Flathead feed and a good chuckle

[Mike Sydney]

Dropped the kids off at school this morning and headed out to the cooks river mouth to catch a feed. Arrived around 930 just on the top of the tide. 

After last night’s storm there was plenty of debris in the water as expected but was also treated to some gorgeous mammatus clouds.

Hooked up a luderick of all things almost straight away on a slim swim and dropped it trying to net it but was then treated to a beautiful sight.

A boatload of guys heading out from kyeemagh ramp. Lots of tall rods on the back. Four knot speed limit but this boat was flying - probably 4 or 5 times over the speed limit. Like they were in a race or something.

Not an unusual sight, but this one was special - they misjudged the height of the M1 bridge and CRACK! All the rods smashed into the bridge roof at high speed. The boat slowed and stopped, and they glumly inspected the damage before turning around and heading back to the ramp. Oh, how I laughed and laughed.

I picked up a couple of flathead - a just legal and a 43 - underneath the leaf litter and headed home for a rare cook up. I still haven't quite got the technique right to cut around the bone so the fillets weren’t as big as I wanted but it was a tasty lunch indeed.

I’m off to Lake Macquarie for a few days with mates and as the only angler there’s a lot of pressure on to feed the group so this was good practice!

 

[faker]

I love eating flathead, to point i learnt how to skin one quickly by leaving some finswhich i use as leavers to pull skin right off

 

Nice catch

[Mike Sydney]

3 minutes ago, faker said:

I love eating flathead, to point i learnt how to skin one quickly by leaving some finswhich i use as leavers to pull skin right off

 

Nice catch

Yeah that’s what I (mostly!) managed to do here but using a bit of the tail instead of the fins. There were some small silver bits of skin left on but it mostly tore straight off. The hard part for me is cutting back along the ribs, so I end up cutting a triangle out of perfectly good but bony flesh. I only cook once or twice a year so not a lot of practice but certainly doing better each time. The first couple I basically chopped in half and scooped the guts out but now I realise you don’t have to. A few more and I’m sure I can get a larger boneless fillet. Beats paying $50/kg !

[devoker]

16 minutes ago, faker said:

I love eating flathead, to point i learnt how to skin one quickly by leaving some finswhich i use as leavers to pull skin right off

 

Nice catch

Everytime I try to pull skins big chunks of meat end up on the skin. I remember watching a video that the guy was pulling the skin and the bones were also coming with the skin but I could never do it properly. I always skin by pushing a sharp chef knife to the skin and sliding, then cutting around the bones.

[faker]

6 minutes ago, Mike Sydney said:

Yeah that’s what I (mostly!) managed to do here but using a bit of the tail instead of the fins. There were some small silver bits of skin left on but it mostly tore straight off. The hard part for me is cutting back along the ribs, so I end up cutting a triangle out of perfectly good but bony flesh. I only cook once or twice a year so not a lot of practice but certainly doing better each time. The first couple I basically chopped in half and scooped the guts out but now I realise you don’t have to. A few more and I’m sure I can get a larger boneless fillet. Beats paying $50/kg !

Try using the 2nd set of fins near the gills its far easier

 

 

[Green Hornet]

12 minutes ago, Mike Sydney said:

Yeah that’s what I (mostly!) managed to do here but using a bit of the tail instead of the fins. There were some small silver bits of skin left on but it mostly tore straight off. The hard part for me is cutting back along the ribs, so I end up cutting a triangle out of perfectly good but bony flesh. I only cook once or twice a year so not a lot of practice but certainly doing better each time. The first couple I basically chopped in half and scooped the guts out but now I realise you don’t have to. A few more and I’m sure I can get a larger boneless fillet. Beats paying $50/kg !

Nice catch Mike and it sounds like those guys in the boat learnt a valuable lesson.

Regarding the rib bones in fillets, I’ve always just left them in. Once fried and the meat has shrunk a little, they’re easy to pull out with zero waste.

[Hill373737]

26 minutes ago, Mike Sydney said:

 The hard part for me is cutting back along the ribs, 

I find it easiest to leave the rib bones in when I fillet the fish, then cut them out after the fillet has been in the fridge before cooking, it firms the flesh up and its much easier to cut them out by running a fillet knife along either side of the ribs.

