Tackle Tactics Surfcasting Message Board

Tackle Tactics Surfcasting Message Board
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Marine Parade.

Posted by Hangler on 26/3/2013, 8:07 pm

Went to Marine Parade at the worst time of the day (12:30pm) found the sea to be like a pond - flat as, and not another angler in sight. Forty metres out there was a very noticeable line where the disturbed, low tide cloudy water turned blue, and that is where my anchovy baits landed, just on the clear water side.

The first hit was quite dramatic and a lovely kahawhai (1.95kgs) joined me on the beach. A while later it's smaller brother kept it company in the fish bag and they made for a splendid evening meal, with a large fillet destined for the smoker in the morning. Having enough for my needs I was back indoors by 2:40pm.

I have to say how well the local beaches are fishing, it is now a rarity to cast a line without having some success, long may it last.

Re: Marine Parade.

Posted by norths74 on 26/3/2013, 10:36 pm, in reply to "Marine Parade."

Giday Hangler,

Well done on the catch, were you fishing at Marine Parade Napier?

Re: Marine Parade.

Posted by Hangler on 27/3/2013, 8:38 am, in reply to "Re: Marine Parade."

Yes, this stretch of the shoreline has proved very productive over the summer. My only advice would be don't cast past the fish, the larger of the two kahawhai landed had a whole pilchard in it's stomach. The fish are feeding quite close in, just watch where the small terns are feeding, it's an excellent indicator to where the fish will be feeding also.

Re: Marine Parade.

Posted by Rex HB on 27/3/2013, 10:25 am, in reply to "Re: Marine Parade."

Good to hear a few kahawai are appearing. Have you caught your first snapper for the season yet Hangler?

Re: Marine Parade.

Posted by Hangler on 27/3/2013, 12:01 pm, in reply to "Re: Marine Parade."

No, Rex, but in all fairness I don't go looking for them. I hope this makes sense: I just go fishing, and regardless what the sea Gods allow me to catch, then I am a happy man.

I appreciate that snapper are the prime specie for most anglers, well I must have been cast in an odd mould. For the table I would rate gurnard as #1, and I catch those very regularly. To give me a work out, then an angry eagle ray will test both myself and the light gear I use to the full. I must add I firmly believe the humble kahawhai has a lot going for it, especially when caught on lighter equipment.

I think we are very fortunate to find such enjoyable sport right here on our doorstep. Yesterday, from where I was fishing, I had an uninterrupted view both north and south, Awatoto to Marineland. There wasn't another soul fishing. Sometimes we need to remind ourself to count our blessings.

Re: Marine Parade.

Posted by Rex HB on 28/3/2013, 10:10 am, in reply to "Re: Marine Parade."

Fair enough. And realistically you wont always get gurnard and snapper, whereas kahawai are most often around. There seem to be a few gurnard around at this time though. One fisho caught 4 on Saturday at bayview so thats where you need to head Hangler. At this time of year your chances are very good if you can put the time in.

Re: Marine Parade.

Posted by Mark Roberts on 28/3/2013, 11:26 am, in reply to "Re: Marine Parade."

Four casts at Haumoana produced four baby tope this morning. I've been looking in vain for my big snapper. Maybe this Easter if those little sharks piss off.

Re: Marine Parade.

Posted by Rex HB on 28/3/2013, 1:25 pm, in reply to "Re: Marine Parade."

They are a pain thats for sure. Last time I got about 8 before I finally caught an East Clive snapper Mark. At least you know the crabs will be well under cover.

Re: Marine Parade.

Posted by jaypeegee on 29/3/2013, 6:04 pm, in reply to "Re: Marine Parade."

Swell not too big to annoy em?
Might wander down end of Richmond Rd tonight
depending - Does the servo at Clive do bait?

Re: Marine Parade.

Posted by exhorder on 30/3/2013, 12:46 pm, in reply to "Re: Marine Parade."

