PDA

View Full Version : Oilfish - good or bad



samsy
08-09-2011, 10:40 AM
We caught this oilfish yesterday offshore and was wondering has anyone tried eating them. I have googled the name "Oilfish" and there is some scary info on there. has anyone tried eating them and had any side effects?

snapperbasher
08-09-2011, 11:05 AM
jesus christ!!

that thing looks scary!! have you got some more info to tell us?? what sort of depth and what was it caught on?

cheers lochie...

charlie09
08-09-2011, 11:39 AM
Ok.....ask yourself how hungry are you?

Cheers
Vince

Bobpen
08-09-2011, 11:39 AM
http://www.fishbase.us/summary/speciessummary.php?id=1044

The flesh is very oily, with purgative properties, if eaten much (Ref. 6181). Marketed fresh and as fish cakes in Japan (Ref. 9302); also processed into fishmeal (Ref. 5217).

From Fishbase Perhaps it is another mother-in-law fish Regards Bob Pen

Ratman
08-09-2011, 02:03 PM
Big sucka. Never seen one.

Any more details on the capture?

Mick

reefer
08-09-2011, 04:07 PM
Samsy,

For the series finale Robson Green hunts for blue marlin in the North Atlantic. He visits to the Canary Islands to sample the odd-looking marine delicacy of escolar, consumption of which is banned in several countries.

www.tv.com/extreme-fishing-with.../show/.../summary.html (http://www.tv.com/extreme-fishing-with.../show/.../summary.html)

Escolar is a rudderfish or an oil fish.

The chef who cooks it has to extract this stuff that looks like thick yellow wax before he eats it....good luck.

Cheers,

reefer

MudRiverDan
08-09-2011, 04:13 PM
Link ^^^ does not work reefer.

Did a google on images and some of them look like they get to 50kg! huge fish.

reefer
08-09-2011, 04:55 PM
thats only a summary that the above statement was quoted from.... there is probably some footage on youtube...from memory is was a lot of work to get it right.

Cheers,

Reefer

nigelr
08-09-2011, 05:02 PM
Jiminy cricket what a beast....one for the mother-in-laws cat perhaps?
Reckon you'd swap for a 30kg mulloway lol....
Definitely a catch to remember!

Aussie123
08-09-2011, 07:14 PM
Oilfish bring big money at the Sydney Fish Markets.
They are good eating but may give you the shits a bit if you eat a lot of it.

samsy
08-09-2011, 07:46 PM
thanks for the reply.

Thankgod for google otherwise we would be shitting ourselves right now, literally. No wonder oilfish are BANNED from sale in Australia, America, Japan and a few other countries.

A bit of info on the capture. We kept the fish becuase we thought it looked like a hapuka (we have never seen a hapuka before) but we didnt find out it was a oilfish until we filleted it and got it home. It has great looking white flesh but the skin is as rough and as spikey as a three day old beard. You need gloves to handle her.

She was caught in very deep water on a whole squid. Dont know the depth as the sounder couldnt read the bottom. Took nearly an hour to bring her into the boat. It weighed 47.5 kilos.

extreme fishing ran a show in it in Japan and some south american country.

For the record i am not game to eat it and do not plan on keeping another one in the future.

bushwacker
08-09-2011, 08:37 PM
Mate used to catch them long lining all the time, never ate one but their flesh looks just like broadbill flesh, we did sell them but cant remember what they used to bring, thats a decent one by the way never saw one much bigger than that

bushwacker
08-09-2011, 08:41 PM
Just read the rest the other posts, no wonder we never ate one must ave been banned for sale after i finished working on the boats..

samsy
08-09-2011, 09:07 PM
here is some good links on oilfish.


http://www.foodauthority.nsw.gov.au/industry/food-business-issues/escolar-oilfish/

http://www.health.qld.gov.au/ph/Documents/ehu/23004.pdf (http://www.health.qld.gov.au/ph/Documents/ehu/23004.pdf)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oilfish (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oilfish)

http://fishbase.org/Summary/SpeciesSummary.php?ID=1044&AT=Oilfish (http://fishbase.org/Summary/SpeciesSummary.php?ID=1044&AT=Oilfish)

pickers
09-09-2011, 03:44 PM
OK guys here's a heads-up from some one who works in the seafood industry.
oilfish , escolar , rudderfish....this fish has been sold under many names.
the flesh is white with a greasy feel to it....it cooks up white but word of warning...dont eat a big slab of it like you would with snapper ect....just have a couple of slices like whiting size fillets , crumb and deep fry it and it's very nice...just dont hoe into it or you'll crap yourself silly.
pickers