[Aussie_fisher]

Solid catch. Skinning flathead was the biggest challenge initially but I’ve probably skinned like 100 by now so have gotten used to it. Best method for me is to fillet behind the first fin. By leaving the second fin on u can put ur finger underneath it to dislodge the skin and then from there begin to peel backwards. The best way to avoid losing chunks of meat on the side is keeping a firm grip with a rag as you peel backwards. 

[Basil D]

3 hours ago, Mike Sydney said:

Dropped the kids off at school this morning and headed out to the cooks river mouth to catch a feed. Arrived around 930 just on the top of the tide. 

After last night’s storm there was plenty of debris in the water as expected but was also treated to some gorgeous mammatus clouds.

Hooked up a luderick of all things almost straight away on a slim swim and dropped it trying to net it but was then treated to a beautiful sight.

A boatload of guys heading out from kyeemagh ramp. Lots of tall rods on the back. Four knot speed limit but this boat was flying - probably 4 or 5 times over the speed limit. Like they were in a race or something.

Not an unusual sight, but this one was special - they misjudged the height of the M1 bridge and CRACK! All the rods smashed into the bridge roof at high speed. The boat slowed and stopped, and they glumly inspected the damage before turning around and heading back to the ramp. Oh, how I laughed and laughed.

I picked up a couple of flathead - a just legal and a 43 - underneath the leaf litter and headed home for a rare cook up. I still haven't quite got the technique right to cut around the bone so the fillets weren’t as big as I wanted but it was a tasty lunch indeed.

I’m off to Lake Macquarie for a few days with mates and as the only angler there’s a lot of pressure on to feed the group so this was good practice!

 

very relaxed form of fishing and they taste right up there 

[Jo5hC]

I skin by peeling off as well, but I debone using pliers to pull out both rib and pin bones. However it is not always effective at getting out all the pin bones, but I find that I lose less meat.

[Little_Flatty]

Always good to get a feed Mike, well done.

Jealous of your trip up the coast! Have a great time!

[saltrix]

What a waste of fish in the filleting shown. I always start the fillet from right behind the head and with a really sharp knife get right down to the frame. I catch a lot of flathead as you can see from my posts but I do not like to waste fish.
Also I used to discard the wings but now I keep them as they are very nice to eat and I saw someone years ago on this site had cooked them so from then on I have kept them

i never bother skinning the fillet as I rather like the skin and the scales don’t seem to matter.

But everyone to their own taste

[DrRaymondSnapper]

Nice feed and karma to the boat idiots. Its a bit of an art creating boneless flathead fillets and can be wasteful too. I don`t bother skinning them either. Crispy skin adds to the flavour.  That`s when the cats score at our house. Its like a tax.  Nice mammatus photos too. That`s quite a rare phenomenon. Generally associated with nasty thunderstorms unfortunately.

Edited November 18 by DrRaymondSnapper

[Mike Sydney]

9 hours ago, saltrix said:

What a waste of fish in the filleting shown. I always start the fillet from right behind the head and with a really sharp knife get right down to the frame. I catch a lot of flathead as you can see from my posts but I do not like to waste fish.
Also I used to discard the wings but now I keep them as they are very nice to eat and I saw someone years ago on this site had cooked them so from then on I have kept them

i never bother skinning the fillet as I rather like the skin and the scales don’t seem to matter.

But everyone to their own taste

I agree @saltrix I don’t want to be wasting any of the fish either. This is only perhaps my 8th or 9th flathead that I’ve tried to fillet, I usually catch and release. I appreciate all the tips from others here on techniques.

The pics are the result of trying to cut around the rib cage instead of down the backbone as my wife hates bones. After some of the comments here and other videos I will be coming straight down the backbone. I saw the video that @devoker mentioned, Al McGlashan skinning with the bones sticking to the skin, very impressive.