Yeah mate they sell bait

Re: Marine Parade.

Posted by Hangler on 30/3/2013, 3:48 pm, in reply to "Re: Marine Parade."

This morning, for a couple of hours, I fished the same spot again on Marine Parade. The conditions had changed markedly since Tuesday, a sizable swell was running, the water was a little more coloured and a fair bit of green weed was in evidence. Some of the swells were dumping quite heavily on the shore.

The fish were there although a lot smaller than Tuesday but still no crabs ... surely a bonus. One very interesting happening. One rod buckled forward and line was streaming from the Shimano bait runner reel at an alarming rate. I picked up the rod with line still leaving at a speed to raise concern, I lifted the rod but it soon became obvious I was not attached to whatever had taken a fancy to my bait. However, there was still a little weight and it was evident I had hooked up with something.

When the end gear finally hit the beach there was an extremely worried looking, obviously extremely upset, 20cm yellow eyed mullet impaled on the hook and by the chafe marks on it's sides something had given it a very hard and uncomfortable time. I can't be sure if a Kingfish had taken a shine to this little fellow or perhaps a ray. I ruled out a shark or a snapper as the teeth marks would have been far more obvious. However, with the speed of the take off I tend to lean toward a Kingfish, I caught one from this beach a few weeks back.

There is an unfortunate ending to this story: I missed out on what would have been an interesting catch, plus I returned the mullet to the water only for it to be immediately taken by a black backed gull.

I guess it really wasn't a good day for either of us.

Re: Marine Parade.

Posted by Hangler on 9/4/2013, 8:58 pm, in reply to "Re: Marine Parade."

I have become increasingly delighted with the way surfcasting is producing on the Napier beaches. I am not writing about Bayview, although that venue is fishing well also.

Today I decided to have a couple of hours on Napier seafront, the forecast was for rain and I hoped I could beat it ... and so it proved to be. At 12:30 I set the rods up but before I made a cast I first ambled along the beach to chat with a torpedo-man. He was in the process of packing up and was filleting the catch. He had quite a haul of small tope in the 2kg mark and I was surprised, and delighted, to be given one to bring home. He told me he had a snapper about 3kg on Sunday so it's nice to know they are still around.

I settled into my chair and watched the rods and it wasn't long before something showed interest in the anchovy. At 2:30 the sky darkened alarmingly and I beat a hasty retreat, a wise move with what happened shortly after.

My fortunes were unusual: one very large yellow eyed mullet, two very nice Kahawhai, and then, surprisingly, the largest spotty I have ever caught from the beach. What on earth this was doing in open water I have no idea. It was carefully unhooked and returned to go about its business.

Isn't it nice to know that if you can find a spare couple of hours, you can head for a beach right on the doorstep (so to speak) and bring home a fish for tea. Nothing flash, no trophy fish, no rod benders or scale strainers, just a fish or two we can enjoy for an evening meal.

There maybe those who enjoy surfcasting, but this is simply 'Going Fishing', and enjoying every single moment, but isn't that what it's all about?

Re: Marine Parade.

Posted by GaryK on 9/4/2013, 10:25 pm, in reply to "Re: Marine Parade."

Big spotties are not uncommon on the marine parade. The "drain" has produced more than a few and always good size. There may be more foul out there than we realise.

The snapper don't know where the car park is!
Sometimes it is better to travel than to arrive.

Re: Marine Parade.

Posted by racepics on 10/4/2013, 4:51 am, in reply to "Re: Marine Parade."

You can eat Tope?

http://www.paniasurfcasting.org
http://www.surfcaster.co.nz

Re: Marine Parade.

Posted by Hangler on 10/4/2013, 11:59 am, in reply to "Re: Marine Parade."

