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Middle harbour King mushy


fyshfood

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Went out two Wednesdays ago loaded up on lives and got busted off 6 times outside the heads difting yakkas off the bottom. Did manage to boat and release 4 at 60ish all on 60lb gear. Very exiting day only managed a large bonnie and a good flathead to take home .

So last Wednesday the call was made to up the antie to 80lb ,so loaded up on lives and back outside the heads we went managed to pick up 3 squid as well so hopes were high. Done the same thing but no takers this time at the heads so went to another spot and was greated by a fur seal which stole our livies and made it unfishable. 

Call was made to get some flathead and come back after an hour or so. Got 6 nice blue spots and went back and our mate was still there. 

 

Into middle harbour we went , had a visit from two fisheries officers and with the all clear given we anchored up. And put our our baits. Oddly our squid strips we be taken without any obvious nibbles and it was down to our last squid head when it went off and a 70 cm king came on board . Bled and into the iced esky .However cooking it up last night it appears it may have hade the Kudo parasite as flesh seem perfect , cooked well held together ok but kind of dissolved in the mouth , flavour seemed ok but mushy. 

Has anyone else noticed this of late? Maybe a result of catching it from hotter waters inside?

cheers

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Had a mushy 80cm king a few years ago from Longy at this time of year. Bugger is, as you experienced, you don't know until you cook em. I'd gone to the effort of making a bunch of fish tacos for girlfriend who had been on at me to keep a fish to eat. Not impressed. Mine was inedible. Very floury. Was told the fish which have this have spent a lot of time in warmer water and if caught in Sydney were probably "travellers" which had come down from north coast, where parasite affected kings are much more common.

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Upon some googling research it afffects Jews dollies and even flounder. Apparently the way to test it is to press on the skin of the fish  after it has been dead for a hour or so and if it returns it's ok and if it remains indented to discard. I also thought it may have been one of those farmed escapies from Poort Stephens ( being artificially fed and enclosed that their flesh may be different) . But the parasite info seems accurate.

Is a shame for all the effort to bring home a nice fish after two trips and end up with that result. What do u do!

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In years past I experienced this so often with kings that I always kept the fillets seperate and test cooked a small piece of each.

It is disappointing to sit down to a nice fish meal and find mush served up.

As you know it is infection of the fish with the Kudoa parasite and many species can be infected including mahi mahi.

Some blame lack of icing but even bled and iced down fish suffer.

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can i ask why you guys use such heavy line..? no offence, my mate, always taught me to go line when possible,  we can manage 70-80cm king on a 15-20lb leader, with a longer fight thats all.

so correct me if im wrong,,, i  have nother over 20lb in my setup lol

 

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We fished an area of heavy reef against the headland and on that first Wednesday we got smoked on the reef after about 6 seconds after being hit several times It was mayhem. Ironically my best king from that spot was 8 kg on 21 lb many years ago. But I think I got somewhat lucky cause I struggled to land them there since. 

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19 hours ago, papafish said:

can i ask why you guys use such heavy line..? no offence, my mate, always taught me to go line when possible,  we can manage 70-80cm king on a 15-20lb leader, with a longer fight thats all.

so correct me if im wrong,,, i  have nother over 20lb in my setup lol

 

I use a heavier out fit when targeting kings (30lb braid 40lb leader shimano 8000 baitcaster with 8-15Kg rod) because Ive been told a decent fish can spool a light outfit also they fight dirty and will reef you if they can be it anchor rope moorings or the bottom. That said most kings I have caught were on light gear ( sedona and sienna reels 2000 to 3500 on different rods with 6lb braid just reloaded all with 12lb braid because if you hit a batch of decent bonnies or macs or even salmon and especially kings a long fight can take you away from the fish., I have even hooked a few on a hand line rigged for yakkas with a tiny piece of pillie but have never landed one in that case  and the fight was very short.

Edited by blaxland
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As others have said it is a north Coast traveller. Up north we would bag kings and label to check them in batches. From my understanding south kings fetch more cash than north for this reason. Would assume the king farm up the coast is out of danger of mushy.....

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