How Much Fish Do You Eat?

[krazyfisher]

I only ever keep what fish I will eat with in a week I dont give fish away to people, they can either go fishing themselves or buy it.and I could eat fish 3 or 4 times a week if it is nice fish ;D

[CHRIS_aka_GWH]

I don't think I'm in the class of blokes you are talking about Steve but your question is a good one.

If I catch a cracker big un (a jew say) & I'm by myself I'll often call it a night. I give a good fresh meal to my neighbours particulary the retired #Malaysian couple who live next door who are very generous in return with their home grown veges & have taught my wife to sir fry the most amazing meals - apleasure shared is a pleasure doubled.

If I'm into the tailor, I only keep six, the rest swim away (subject to the "monster - won't the guys be jealous" clause).

I only keep tailor over 40cm ( that makes them 1kg+) or bream over 30cm.

I try not to keep fish in the freezer - its much better fresh - any stuff I freeze though is treated like gold (blood lines & skin removed etc laid out flat so can be prepared semi frozen before cooking - loses less moisture).

Its hard to convince the boss there is a GENUINE NEED to go fishing when she can dangle 4 trays of frozen fillets under your nose.

I also know blokes who have purchased pro line licences sell excess catch quite legally.

I am also aquainted with a bloke who supplied a healthy blackmarket in Brisbane & the Goldcoast - he is no longer welcome in my home / car having compromised my trust & integrity - its a shame he is an otherwise great mate.

chris

[SteveCan]

Not quite sure how to put this one. But of late we have been catching a lot of fish (for us). We have been releasing about half of what we catch and giving away half of what we keep to Friends and Family as well. We would eat fish minimum once a week but seldom more than twice. There is ALWAYS fish in the freezer at the moment.

What I am getting at is that from reading these forums there are members who get out a lot more than we do, who catch more and bigger fish than the bread and butter species we get. - what do you DO with all the fish? Give it away? Eat fish every day? Catch and release?

I have probably jinxed myself now and wont get another bite all year (it wont be for lack of trying ;)) But seriously, you guys who go out and bring in 20+kg of fish in a trip - what do you do with it all?

Cheers
Steve.

[mackmauler]

Steve, id eat fish 3 or 4 times a week, say on my boat the catch is shared between 3 on board and it all goes to seperate families in most cases even if you get a few good fish its hardly over the top, in your case I notice you fish with your wife mostly so any fish kept are not divided up. So divide the 20kg of fish by 2 we are talking whole weight I presume? and you get 10 kilos each, youd be lucky to get 6 kilos of boneless fillets out of that each, enough to feed the average family 4 or 5 times, say 2 weeks worth of meals.

Personally if ive got enough in the freezer for 4 weeks meals I fish for sport or bait, such as today ;) cheers Rob

[blaze]

Good topic
I only ever bring enough home for a feed of fresh fish. if the parents or relatives want a feed, i will bring home more. generally speaking i like to tag and release most fish, that said I love a feed. Only fish I freeze is shark, and only do that because if i need a feed of fish there is one there.
A point of interest
I have just recieved a thesis done by Sascha Taylor at the Launceston Marintine College, on the survival and tag sheding of sand flathead with tbar tags
results
191 fish caught (rod, line)
96 tagged
95 untagged
mortalities 9 untagged, 10 tagged
100% of fish alive at the end retained the tag
just a very breif summary
cheers
blaze

[SteveCan]

Good replies guys,

Usually we will keep a feed and one for the freezer of certain species. The reason I posted is that about six weeks ago we got amongst some spotty's for the first time. We brought home four that weekend, gave away two to (very grateful) Rellies and Friends kept two and a Trag Jew. All of it top eating and it froze well too. Just a LOT by our standards. I hate waste and since a charter trip where we brought home some kingfish that ended up as bait we have always managed to do the right thing. We have one portion left in the freezer and it's going on the BBQ tomorrow ;) We have now tried Spotty Mac prepared four different ways - Grilled with Lemon Butter & white wine sauce being the pick :)

Chris, I hear you about preparing the fillets for freezing properly - we take out bloodlines and vee fillets that need it. We then freezer bag it and store them on those polystyrene meat trays from Coles to make sure it's flat and unbruised in the freezer. We only get to have a serious go at the fishing every two weeks so a certain amount of freezing is a must if we want to have a feed regularly.

Fishing land based or in the boradwater/estuary regulating your catch is not usually a problem (quite the opposite :P), but outside, when you can hook into a monster it can be another question. I would dearly love to catch a 20kg Cobia - as we don't go wide it may take me a while to get there but I am sure if I keep trying it will happen one day. I guess that was the sort of fish I had in my mind when I posted. I wouldn't know how best to butcher a fish that big.

One more point, of the fish we have frozen I reckon Flathead freezes best - what species do you reckon?

Cheers
Steve

[Cubesy]

I keep and eat any legal fish that I catch. That means we eat fish on average once every six months :) (only if i fish every two weeks)

My wife always makes sure there is something else in the house to eat (she of little faith!)

Cheers

Cubesy

[CHRIS_aka_GWH]

one of my favorite ways with mackeral is to put either a bit of curry powder in the flour before dusting the fillet or some paprika. The paprika version is marvellous with a salad & mayo, adds a subtle smokey almost tomato flavour.

I butcher all fish the same - fillet. A big fish you simply fillet using the tip of your knife in long srokes to slice down from the top of the spine running along the bones. You then steak the fillet on a slight diagonal about 1-2cm thick, the wrist of the tail may be a fillet in itself, skin & you end up with fillets of flesh about normal size that are guaranteed boneless & sooooo tender because they are cut across the grain. And on a really decent fish there are pockets of fleash that don't come out in the fillet, you cut them out & serve them to the kids as crumbed nuggets - they luv em

chris

[mackmauler]

To get the most out of the bigger fish Steve you break the backbone up and cook the frame, eat the meat between the bones, also the wings and the head particularly on bull dolphin. The fish that hold best in the feezer ive found to be wahoo redfish whiting and deepwater tuskers. The ones ive found to be worst are spottys dolphinfish snapper.cheers Rob

[Big_Kev]

Steve I don't like to freeze any fish that I catch as I feel it defetes the purpose, as I like to eat mine fresh.
Only with spotties or other small mackrel if not eaten as fresh mackrel steak I will make them into Thai fish cakes. I then pull them out and fry them upfor a meal when cooking an easy meal.
Cheers Kev.

[Big_Kev]

Steve I don't like to freeze any fish that I catch as I feel it defetes the purpose, as I like to eat mine fresh.
Only with spotties or other small mackrel if not eaten as fresh mackrel steak I will make them into Thai fish cakes. I then pull them out and fry them upfor a meal when cooking an easy meal.
Cheers Kev.