Most definitely. The size I was given, about 2kg, was no different to a lemon fish. Here once more fish handling skills must come in to play. Land the fish, make your next cast, then work on the fish. Remove all the fins and the tail, then make a cut from the vent along the cartilage that forms the backbone, right up to, and including, the gills. Now turn the knife over and remove the head, this can all be achieved in one go. This will prevent the natural ammonia from contaminating the flesh and it really does work.

Wash the trunk in salt water, and put in a cool place until you go home. Once indoors I fillet the flesh from the single backbone, then cut into pan-sized pieces.

Take a small polythene bag and into this put half a cup of flour. Drop in the fish pieces and give it a shake, this is the best way to ensure an even coating. Now fry gently, being fresh it can be fragile, then serve with hunger sauce. The recipe comes highly recommended.

Re: Marine Parade.

Posted by exhorder on 10/4/2013, 8:54 pm, in reply to "Re: Marine Parade."

were on the parade are you having so much success hangler?

Re: Marine Parade.

Posted by Hangler on 10/4/2013, 10:43 pm, in reply to "Re: Marine Parade."

I can't give you an exact location as there are no real markers to go by but I would estimate about 500 metres south of the toilets at bottom of Georges Drive. It really doesn't seem to matter where you fish, there is no particular hole or gutter that is producing, the good fishing is pretty general.

I like being positive and I have to say no matter where I have fished this year the fishing has been really good. Whirinaki was producing well early in the season, more recently Bayview has switched on, although I will add I found the period before dawn to work best and I have landed several nice gurnard in those early morning sessions. My last session there was Tuesday (the day after Easter) I had two nice gurnard before sun up but then I had problems with very small trevs stripping the bait, these were as much of a nuisance as crabs.

On that subject I must also add that crabs have been thin on the ground. Both yesterday and on my last session on Sunday, we either caught a fish of retrieved our anchovy baits untouched, the crabs were conspicuous by their absents. However, the answer to this may be found in the large number of small tope around at present. I understand crabs figure highly on their preferred menu, and these pesky crustaceans may just be keeping their heads down.

Hopefully before long red cod will put in an appearance. Last winter I saw some large fish landed on the Marine Parade beaches, and my son-in-law and I aren't fussy about what we catch, we just go fishing.

Re: Marine Parade.

Posted by exhorder on 11/4/2013, 9:08 am, in reply to "Re: Marine Parade."

sounds good mate may even see you on the beach sometime fishings a great pass time think ive got it in the blood im always thinking about it and making new rigs i just love it

Re: Marine Parade.

Posted by Hangler on 11/4/2013, 11:28 am, in reply to "Re: Marine Parade."

Surfcasting is very possibly one of the strangest sports around as it has so many facets. There are some who place great emphasis on casting and achieving great distance, whilst in reality casting long distances seldom means more fish in the bag.

There are those who take particular care over bait selection and presentation, and these usually figure highly among anglers who take home a fish for their evening meal. This is me, I am always fossicking around on the beach trying to discover what fish are feeding on ... empty shells are a bit of a give away.

We then have the competition angler, the person who finds tournaments to be a great attraction. Surfcasting new beaches definitely holds appeal, whilst fishing shoulder to shoulder with hundreds of others doesn't ... or that is my own personal take on it.

We now have the category of the specimen hunter, nothing short of a snapper or perhaps a kingfish is worthy of mention. Again, from a personal viewpoint, those days are over. Yes it's nice to catch a large fish but it's not the be all and end all of surfcasting ... I have other fish to fry.

The last category I can think of, and this is me: those who like to relax by the water in a comfortable seat, rod at the ready and be grateful for whatever comes along. I love the satisfaction, the relaxation, the fresh air (sometimes too fresh). I love having a fresh fillet or two for my tea, also sharing the catch with elderly neighbours when I have had a good day. Don't think I am not serious about my fishing, far from it, I take the sport very seriously. Like you I love tying new rigs especially designing ways of making an interchange of the terminal tackle without assembling everything on the beach, especially in times of the occasional snap off. In the case of a pulley rig I have got this down to tying one uni-knot, then baiting the hook and casting.