Anyways a bit more practice and I’ll keep more of the fish. Will try the wings too I presumed they weren’t edible

Edited November 18 by Mike Sydney

[noelm]

Not trying to knock anyone preferred method of preparing fish but…….I am not too sure why everyone has this “fear” of bones, all fish are made the same, once you know where the bones are, it’s easy to eat a fish. Now to be clear, most times I fillet and debone fish (depending on the species) but other times I cook whole, or just fillet and leave “as is”. One of the best things to eat, is the backbone of a big Snapper or Blue Eye, just rolled in flour and cooked…fantastic, as are the “wings” eating a fish with bones is not difficult, and if you get a bone, it’s not a death sentence, just be carful. As far as skinning, lots of fish I leave the skin on, especially Whiting, Bream, Snapper, and usually Flathead, (in my opinion) skin adds flavour and adds a bit of crispy texture. I have eaten literally thousands of Blackfish, and those, I fillet, skin and debone every time, they just suit that style or preparation. It’s pretty hard to go past fresh Bream/smaller Snapper, in one of those folding flat wire things, cooked over coals in a Weber or a “real” fire coals…..a squeeze of Lemon juice, a bit of “char” fantastic, but both those methods require effort to get the actual cooking ready before hand.

[noelm]

Just to add when talking about Flathead, the skinning and boning in one go as seen on videos only seems to work well on Sand Flathead (Blue Spot) Duskies are much more difficult to use that method, it still works (kind of) but the skin and bones seem to be more “stuck” to the flesh.

[Green Hornet]

4 hours ago, noelm said:

I have eaten literally thousands of Blackfish, and those, I fillet, skin and debone every time, they just suit that style or preparation. 

@noelm Same here. I used to like baking the odd smaller fish whole, but since seeing pics of fish caught elsewhere with worms in their flesh, all fish are filleted now.

Still haven’t come across one with the parasites and I believe it’s more prevalent in fish caught further north. They say there’s nothing wrong with eating them, though I’m not that desperate for a feed.

[devoker]

7 hours ago, noelm said:

Not trying to knock anyone preferred method of preparing fish but…….I am not too sure why everyone has this “fear” of bones, all fish are made the same, once you know where the bones are, it’s easy to eat a fish. Now to be clear, most times I fillet and debone fish (depending on the species) but other times I cook whole, or just fillet and leave “as is”. One of the best things to eat, is the backbone of a big Snapper or Blue Eye, just rolled in flour and cooked…fantastic, as are the “wings” eating a fish with bones is not difficult, and if you get a bone, it’s not a death sentence, just be carful. As far as skinning, lots of fish I leave the skin on, especially Whiting, Bream, Snapper, and usually Flathead, (in my opinion) skin adds flavour and adds a bit of crispy texture. I have eaten literally thousands of Blackfish, and those, I fillet, skin and debone every time, they just suit that style or preparation. It’s pretty hard to go past fresh Bream/smaller Snapper, in one of those folding flat wire things, cooked over coals in a Weber or a “real” fire coals…..a squeeze of Lemon juice, a bit of “char” fantastic, but both those methods require effort to get the actual cooking ready before hand.

I wasn't scared until my wife got a salmon bone stuck in her throat once had to pulled by a nurse with tweezers

[Larkin]

 Nice catch Mike!

fish burger looks good! 

[Pickles]

Thanks for sharing Mike, like you (and others), I use the same method of filleting, but like @devoker always take the bones out of fish after Mrs Pickles ended up in Nowra hospital with a flathead bone lodged in her throat.

I trust the blokes in the boat keep to the speed limits after their “lesson”, probably more effective than a warning by maritime.

[bessell1955]

Karama was met by the speeding boat fishos!

[jenno64]

That burger says it all:)

[kymbo56]

Great post and good replies. I agree that flatties are one of the best target fish for eating. Yep, filleting is a bit of a pain, but with a sharp knife, a cloth to hold the fish with and a bit of slow care I manage to get maximum flesh with minimum bones. Well worth the effort.

[blairy69]

Flathead skin is the nicest part - leave it on and lightly crumb in Krummies Bread crumbs and shallow fry skin side down in olive oil and you cant go wrong, the other tip is to leave the head on when filleting as it gives you a gripping point (just avoid those spikes) - sharp knife and go slow of the backbone where the bump is and you will improve your fillets and waste nothing.