Shovelnose Sharks?

[Damned67]

I've been reading alot lately about shovelnose sharks and their eating qualities and was wondering if any one could give some advice about catching them and how to kill them quickly. Also any recipes or advice on skining or filliting would be much appreciated.

Cheers,
Damned 67

[oldboot]

Very tasty... aparantly..... havnt had the pleasure myself.
There are a coupl of fellas on here athat are very partial to them.
Lightly crumbed, shallow fried and a bit of lemon..... seems to be the considered opinion.

Satbbing them thru the brain just behind & between the eyes will uslualy do the trick nice & quick.

as with any shark or ray, gut,gill, head & tail and get on ice without delay.

You take the head out with a big "V" because the flaps are quite a something in the opinion of some.

they are bottom feeders and to a certain extent scavengers.
Half a pillie or similar fished right on the bottom with a short trace is reasonable.

they hang arround sand flats & the like..... the making tide is suposed to be best.

Actialy they are suposed to be a RAY...... who cares

cheers

[LINZ_74]

I generally pick them up in deeper sandy gutters around sand bars and use a 6/0 or 8/0 j hook with a big slab of mullet along with at least 300mm of wire trace.
If you get onto a decent size one hang on because they are something that are hard to fight but so much fun.

Lindsay

[Noelm]

pretty simple thing to clean, and reasonable eating, but the Banjo is not all that flash, to clean, just cut around where the tail joins the head/flap bit, on some types on the under side there is what looks like a dotted line, just cut around that, then you are left with a Flathead looking tail, run a fillet off both sides of the backbone, and you are ready to skin, now with a GOOD sharp and slightly flexible knife, grab the small tail end and put the knife at a slight angle to the skin near the end and pull the skin towards the knife, not use the knife to cut (so to speak) sound pretty hard, but it is harder to describe than to actually do, most times you need to skin twice as the fillet is a slight triangle shape and needs both "sides" skinned.

[Damned67]

Yeah, we've been catching the odd one (maybe every second trip), and thought it might be something to try. Do they have a legal size limit?
Cheers!

(My son (Snag king), and the one who started this thread, is home from school today, and it seems he didn't bother to sign me out. Furthermore, the cheeky little bugger even signed off as me!)

[disorderly]

Yeah, we've been catching the odd one


(My son (Snag king), and the one who started this thread, is home from school today, and it seems he didn't bother to sign me out. Furthermore, the cheeky little bugger even signed off as me!)

Yeah yeah sure mate.
Just because all you catch is shovelnose sharks no need to be embarrassed.

[Damned67]

Smart Arse!

Funny thing is, my wife will only eat 'flake'. Last outing the son and I returned with a beautiful flathead, bream and tailor, and threw back a shovelie (and some smaller bream). Anyway, some beautiful, fresh fish and she wouldn't eat any. I figure I'll bring home some 'flake' and then she'll have no excuse.
That, and there has been the odd trip where all we've caught were undersize or shovelies. So, there might be some truth to your comment.

[elprez]

Good eating, with filleting as the two fillets off the backbone are triangular, cut each 1/2 again full length so that you get two flat surfaces to skin. If that makes sence?

[mattooty]

Make sure you cut their tail off immeditately. I got this tip off a few commercial fisherman who chase sharks. This will cut through their main artery that travels along their spine and will not kill them immediately, allowing the heart to continue to pump blood out. I've never had a problem with ammonia tasting doing this method but if it smells a bit like ammonia, then put it in a dish of milk for a night

[Cammy]

yes its a ray, as rays have gills on the bottom, and sharks on the side.
i hate it when people call them shovelnose "sharks" as they are not a shark. but meh, i wont hold anything against you , i used to call them that myself.

anyway off shorncliffe pier you can get the odd one and nice eating size, if you are ever around that spot for a fish, go to the end on the right side and cast out as far as you can, usually get a hoookup. just use pillie chunks or mullet fillets(small).

Cammo

[elprez]

I think they are a shark cammy and know scientists that refer to them as sharks?

[Outsider1]

I did a Google search and came up with these links, seems they are a Ray;

http://www.amonline.net.au/FISHES/fi.../arostrata.htm

http://www.frdc.com.au/species.php?f=91&v=f

http://www.sydneyfishmarket.com.au/I...1/Default.aspx

http://www.underwater.com.au/image.php/id/6504/

http://www.fish.gov.au/fishnames/fishnames.php?pid=243

http://www.planula.com.au/dive/uwpho...lnose_ray.html

"Although shark-like its gills are located underneath its body, which is typical for rays."

Cheers

Dave

[Duyz72]

Shovelies are pretty easy to find - just target everything else . . . you are bound to pick one up!!
Though if you want to target them, pick a making tide, 5ft or less of water, dusk to 10pm, strip bait, on the bottom, or a little livie will also stop the pickers and put you in for a chance with a decent fish too - put a decent leader or trace as they are in the family prone to getting through mono.

[batten]

beem fishin with a bloke that caught 2 in half hour biggest was 2m long, bled by putting the knife ind cutting down.was a beat sus bout the eating qualities at first but he said the were good and they were both caught on live poddy mullet on the bottom skin was tough tho, good crab baid to, backbone, flaps etc

[lippa]

use to get heaps in the crabs pots and dillies in the bay.
we kept the smaller ones, and fillited them to resemble flathead filltets.

they were then handed to my outlaws as fresh flathead fillets!!!!!!!
they loved them, and me! hahahah