On a personal note, and I know others disagree and that is their choice, I don't care what kind of fish are feeding. If I am getting takes and the occasional hook up, then I am very happy. What others may class as rubbish fish are made perfectly welcome and if they are edible, then doubly so. I will also take note of someone using a kite, kontiki or a torpedo, and if when they retrieve they have caught fish then I happily chat to them about bait used and the distance of their set. I know many of the fish they land will come closer to shore of an evening and this information can be very valuable.

I am seventy years of age, been surfcasting since Adam was a lad and yet I am still learning, and that is the most important part. When it comes to rigs visit the UK fishing sites on YouTube, you will find some invaluable information and tuition freely available much of which can be used in New Zealand conditions.

My daughter is always commenting there should be a sign on my front door, 'Gone Fishin', the embarrassing part being, she could be right.

Re: Marine Parade.

Posted by Rex HB on 11/4/2013, 2:40 pm, in reply to "Re: Marine Parade."

One thing I have noticed Hangler is your preference for light gear. 4kg breaking strain and thin braid leaders. Presumably also light 3oz sinkers? Do you think that is a key to your gurnard success?

Re: Marine Parade.

Posted by Hangler on 11/4/2013, 9:07 pm, in reply to "Re: Marine Parade."

That would be very difficult to analyse and I am not even sure where to start. Can I kick of with the light gear.

Over the course of a year just how many big fish does the average surfcaster hook up with, here I am excluding rock hoppers. In truth I believe some would answer less than ten but most would answer less than five, some would say one ... with luck.

So why the need for all the heavy gear? Do anglers use it just for the one in a hundred chance they hook a reasonable fish, especially when the chances are that will be an unwanted ray. I will add to that by saying the largest ray I have caught locally was taken just the other side of the Clifton boat launch ramp. It was taken on 4 kilo line and when weighed on the boat club scales, it hit 64lbs, the fish was returned a little wiser but unharmed. So even with light gear it's not impossible to land big fish.

By far the majority of the fish we catch are nice fish, but small. A light rod will allow you to feel the fight of a gurnard, even a Kahawhai will give you a really good workout, at times even taking line from the reel. It gives me great satisfaction when I have got the most out of the fish I have hooked. There are many rods around now that are of very solid construction but just how often is all that power required?

With gurnard they are a fish that loves to scour the seabed looking for its tucker. Very often when you open them up you will find several very small crabs in the stomach pouch. Rex, I am confident you will have noticed that also ... well here's a thought and it may upset some of the regular posters on this site.

If you want to catch gurnard, why are you putting flotation devices on your traces that lift the bait as much as 60cms to a metre above the seabed where the fish are feeding? On occasions a gurnard will be caught with a floating trace, however, I suggest your chances will increase ten fold by having your bait firmly on the sea bed where the gurnard is looking for its next meal. At present crabs seem to be few and far between so there is no reason to have the bait suspended.

One last thought, and this is something I have found a help. When last in the UK I purchased several packets of English fish hooks. These are known as fine wire hooks, they are wide gape and really help with bait presentation as they leave the point and barb well exposed to hook the fish. I find about 90% of my fish have actually hooked themself, I have also noticed in the last few trips I have had many slack line bites. This is where the fish has hooked itself and swam toward the beach.

One last thing, and this is personal, I don't like BOS and never use them unless it's absolutely necessary. Others swear by them and there is no definitive right or wrong. I have no issues when the end gear goes walkabout, quite often this has lead to success where a stationary bait has caught nothing.

I guess that's the best I can do Rex, other than to say I have now changed to nylon leaders, but only using 3oz sinkers this is only 30lb BS. I do use beads on the trace, also a 40mm length of pink fluoro tubing, red beads on one rod, yellow on the other all held in place by a small piece of double inverted tubing. I would be happy to put a picture on here if you believe it may help.

Re: Marine Parade.