MudRiverDan
09-09-2011, 04:19 PM
OK guys here's a heads-up from some one who works in the seafood industry.
oilfish , escolar , rudderfish....this fish has been sold under many names.
the flesh is white with a greasy feel to it....it cooks up white but word of warning...dont eat a big slab of it like you would with snapper ect....just have a couple of slices like whiting size fillets , crumb and deep fry it and it's very nice...just dont hoe into it or you'll crap yourself silly.
pickers

So the main problem with oilfish is if you eat to much you will shit through the eye of a needle at 50 yards.......

stonecold
10-09-2011, 07:12 AM
Its an ugly sucker...these blokes dont mind trying to flog it off

http://www.facebook.com/#!/media/set/?set=a.112535375518870.14166.100002872246672&type=1

ShaneC
10-09-2011, 07:35 AM
They used to sell it to nursing homes in the olden days maybe they still do. Give the oldies a small amount, tasted the goods, gave them the benefits of eating fish and kept them naturally ummm... regular. Small amounts is the key....

mattooty
10-09-2011, 08:15 AM
When I was working at the Co-Op we used to send a huge amount through to the Sydney Fish Markets but the larger majority of it went straight to the pet food industry. It bought bugger all, I think freight to the markets was barely covered, but often you'd get a Western Suburbs 'Fish n Chip' joint buying bulk loads to sell off. Poor customers wouldn't have known what hit em.
Just imagine eating dinner....with a cup of oil and then imagine how quickly it'll flush you out.

onerabbit
10-09-2011, 03:42 PM
MMMMMMM, good catch Marc,
I have never got one of those out here

I can only chime in with the others,
from what I know, dont eat too much.

Can you give me a rough idea where it came from........
just a direction will do.

Muzz

deepfried
10-09-2011, 04:00 PM
Bit of a shame Marc that it is piss poor eating when you were thinking it was a hapuka. Huge fish though.

Aussie123
10-09-2011, 04:14 PM
All the ones I have caught have all been on the bottom between 300 and 350 fathoms.

sunny
17-09-2011, 08:24 AM
Pickers has it right, the stuff is nasty.

I got a big slab of escolar at a fancy restaurant one night. Never again. Basically you get to spend the next day or two shitting bright orange machine grade oil. Not a good idea

samsy
18-09-2011, 09:18 AM
Thanks for the reply guys.

Judging by the repsonses i am glad i havent tried any yet. i wonder if it has the same effect on fish? i have a heap of slabs in the freezer and ready to drop to the bottom as burley next time we head out. hopefully the fish will pick at it as it defrost and create a good burley trail. thats if they dont get the shits :)

onerabbit
18-09-2011, 04:30 PM
I heard today that you caught it pretty deep.....................................

hope that you didnt flatten the battery winding it up.........................

Muzz

samsy
19-09-2011, 04:08 PM
sure did muzza. had to pull in a shit load of line. my arms were sore for the next few days.

onerabbit
19-09-2011, 04:30 PM
Gday Marc,

I was told was caught in 2000ft,
thats a pretty good wind......unless you are chugging out a hell of a long way,
must have been the canyon?

Dont worry, I am just interested,
I dont really want to catch one.

Muzz

nathank
19-09-2011, 11:05 PM
I've eaten a piece of it before.. it was sold to me as rudderfish and it looked awsome in the window, i bought it based on the fact i had never seen such a white fillet of fish before and also out of curiosity.. got it from a fish and chip shop in Narooma NSW. It tasted bloody good and i had kept an eye out for it ever since... well ever since now that is lol..

samsy
21-09-2011, 06:56 AM
yeah muzza it was deep but i have no idea as the sounder stopped reading the bottom at 600 metres.