Here you will find information and chat about fish spieces and comments, events, recepies and other bits and pieces.
Yellowtail kingfish
Leatherjackets
Tuna
Dolphin fish
Snapper
 Reef species

Yellowtail kingfish As you may know, the minimum size is 65 cm and we have thrown back quite a few. The ones we kept were 66+ and up to 75 cm. We like kingies, they are good fun to catch, easy to clean and excellent table fish. Click here for more information.

Leatherjackets Leatherjackets, leatherjackets and leatherjackets! What can you say? Unless you have been out with us, or on your own or with other operators along the NSW coast, you may not know what it means to be fishing when these creatures are around.

I have been fishing the waters off Port Hacking for thirty years and never seen leather jackets in numbers such as during the last year or two. They are along the coast in massive schools! But it is also a kind of two edged sword. In a reasonable size they are quite good to eat and easy to catch and some people love them. They are easy to cook and kids like them because of the white flesh and no bones. Twenty per person is the bag limit. But jackets are also making it difficult to reach the flathead or reef spices like snapper and morwong that we like – they are often snatching the bait as it is sinking south!  Fishing jackets can be an expensive day out because of their sharp parrot like teeth – they bite of lines, hooks and sinkers.

Tuna We really like all of the tunas! They are fun to catch and good eating if prepared properly,as described below. Click here for more information.

All @ Sea’s Tuna preparations for cooking.

This not a specific cooking recipe but more about preparing fish like striped tuna, mackerel tuna and other pelagic species. By the way, credit goes to Deckie Steve who came up with this and it has been proven correct with many people saying, “That’s the best piece of fish I’ve ever had” 

Have your trolling lines going and when you get a hook-up quickly bring in the fish, then

  1. Bleed the fish by cutting its throat and immerse in a bin of sea water
  2. Gut the fish and place it in a container, we use polystyrene boxes with a mix of ice and sea water to chill the body 
  3. Keep it in the same ice cold conditions until you are home

On a cutting board, fillet the fish and skin from the head down, then

  1. With each fillet, cut along the blood line in the middle of each side and discard the dark blood section or keep as excellent bait for next fishing trip
  2. Now you have four pieces of fillets. Place them in a shallow container, cover with water and three or four tablespoons of salt. Put it in the fridge for about two hours
  3. You will now find that the water has turned a little pink because the salt draws blood from the meat
  4. Throw away the water and replace it with some inexpensive white wine and marinate for an hour.

Cut the fillets in 3-4 cm pieces and now it’s ready to be cooked! It can be any old recipe like a stir-fry, or tossed in a frying pan with a bit of garlic or onion, or perhaps some of your favorite Asian spices. Or place the fish pieces on a BBQ but do not overcook, just a minute or two on each side to keep the meat moist.

So it’s boneless fish with an interesting flavor and kids like it. I suggest that you serve the fish with a green salad or vegetables, rice or potato chips.

Enjoy - and remember, it’s all in the preparations.

Dolphin fish This is another one of our favorites! With the warm current from the north we target dollies or Mahi Mahi around the off-shore FADs, about 12 miles out from the coast. More information here.

 

Snapper You all know this fish very well. To be successful we need to travel quite a distance down south, about 10 to 12 nautical miles to the gravel grounds and deep water. More information here.

 

Reef species We often catch a range of reef fish, for example wrasses, sweep, sarget baker, red rock cod fish, tarwhine and bream, trevally, cowanyoung, pig fish, goat fish and grouper. For some of them we recommend a dish like Thai Fish Cocktails, like this:

All @ Sea’s Thai Fish Cocktails

Get your blender going and whip up following:

  1. Coarsely chopped  ½ large red capsicum 
  2. 1 cm piece of chopped ginger
  3. 2 garlic cloves
  4. 3 table spoons of Sweet Chilli Sauce
  5. Optional: a piece of Thai Palm sugar

Throw in 500 g of any firm fish fillets. It can be Yellowtail, Sweep, Blackfish, Morwong or Drummer or any other fresh fish, sometimes not fully appreciated for its qualities.

Blend again, then transfer to a glass or ceramic bowl. Gently mix in,

  1. 100 ml of coconut cream
  2. 1 egg
  3. A pinch of salt
  4. 6 chopped spring onions
  5. ½ a bunch of chopped coriander leaves

Form into small patties and shallow fry until golden but do not over cook. A few minutes per side should be fine. Serve on cold, crisp cucumber, sprinkled with chopped coriander.

Enjoy with a glass of cold beer or white wine.