Posted by jaypeegee on 11/4/2013, 9:42 pm, in reply to "Re: Marine Parade."

Regarding floats on Gurnard rigs - I cannot agree enough... Mechanically speaking getting a bait up in the water column when you know that the target species is bottom dwelling is madness - Funnily enough a local tackle shop has recommended I use the pink and green floats for targeting Gurnard. If the weight of the bait is greater than the float effect then grand. However if the float effect is greater then it is a flat out waste of money and effort spent surely?

Re: Marine Parade.

Posted by GaryK on 11/4/2013, 9:51 pm, in reply to "Re: Marine Parade."

I wondered if floating baits took the bait away from gurnard. Then I went to the aquarium and after looking everywhere for the gurnard noticed two of them on the surface waiting for their dinner. Never worried about it after that and regularly catch gurnard on floaters when they are around as well as on the bottom.

Sue with a couple of Porangahau lunkers taken on short floaters.

The snapper don't know where the car park is!
Sometimes it is better to travel than to arrive.

Re: Marine Parade.

Posted by Hangler on 11/4/2013, 10:49 pm, in reply to "Re: Marine Parade."

Gary, the gurnard in the aquarium would have been fed from the surface, and like any aquarium fish, it would be waiting for its food to arrive. I have kept tropical, marine tropical and cold water fish, all changed their natural feeding habits to suit their new method of waiter service. Carp naturally grub around on the bottom for their tucker, but feed them a slice of bread, a totally unnatural food served in an unnatural way, and they will happily feed off the surface. When fishing from a boat with a paternoster rig (one up and one down) nine times out of ten it was the bottom hook that caught gurnard.

I did say gurnard can be taken of floating traces, I have done so myself. However, my catch rate is far better when the bait is on the bottom. I would also question why float your baits anyway when crabs aren't active, unless targeting pelagic fish such as kahawhai, Kingfish or Trevs.

The question asked by Rex was about gurnard, I have done my best to answer. I knew there would be differing opinions, good, as that gets readers thinking. The topic of missing gurnard has arisen before, I disagreed then as I was catching them frequently, as I am now. Sorry, I can only report on what I have found and perhaps the reasons why.

Re: Marine Parade.

Posted by GaryK on 11/4/2013, 11:25 pm, in reply to "Re: Marine Parade."

I use floats on gurnard traces to "unweight" the bait. It will allow the bait to move in any current or surge. It appears by results that gurnard are suseptible to a moving bait. I agree that coloured beads or floats will increase your catch.

The snapper don't know where the car park is!
Sometimes it is better to travel than to arrive.

Re: Marine Parade.

Posted by racepics on 12/4/2013, 4:58 am, in reply to "Re: Marine Parade."

I caught 6 gurnard on my last trip to Whakaki. Thats the most I've ever caught in one outing. One thing I did notice over the weekend was the Gurnard were VERY tentative biters. They would fiddle with the bait for ages. I missed quite a few by pulling line in when they weren't yet hooked. In the end, on noticing the tiny wobbles in the rod tip I would give them lots of slack line and wait for a good minute or two. That usually resulted in a better hookup rate than winding in at the first sign of action.

Yes I'm guilty of using 10kg line, mainly because I don't like to lose gear, or 2 hours of fishing time, to rays

http://www.paniasurfcasting.org
http://www.surfcaster.co.nz

Re: Marine Parade.

Posted by Rex HB on 12/4/2013, 11:08 am, in reply to "Re: Marine Parade."

I know of a few fishos who dont like to use floats for gurnard for the very reason Hangler specifies. There bottom snufflers. Seems to work for them.
Personally I'm always a bit nervous about the presence of crabs so tend to use small ones. I also use 8kg line and I'm starting to think about dropping to a lower weight and smaller sinkers and trying that just out of interest. I have noted that when the gurnard are biting a braid line sometimes totally outstrips nylon in a calm sea.
You cant really use those strategies in CHB as it really is a weedy hole with evil side currents at times so you need pretty strong line. But if I'm fishing further along the coast this weekend I'll probably give it a try. Cant do any harm.

