Bate Bay again

[Yowie]

Headed out into Bate Bay before sunrise this morning. First drift was in the middle of the bay, 2 blue spots pulled up then the spikies turned up and nothing else. 

Headed towards Kurnell, pulled up more spikies and a slimey. Moved towards the cliffs, used cut slimey strips but only managed a few maori wrasse, so headed deeper to a couple of spots and eventually found some blue spots, some under size ones as well, and stacks of spikies.

The wind eased a little, so tried out deeper around 200 feet, and found the red spot whiting on the bite. No legal size limit, bag limit of 20, and they only grow to about 32 cm. The ones I pulled up are an average size for the species. 900 tonnes will be caught this year by commercial fishos. Not often caught by line fishos, however, they are very popular in the fish and chip trade, and frozen fish packs. Small fish but good eating.

Also caught 2 tiger flatties in the deeper water, the larger one is the biggest I have caught off Sydney.

Not much swell or wind, though a little breezey earlier on. Only 1 humpback spotted near the boat.

A few feeds there, some for family members as well, and some into the freezer.

Edited July 24 by Yowie

[noelm]

That is a good Tiger. Very nice catch, and great eating those Flathead.

[big Neil]

A good feed for a few hours on the water Yowie, well done. Did you see the news about the whale breeching on top of a fishing boat?

 

bn

[Tunastrike11]

Not much on those red spots but very tasty.

Edited July 24 by Tunastrike11

[Yowie]

2 hours ago, noelm said:

That is a good Tiger. Very nice catch, and great eating those Flathead.

Thank you Noel. I rate tigers as just above other flatties.

[Yowie]

1 hour ago, big Neil said:

A good feed for a few hours on the water Yowie, well done. Did you see the news about the whale breeching on top of a fishing boat?

 

bn

Several hours worth b.n., but happy with the catch.

Have not seen any news yet today, last thing you want is a whale on board.

[Yowie]

1 hour ago, Tunastrike11 said:

Not much on those red spots but very tasty.

First time I have really targeted them as a catch, usually they are just a by-catch of 1 or 2. Fiddley preparation for them, but will enjoy the fillets, crumbed and pan fried (no bones allowed in fish in my house, and that is not me with that idea) They will be like finger food.

[zmk1962]

Nice tasty catch there Dave ... congrats.

Cheers Zoran

[Isaac Ct]

Great stuff Yowie, good feed. Good size among those flathead. 

[Yowie]

55 minutes ago, zmk1962 said:

Nice tasty catch there Dave ... congrats.

Cheers Zoran

Thank you Zoran, a good day out.

[Yowie]

13 minutes ago, Isaac Ct said:

Great stuff Yowie, good feed. Good size among those flathead. 

Thank you Isaac, a couple of nice ones there compared to 2 weeks ago. The biggest blue spot and tiger were kicking hard.

[Little_Flatty]

A good feed there Dave, well done.

 

[Yowie]

2 hours ago, Little_Flatty said:

A good feed there Dave, well done.

 

Thanks Mike.

The wife is looking forward to fish feeds. 🤣  At least my grandaughter likes fish meals.

[Larkin]

Looks like you found the good sized flatties! 👍

Love those whiting! I found them very easy to clean and scale.

They are so good floured & deep fried whole. Meat peels off each side just like eating a chicken wing - no bones.

[Yowie]

13 minutes ago, Larkin said:

Looks like you found the good sized flatties! 👍

Love those whiting! I found them very easy to clean and scale.

They are so good floured & deep fried whole. Meat peels off each side just like eating a chicken wing - no bones.

A few better sized ones there.

I have to remove all bones from fish that I serve up at home. 😂

[james Cutler]

Top haul again.

Well done.

[Yowie]

6 hours ago, james Cutler said:

Top haul again.

Well done.

Thank you. Regarding the red spot whiting, a long way to haul up small fish, however, they are good eating.

[Crabstar]

On 7/24/2024 at 3:23 PM, Yowie said:

Headed out into Bate Bay ccefore sunrise this morning. First drift was in the middle of the bay, 2 blue spots pulled up then the spikies turned up and nothing else. 

Headed towards Kurnell, pulled up more spikies and a slimey. Moved towards the cliffs, used cut slimey strips but only managed a few maori wrasse, so headed deeper to a couple of spots and eventually found some blue spots, some under size ones as well, and stacks of spikies.

