. Good to see some squid around.

Thanks Isaac!

Salt and pepper squid came up a treat! 

I haven’t tried inside the hacking, but outside they’re everywhere. My mates caught a heap in Botany Bay too - Larparouse and Kurnell.

[Yowie]

Nice work there Chris. Back in Sydney yesterday arvo, will have to give it a go soon.

[bessell1955]

Umm, my mouth is salivating after viewing those photographs. 

 

[Robbo from Sydney]

On 5/31/2024 at 8:25 AM, Larkin said:

Gday Raiders, fished just outside port hacking this week. 
Started by fishing soft plastics around Jibbon, one big hookup and an unstoppable run that ended up wrapping me in reef. Tried giving it some slack line - but no go. Was a good sized king. 

Live baited a few reef spots in northern bate bay - all my livies were getting munched by squid. 
Big squid are laying on the reefs now - and they’re everywhere. 

I took off one of the munched yakkas and threaded it onto a squid spike. Never tried a spike before, but found one in my tackle box so thought I’d try it this week. Tied it on a paternoster rig - got one and a second came off. Good way to get larger squid in deep water.

Had a good hit on a big livie that came off, a few small rock cod on the soft plastics but not much else.

Hit up the flatty drift for 1-2 hours. Drift was a bit fast, but took 6 fish ranging in size upto 45cm. 

And that’s family dinner sorted!

 

Yum!!!!!

[linewetter]

The fish and squid look perfectly fried!  I can only imagine how good it tastes to eat something you just caught - can't get any fresher than that.  Well done!

[Little_Flatty]

Always manage a feast Chris, well done.

[Larkin]

On 5/31/2024 at 7:23 PM, Yowie said:

Nice work there Chris. Back in Sydney yesterday arvo, will have to give it a go soon.

Thanks Dave, weather should clear up mid week. Worth dropping down a squid jig on a paternoster on any of the reefs too.

On 5/31/2024 at 8:05 PM, bessell1955 said:

Umm, my mouth is salivating after viewing those photographs. 

 

haha, I crave fish done this way too. 
 

20 hours ago, Little_Flatty said:

Always manage a feast Chris, well done.

Thanks Mike, done this way the kids enjoy it too. Nothing gets left.

21 hours ago, linewetter said:

The fish and squid look perfectly fried!  I can only imagine how good it tastes to eat something you just caught - can't get any fresher than that.  Well done!

Thanks linewetter, I tenderise the squid in lemon juice for exactly half an hour just before deep frying. Hot vegetable oil - comes out perfectly tender with a crispy coating - squeeze of lime juice. Better than any restaurant. 

Here’s the secret squid coating 😉

50% potato starch, 50% tapioca flour, heaps of fresh ground black pepper, salt.

Will make the crispiest, tastiest salt and pepper squid you’ve ever tried. 

[linewetter]

1 hour ago, Larkin said:

Thanks Dave, weather should clear up mid week. Worth dropping down a squid jig on a paternoster on any of the reefs too.

haha, I crave fish done this way too. 
 

Thanks Mike, done this way the kids enjoy it too. Nothing gets left.

Thanks linewetter, I tenderise the squid in lemon juice for exactly half an hour just before deep frying. Hot vegetable oil - comes out perfectly tender with a crispy coating - squeeze of lime juice. Better than any restaurant. 

Here’s the secret squid coating 😉

50% potato starch, 50% tapioca flour, heaps of fresh ground black pepper, salt.

Will make the crispiest, tastiest salt and pepper squid you’ve ever tried. 

Ahh that’s the secret!! I was big on experimenting different frying batters a while back - all started when I wanted to figure out how certain takeaways in the US has fries that remained crispy for hours even after being covered in a takeaway box…secret is replacing some of the flour with 10-20% wheat dextrin by weight. Anyway along that journey I found the greatness that is potato starch. Never went back to using regular all purpose flour for much after that, the alternative starches/flours are much better 

[Robbo from Sydney]

2 hours ago, Larkin said:

Thanks Dave, weather should clear up mid week. Worth dropping down a squid jig on a paternoster on any of the reefs too.

haha, I crave fish done this way too. 
 