Re: Marine Parade.

Posted by pete88 on 13/4/2013, 12:07 pm, in reply to "Re: Marine Parade."

Hi Hangler, interesting and informative posts, thanks for that.
I fish the Wairarapa beaches but hope to do sorties to your area. Like you I am not really a competitive angler these days but have had success at competitions in years long past.
Great to try different baits and methods, I don't target any particular fish but am grateful of catching a feed and letting the rest go.
My kids are getting keen so I can use this to justify buying new gear when/if finances permit.
Happy angling, tight lines !!!

Men and fish are alike. They both get into trouble when they open their mouths.

Re: Marine Parade.

Posted by Hangler on 13/4/2013, 3:15 pm, in reply to "Re: Marine Parade."

Hi Pete, thanks for the compliment. I fished yesterday afternoon, I wanted to give the torpedo a run as it hadn't been in the water for six weeks. It all honesty I had to laugh at myself, in two sets my son-in-law and I landed two kahawhai, hardly one of the mega hauls we read about so much on here.

What was so funny? At 4:00pm kahawhai were going mad smashing into bait fish no more that ten metres from the beach. At times their backs were out the water with small fish jumping, fleeing the predators. I could have left the torpedo at home and caught fish with a butterfly net they were in so close.

This morning I heard of a good catch of gurnard at Awatoto last evening. All taken on my favourite bait, anchovies. I did ask if the baits were supported in the water column with floats, or on the bottom, they were on the bottom. This angler also reported a happening exactly as I experienced a couple of weeks ago, he hooked a small YEM only to have it taken on a long Tiki Tour by a Kingfish. Like mine the Kingfish didn't stick but the mullet's flanks looked as if they had a severe beating with an orbital sander.

Re: Marine Parade.

Posted by racepics on 13/4/2013, 7:38 pm, in reply to "Re: Marine Parade."

Fished in front of the last carpark before Awatoto this arvo. Conditions looked great but nothing doing. Tried Anchovy, Pilchard, Skipjack and Cray.
No crab action - baits were coming back untouched.
Weird how some days its all on and others are just dead.

We did catch a big brown gull though.. Stupid thing flew into my line and tangled itself up...

http://www.paniasurfcasting.org
http://www.surfcaster.co.nz

Re: Marine Parade.

Posted by Hangler on 13/4/2013, 8:11 pm, in reply to "Re: Marine Parade."

Yesterday's merits, I believe they enjoyed the bling. I hasten to add these were caught on a torpedo not surfcasting.

Re: Marine Parade.

Posted by pete88 on 13/4/2013, 9:38 pm, in reply to "Re: Marine Parade."

Hi Hangler,
interesting about the kingi, not often taken from the beaches around here as far as I have observed but I can remember hooking and losing some really good ones from Petone wharf in Wellington harbour in the 60's.Spent today checking over the old Penn eggbeaters and stripped down and lubed the Jigmaster reel too.All set to go, if only I had the diesel money

Men and fish are alike. They both get into trouble when they open their mouths.

Re: Marine Parade.

Posted by GaryK on 13/4/2013, 9:39 pm, in reply to "Re: Marine Parade."

Hangler, maybe some of the kontiki guys on this board (and there are some very good ones watching) might be able to help you out with info on baits, bait sizes, length of leaders, time of set, size of hooks, locations, or any of a hundred other things that could help you achieve a mega catch.

The snapper don't know where the car park is!
Sometimes it is better to travel than to arrive.

Re: Marine Parade.

Posted by Hangler on 23/4/2013, 7:59 pm, in reply to "Marine Parade."

The temperature today sat happily on 24 degrees, the day was very warm with virtually perfect conditions on the beach. It's hard to imagine there is only just over four weeks to go and we will be in winter.

