Central coast session 15.1.20

[kingie chaser]

Had been trying to catch up with @61 crusher for a fish up at the central coast for a few months but either work or the weather wasn't playing the game & finally the opportunity yesterday.

Never fished the area before so anticipation was high.

 

Headed out about 6.30am to a coupe of marks around the 60mtr mark to find there was no run & not much happening although it was comfortable with little swell was light & pretty glassy out there.

Came in a bit closer & caught a few small flathead, rock cod, wrasse etc then around the 35mtr mark I got a nice hit & had a good fight going on a light 3-5kg rod running 8lb braid/12lb leader. Wasn't sure what it was & was hoping for a decent snapper, ended up being a 47cm Morwong which I brought home as I wanted to give it a try because Id never eaten it before, Ive read some people like it & some hate it so I will judge it for myself.

Shortly after that Dieter had a nice hit as well & pulled in a nice 45cm pinky, when I saw that come in I though here we go but we didn't get even a squire after that.

 

On the way back trolled along the cliff faces near the white wash for a couple of rat kings around 50/55cm mark which was a bit of fun. 

Also spotted some birds working & had a flick for what ended up being some Taylor, again I brought a few home as I have never cooked Taylor before & want to try it in various ways. 

I know  lot of people snub their noses to a lot of fish so being a chef its my mission this year to try & turn as many so called 'rubbish' fish into tasty offerings.

 

Back at the ramp around 6pm & although not overly fruitful day I still had a ball just being out there & fishing on a great boat like the 520 bar crusher is a real treat for me.   

I look forward to the next trip, thanks for a great day out 61 crusher 😊

 

Cheers

Adrian

Edited January 17, 2020 by kingie chaser

[frankS]

Kingie. Good to see you blokes getting the opportunity to get out and have a bash. Mowies are OK on the tooth I would say half way between a Mauri Wrass  and a Snapper, as good if not better than Tailor . Tailor in my opinion are best cooked with lots of lemon wrapped in alfoil and thrown on a hot plate BBQ , OR smoked. Many fish that are not in best favor with a lot of fisho's are actually pretty good with the right prep and cooking. Far be it for me to tell you how to cook, but I do have some secrets with certain fish that not many know about.

Frank

[Towlersbay boy]

I will lay down a challenge for you. SERGEANT BAKER ! They sit top of the pile for rubbish fish when targeting snapper. 

[New Signing]

21 minutes ago, Towlersbay boy said:

I will lay down a challenge for you. SERGEANT BAKER ! They sit top of the pile for rubbish fish when targeting snapper. 

They do however make for excellent hard wearing bait

[frankS]

50 minutes ago, Towlersbay boy said:

I will lay down a challenge for you. SERGEANT BAKER ! They sit top of the pile for rubbish fish when targeting snapper. 

Get a large one and fillet them from bum hole to tail and you end up with a couple of small fillets worth a try. Not as good as flathead but serve it up to someone who doesn't know the difference and they will enjoy it.

Next!!.

Frank

[antonywardle]

I heard that mowong are much better if you leave them whole and take the fillets off without touching the gut lining.

 

I don't find them too bad myself

 

nice catch!

 

[61 crusher]

It was good to catch up & finally get out in great conditions, I’ve never drifted so slow I think we averaged 0.4 knots as they say no run no fun, it was a bummer seeing those trawlers running 3 abreast in the 50 m line hence why we only got the small spiky flatties & was good to see that mowie giving you a hard time on the light gear. Hopefully we can get out again soon  Be interesting to hear how the fish ended up 

cheers Dieter 

[Rebel]

Great report.

[Yowie]

Good luck with the mowie, not my favourite at all.

[sydney south]

Yes you have to eat mowie strait away. My nanna use to make a great fish mornay from Mowie. but nevee freeze it and expect a good feed after.

[James Clain]

I hear a lot of conflicting information about all fish, I personally don't like eating bream, mind you I like all fish so I will still eat bream but everyone who hears me say that thinks i'm either a complete idiot or bad at cooking fish. On the other hand I really like Australian salmon. 

So now I no longer take advice about fish unless I eat them myself and make up my own mind. 

Great report @kingie chaser  How did you personally find the Morwong

[kingie chaser]

9 hours ago, frankS said:

Kingie. Good to see you blokes getting the opportunity to get out and have a bash. Mowies are OK on the tooth I would say half way between a Mauri Wrass  and a Snapper, as good if not better than Tailor . Tailor in my opinion are best cooked with lots of lemon wrapped in alfoil and thrown on a hot plate BBQ , OR smoked. Many fish that are not in best favor with a lot of fisho's are actually pretty good with the right prep and cooking. Far be it for me to tell you how to cook, but I do have some secrets with certain fish that not many know about.

Frank

Thanks for the ideas frank.

This time out Im going to hot smoke the Taylor & make a rillette out of it, serve it with some garlic croutons & caper crème fraiche. I'll do it a few different ways over time. The Mowie not sure yet.

8 hours ago, Towlersbay boy said:

I will lay down a challenge for you. SERGEANT BAKER ! They sit top of the pile for rubbish fish when targeting snapper. 

Challenge accepted 😁

I have only heard bad things about them, mainly about the bones but you would be surprised what you can give a chef & what we can turn out of it.

6 hours ago, antonywardle said:

I heard that mowong are much better if you leave them whole and take the fillets off without touching the gut lining.

That's actually what I did 1st thing this morning, didn't even scale it!

Took the fillets off around the ribs & skinned it with the scales on, no gutting or scaling required 😉

5 hours ago, Yowie said:

Good luck with the mowie, not my favourite at all.