The wind eased a little, so tried out deeper around 200 feet, and found the red spot whiting on the bite. No legal size limit, bag limit of 20, and they only grow to about 32 cm. The ones I pulled up are an average size for the species. 900 tonnes will be caught this year by commercial fishos. Not often caught by line fishos, however, they are very popular in the fish and chip trade, and frozen fish packs. Small fish but good eating.

Also caught 2 tiger flatties in the deeper water, the larger one is the biggest I have caught off Sydney.

Not much swell or wind, though a little breezey earlier on. Only 1 humpback spotted near the boat.

A few feeds there, some for family members as well, and some into the freezer.

 

Not a bad haul mate. I've been busting to go out, project work and the young one has stopped be going anywhere further then the local woolies. Correct me if I'm wrong, but shouldn't be too many more whales heading north, i think they slow up early august?

Those whiting are fantastic, I've found them out in the 60m mark, long way to wind up but i prefer them over a small spikey.......

[Yowie]

1 hour ago, Crabstar said:

Not a bad haul mate. I've been busting to go out, project work and the young one has stopped be going anywhere further then the local woolies. Correct me if I'm wrong, but shouldn't be too many more whales heading north, i think they slow up early august?

Those whiting are fantastic, I've found them out in the 60m mark, long way to wind up but i prefer them over a small spikey.......

Thank you, happy with the catch.

Only saw one whale on the surface, another big swirl but nothing to see, he was probably under. They should be dropping down in numbers by now.

Yep, a long way to haul up the red spots, but you don't get spiked like the spikey flatties. The spikies are a pain in the arse to unhook at times. One dorsal spike in the finger and it aches for an hour.

[kantong]

great bag! those whiting gutted and deep fried whole are absolutely delicious

[Yowie]

7 hours ago, kantong said:

great bag! those whiting gutted and deep fried whole are absolutely delicious

Cannot have any fish with bones here (not me, the other inhabitants    🤣)

I removed the bones from the fillets, then crumbed and pan fried them. Very nice, my grandaughter asked for more fillets.

[Steve0]

12 minutes ago, Yowie said:

Cannot have any fish with bones here (not me, the other inhabitants    🤣)

I removed the bones from the fillets, then crumbed and pan fried them. Very nice, my grandaughter asked for more fillets.

Do you have to fillet tinned sardines

The whiting task is easier if you chill the fillets in the fridge before taking on ribs and pin bones with a really sharp knife. I just slice out a 'V' to get rid of pin bones. You don't sacrifice too much meat, and it beats the whinging if you miss a bone.

 

[Yowie]

52 minutes ago, Steve0 said:

ribs and pin bones with a really sharp knife. I just slice out a 'V' to get rid of pin bones. You don't sacrifice too much meat

 

Same here with all fillets

[Robbo from Sydney]

On 7/24/2024 at 3:23 PM, Yowie said:

Headed out into Bate Bay before sunrise this morning. First drift was in the middle of the bay, 2 blue spots pulled up then the spikies turned up and nothing else. 

Headed towards Kurnell, pulled up more spikies and a slimey. Moved towards the cliffs, used cut slimey strips but only managed a few maori wrasse, so headed deeper to a couple of spots and eventually found some blue spots, some under size ones as well, and stacks of spikies.

The wind eased a little, so tried out deeper around 200 feet, and found the red spot whiting on the bite. No legal size limit, bag limit of 20, and they only grow to about 32 cm. The ones I pulled up are an average size for the species. 900 tonnes will be caught this year by commercial fishos. Not often caught by line fishos, however, they are very popular in the fish and chip trade, and frozen fish packs. Small fish but good eating.

Also caught 2 tiger flatties in the deeper water, the larger one is the biggest I have caught off Sydney.

Not much swell or wind, though a little breezey earlier on. Only 1 humpback spotted near the boat.

A few feeds there, some for family members as well, and some into the freezer.

A good haul there Yowie. Should keep you well fed for a little bit.

[slowjigger]

On 7/24/2024 at 5:58 PM, Yowie said:

First time I have really targeted them as a catch, usually they are just a by-catch of 1 or 2. Fiddley preparation for them, but will enjoy the fillets, crumbed and pan fried (no bones allowed in fish in my house, and that is not me with that idea) They will be like finger food.

So how do you target them if you don't mind me asking? Hook size, bait, etc?