Thanks Mike, done this way the kids enjoy it too. Nothing gets left.

Thanks linewetter, I tenderise the squid in lemon juice for exactly half an hour just before deep frying. Hot vegetable oil - comes out perfectly tender with a crispy coating - squeeze of lime juice. Better than any restaurant. 

Here’s the secret squid coating 😉

50% potato starch, 50% tapioca flour, heaps of fresh ground black pepper, salt.

Will make the crispiest, tastiest salt and pepper squid you’ve ever tried. 

And even better is the fact it is gluten free so is perfect forf Coeliacs like my wife!!

[zmk1962]

 Another great report and session from the SFF crew - Chris! 
Those meals look delish - do you Uber?

cheers Zoran

[Larkin]

5 hours ago, zmk1962 said:

 Another great report and session from the SFF crew - Chris! 
Those meals look delish - do you Uber?

cheers Zoran

Haha, Im sure can come to some arrangement Zoran 😉

[Larkin]

6 hours ago, linewetter said:

Ahh that’s the secret!! I was big on experimenting different frying batters a while back - all started when I wanted to figure out how certain takeaways in the US has fries that remained crispy for hours even after being covered in a takeaway box…secret is replacing some of the flour with 10-20% wheat dextrin by weight. Anyway along that journey I found the greatness that is potato starch. Never went back to using regular all purpose flour for much after that, the alternative starches/flours are much better 

Yeah, I’ve gone through that whole coating experiment too. Might try mixing a small amount  of dextrin in to try with my fish batter. 

It’s about crisp, but also about taste. Some coatings will crisp but taste is off. 

Did you find out what flour they mixed with dextrin to coat the fries?

[Pickles]

Great report Chris - some cracker Flatties. Pity about the Kingie 🙄

[linewetter]

1 hour ago, Larkin said:

Yeah, I’ve gone through that whole coating experiment too. Might try mixing a small amount  of dextrin in to try with my fish batter. 

It’s about crisp, but also about taste. Some coatings will crisp but taste is off. 

Did you find out what flour they mixed with dextrin to coat the fries?

I didn't find the flour they mixed, but I found they were using a commercial product called Evercrisp to help with keeping stuff crispy.  Easy to get back in the states, so I bought a small packet (usually sold in commerical qtys but found a site that break bulks it into smaller qtys).  After a bit of research, figured out Evercrisp is just wheat dextrin, but processed to remove the gluten so it can be gluten free as well.  Funny enough, fiber supplements are also made of just wheat dextrin too (brand dependent, some are psyllium husk).  I always wondered if you could just use unflavored fiber supplements like the ones you mix with water, which would just be 100% wheat dextrin and nothing else, in place of Evercrisp - saves on the hunt and much easier to get.  However I never tried it myself since I already had a bag of Evercrisp.

In my experimentation, I didn't necessarily find that the dextrin made things crispier too much, and didn't change the flavor.  The main benefit was keeping the crisp there for hours, so like if you had a big party or something and wanted to prep fried foods ahead of time, or keep them crispy during the whole party.  It worked best with flour based stuff, so breaded stuff I don't think you would have as good of an effect

Edited June 2 by linewetter

[jenno64]

Great catch Chris and your meal presentation is awesome, love seeing catches prepared well👌

[Crabstar]

Well Done sir! 
Good to see you again that morning! Seems you did well.

[Larkin]

On 6/2/2024 at 6:27 PM, Pickles said:

Great report Chris - some cracker Flatties. Pity about the Kingie 🙄

Cheers Bob

the odd one gets away from me too - was a nice run while it lasted!

On 6/2/2024 at 9:24 PM, jenno64 said:

Great catch Chris and your meal presentation is awesome, love seeing catches prepared well👌

Thanks Rob!

Nothing left over 😂 can’t beat it when it’s that fresh.

15 hours ago, Crabstar said:

Well Done sir! 
Good to see you again that morning! Seems you did well.

Thanks Crabstar! 
Hope you managed to pick up a few crabs mate!