Your ears must have been burning shortly after I pulled it in 😂

5 hours ago, Rebel said:

Great report.

Cheers.

5 hours ago, sydney south said:

Yes you have to eat mowie strait away. My nanna use to make a great fish mornay from Mowie. but nevee freeze it and expect a good feed after.

Dam, its in the freezer, didn't have an option as I am working nights for the next few days & wanted to freeze it fresh.

Will see how it goes?

4 hours ago, James Clain said:

 So now I no longer take advice about fish unless I eat them myself and make up my own mind. 

That's a good way to think James.

I think we are spoilt for choice here in Australia & if you look at many other countries fish like slimy mackerel & similar are a staple but 9 out of 10 aussies would say they are bait!

Getting the knowledge on how to treat then is the key, things you pick up from others goes a long way to getting a better end product.

Will have time next week to make some dishes out of both fish so stay tuned 

6 hours ago, 61 crusher said:

It was good to catch up & finally get out in great conditions, I’ve never drifted so slow I think we averaged 0.4 knots as they say no run no fun, it was a bummer seeing those trawlers running 3 abreast in the 50 m line hence why we only got the small spiky flatties & was good to see that mowie giving you a hard time on the light gear. Hopefully we can get out again soon  Be interesting to hear how the fish ended up 

cheers Dieter 

Yes it was, & hopefully the stars will align again soon, but just not after a night shift though 😏.

I fish on my own so much its great to get out with someone & have good conversation & I appreciate all the tips & knowledge passed on to.

Although not big that mowie pulled dam hard, the best fun with a fish I've had in a while! 

Thanks again & talk soon. 

 

[Scratchie]

That’s awesome fellas! Great to see you two catch up and get out there for a fish. I’d say the day was fruitful.
Although the Port Stephens snapper catch up wasn’t a success, it obviously bred relationships that would otherwise not have happened. 

Great to see fishraiders getting together and having a good time! Love your work! 👍

cheers scratchie!!! 

[kingie chaser]

1 hour ago, Scratchie said:

That’s awesome fellas! Great to see you two catch up and get out there for a fish. I’d say the day was fruitful.
Although the Port Stephens snapper catch up wasn’t a success, it obviously bred relationships that would otherwise not have happened. 

Great to see fishraiders getting together and having a good time! Love your work! 👍

cheers scratchie!!! 

100% Scratchie 

[frankS]

OK shame you froze the mowie, but seems how you have, try this. Cauliflower broke up into clumps boiled in salt water till almost soft, cut the mowie into 1" cubes and steam , 3 tablespoons plain flour 1 1/2 cups of milk and a decent chunk butter ( about 3 table spoons ) .

Melt butter slowly in shallow pan and add flower salt pepper ( to taste ) add the milk and stir constantly till thickened, drain cauliflower and place in buttered  baking dish add mowie cubes and pour over sauce , place in pre heated oven at approx. 160 deg for a few minutes till heated through. Serve and add a few drops of vinegar or soy sauce.  Next one you get add teaspoon brown sugar to mix and try.

Frank

[New Signing]

We've always eaten mowies and for many years i preferred them to snapper.

As others have said the gut lining is its biggest downfall as it seems to release an iodine taste through the fish. If you can while knock the guts out of it straight away and give it a good brush out.

We always skinned the mowies, cut them into bite size pieces and shallow fry with a nice beer batter

[danielsydney]

22 hours ago, Towlersbay boy said:

I will lay down a challenge for you. SERGEANT BAKER ! They sit top of the pile for rubbish fish when targeting snapper. 

Zuppa di mare - Italian style tomato based fish soup with fregola is fantastic with baker. There's no such thing as a rubbish fish!!!

[jenno64]

Nice Mowie Adrian!

 

[kingie chaser]

10 hours ago, frankS said:

OK shame you froze the mowie, but seems how you have, try this. Cauliflower broke up into clumps boiled in salt water till almost soft, cut the mowie into 1" cubes and steam , 3 tablespoons plain flour 1 1/2 cups of milk and a decent chunk butter ( about 3 table spoons ) .

Melt butter slowly in shallow pan and add flower salt pepper ( to taste ) add the milk and stir constantly till thickened, drain cauliflower and place in buttered  baking dish add mowie cubes and pour over sauce , place in pre heated oven at approx. 160 deg for a few minutes till heated through. Serve and add a few drops of vinegar or soy sauce.  Next one you get add teaspoon brown sugar to mix and try.

Frank

Great recipe Frank, I recon if you haven't already done so put this in the cooking section for all to see 👍

 

10 hours ago, New Signing said:

We've always eaten mowies and for many years i preferred them to snapper.

As others have said the gut lining is its biggest downfall as it seems to release an iodine taste through the fish. If you can while knock the guts out of it straight away and give it a good brush out.

We always skinned the mowies, cut them into bite size pieces and shallow fry with a nice beer batter

Yeh that was a great tip Dieter passed onto me as I had no idea with that species about the gut lining, I knew of others like Luderick being similar & these are the tips that make all the difference!

5 hours ago, danielsydney said:

Zuppa di mare - Italian style tomato based fish soup with fregola is fantastic with baker. There's no such thing as a rubbish fish!!!

Nice 👍

You could also add it to a fritto misto di mare 😁

You could also turn the whole fish into so many things like a fish head soup, use the flesh added last minutes into a thai coconut curry sauce served with some steamed jasmin rice a bit of fried shallots, coriander & bam 🤜

 

At worst could pretty much turn any fish, as long as I can remove the bones into something like thai fish cakes.

Who doesn't like those with some sweet chilli sauce right 

 

This is what I guess I am trying to get across in the end regarding trying to open up the minds😀