This is Marine Parade this afternoon at about 2:00pm. The fish were small but cooperative and three joined me for a very pleasant evening meal.

We are so lucky.

Re: Marine Parade.

Posted by Phill on 23/4/2013, 8:05 pm, in reply to "Re: Marine Parade."
Tackle Tactics

What a nice way to spend an afternoon with bonuses.

Re: Marine Parade.

Posted by jaypeegee on 23/4/2013, 8:33 pm, in reply to "Re: Marine Parade."

Nice rod holder Hangles
From where, pray tell, was it purchased?

Re: Marine Parade.

Posted by Phill on 23/4/2013, 8:44 pm, in reply to "Re: Marine Parade."
Tackle Tactics

In production as of tomorrow Ha ha
On a serious note they would go well on a base system I have been testing.

Re: Marine Parade.

Posted by Hangler on 23/4/2013, 9:57 pm, in reply to "Re: Marine Parade."

Er, I hate to say this but the construction couldn't be more simple. The main stem is made from the extending handle of a telescopic window washing pole. If I get a chance tomorrow I will take a picture and put it on the thread I have started regarding sharing tackle tips.

Tools required, a hack saw, a file and pop rivet gun.

The main advantage of having the rods side by side, close together, is normally when you are looking at one rod you get a take on the other ... Murphy's law. Having a set up like this the little buggers can't fool you.

Re: Marine Parade.

Posted by jaypeegee on 23/4/2013, 10:35 pm, in reply to "Re: Marine Parade."

Appreciate that

Re: Marine Parade.

Posted by Hangler on 22/5/2013, 7:45 pm, in reply to "Re: Marine Parade."

This afternoon, with a bit of a large surf hitting the beach, I thought I would give the torpedo a run. It didn't start off too well with me getting bowled in the surf but anglers get wet ... it's what we do.

Anyway only one set of an hour and once Marine Parade came up with the goods. Two lovely gurnard came home for dinner, one large Kahawai, one spiny-back (returned) and surprisingly, one very takeable conger eel. With more than enough for our evening meal -plus a couple of fillets for the neighbours, we headed home.

It was very pleasing to see the gurnard, they were of reasonable size and it's nice to know they are still around.

No red cod, but another torpedo enthusiast I spoke with had a very large cod yesterday afternoon. He brought the frame to the beach for the gulls to enjoy and it was indeed a very fine specimen.

If the promised inclement weather decides to give us a miss all should auger well for the weekend.

Re: Marine Parade.

Posted by racepics on 22/5/2013, 8:18 pm, in reply to "Re: Marine Parade."

Nice to see the gurnard still about.
Did the eel end up as food or bait?

http://www.paniasurfcasting.org
http://www.surfcaster.co.nz

Re: Marine Parade.

Posted by Hangler on 23/5/2013, 9:39 am, in reply to "Re: Marine Parade."

As I had only lip hooked the eel it was my intention to release it, however, my partner told me she had a special recipe for such a fish. I have watched, and tried, everything she has done with fish, I have little doubt the dish will be delicious. The eel had lovely white flesh, I cut the body into six pieces and I believe these may be destined for the steamer.

I think like most people I held had a certain reservation about Asian cooking, now I know better. With the addition of certain sauces, herbs and spices, fish (and parts thereof) that we would normally be instantly rejected, can be made into a seeming gourmet dishes.

My partner is as keen as any member of this site to be on the beach fishing, she takes a keen interest in everything, often baiting my hooks and assembling and dissembling the gear. Three days ago she was watching a fellow angler land a small red cod, when he offered it to her she lit up. Once she had the fish at home she worked her culinary magic. I gutted and removed the gills for her, then not one part was wasted and the end result was brilliant.

When I told her this is usually a winter fish I am now under orders we must continue to fish through the colder months.

If that's not an angler's dream partner then I don't know what is???

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