Not just any mullet

Much of what I have been writing about has been “plate” rather than “bait” related so though it might be nice to do a little piece about the latter. A favourite this time of year, when the barramundi and threadfin Salmon are “on the chew” is the humble mullet. At times a real challenge to catch with a cast net and at other times easier, one which drives locals crazy is a mullet called a Popeye. These quite amazing little fish swim along together in large schools, holding in shallow bays and along beaches but have the unique (and very frustrating) ability to swim along with their heads out of the water and with their eyes located on top of their heads will watch us coming towards them and always (almost always) manage to stay just far enough away as to be out of range of even the best cast net thrower. Little buggers are amazing. Many, many years of chasing bait in rivers has trained me to be far better than average when it comes to throwing a cast net, and in the right conditions can usually throw one in a perfect circle 5 or 6 meters in front of me, and on the run. A pretty unique skill, and still, most of the time, the nearest Popeye will still be a meter of so outside of range. Every now and then, if I have a good strong wind at my back, I can outsmart them and throw a net 8 meters and pick off the odd few, while most still keep out of range. Smug little buggers. Almost as soon as the cast net hits the water they stop fleeing and settle in schools, back within a few meters. They are the fish equivalent of crows. It is almost more gratifying when I outsmart (outsmart a fish…how sad) a few then actually catching the Barramundi I upgrade them to. Our regular “poddy mullet” is a much easier target and plain dumb compared to Popeye’s and I have taken a few photos so you can see the district difference. What is of concern this time of the year when we are chasing mullet for Barra bait is the large numbers of very large Box Jellyfish in the river, not to mention the crocodiles I saw, 2 sharks I caught and the little stonefish I caught in the cast net: all that was missing was a sea snake to complete an episode of Australia's most deadly. More boxies in the river than I have ever seen and testimony to the fact we need some serious rain, and soon, to wash them out. As to turning the bait, into something for the plate a tank full of "livies" is just about a sure thing. The river is fishing as well as I have ever seen it. Huge numbers of threadfin feeding along the bank edges towards the bottom of the tide and the barramundi feeding on the first push of the run in tide. It is all about tides where I fish the river and the tides right at the end of Feb and first few days of March are crackers. See you on the river.

What's in a name?

An issue I face all the time at work is identifying fish varieties. Usually for guests who have been fishing on a charter and bring in their catch for us to cook, but also by our staff who are always eager to learn about the many fish varieties we serve. Guests in general are pretty easy to help and will often take recommendation from staff if we have a fish I particularly think is the best on the day. One error which often occurs is around Salmon. We actually have 4 fish in Australia called ‘salmon”. The most common is not actually a native but the farmed “Atlantic Salmon”, THE true Salmon and a very common fish Australia wide on restaurant plates. The farmed Atlantic salmon also described often as “Tasmanian salmon” is now a larger fishery, in terms of tonnage produced in the fish farms, than the entire Great Barrier Reef fishery, across all species. In southern states we have a fish commonly called “Australian Salmon” and this is a saltwater species, more prized by recreational fishers as a sports fish and fished commercially mainly as cat food and lobster pot bait. Dark red in the flesh and not really much chop on the plate. Then we move on to the 2 fish I have most to do with. The king or threadfin salmon and the blue or bluenose salmon. Close relatives but quiet different on the plate and a fish even the locals consistently wrongly identify. I managed to catch 1 of each the other day amongst a few Barra. In fact a picked up 8 nice “blues” but just the 1 “King” but was able to line 2 up side by side of about the same size so readers can clearly see the difference.

The King is also called threadfin salmon for good reason. The long whiskers or barbells under its chin which I have seen them use to corral prawns up against a bank when feeding. They are also generally golden yellow when first caught, particularly if caught in dirty water while the blue salmon has short whiskers, is much thicker through the tail area and a silver blue to black colouration. That said I have also caught blue salmon which can have a yellowish tinge so it is the shape and the length of whiskers which is always the tell-tale. Both fish are great on the plate. King salmon has a much whiter and softer flesh and is a very difficult fish to fillet as a consequence of large bony nodules located at various places along its backbone. The larger the fish the larger these nodules are and they are just about my least favourite fish to fillet, besides being one of my most favourite fish to eat. The Blue salmon by comparison is really easy to fillet, a fine white to pale grey fish when cooked and beautifully flavoured. It is however not a great fish to freeze and is best eaten fresh, whereas King salmon freezes well.

Both great fish to catch, with a big blue salmon (upward of 5 kgs) a dynamite fighter and would pull a 10kg king salmon backwards. The biggest blue I have seen was 14kgs and I have seen Kings in excess of 20 kgs.

Better than Coral Trout?

I don’t think I have ever been so excited about a fish I will never get to catch but I have just taken delivery of a new species which has taken my breath away. Both in terms of how it looks and what it tastes like. This is a relatively new fishery to North Queensland and being fished out of Bowen, just to our north. A single boat is pioneering this fishery, travelling some 200 miles into the Coral Sea to fish the underwater seamounts in 1000 meters of water. Flametail Snapper. My photos really don’t do justice to the amazingly stunning look of these fish, giant eyes like crystal balls, glistening red/pink scales and flesh, when cooked is soft, white and intensely flavoured of everything good about the sea. At present the vast majority of the catch is being exported to Hawaii but I am on a mission to get this on to restaurant plates in North Queensland. The cost of catching a fish so far offshore and in such deep water is significant and this will reflect in a price similar to Coral Trout but, to quote Molly Meldrum’s old count down line. Do yourself a favour. Rush out and try this. It will be on our menu for the next few nights and if I can secure a long term supply it will be on our next menu rewrite. Amazing fish in every way and, in my not inexperienced opinion, better than Coral Trout and maybe better than any fish I have ever eaten. Being on the cusp of Chinese New Year, having one of these enormous fish in our display window I expect a lot of photos to be taken over the next few days and a lot of Flametail Snapper being ordered. Wow. Just WOW. It is very seldom I get to see, fillet and cook a fish I have never seen before and have it turn out so good.

Open season

After an amazingly busy Christmas, which has kept me off the water and not getting any fishing time, the biggest day on many fishos calendars, February 1st has arrived during the brief lull between Christmas holidays and Chinese New Year. I get a window of a slower week, which just happens to encompass the opening of Barramundi season, at 12 noon on Feb 1st and this year a delayed wet season and small tides have the Barra schooled up, hungry and just waiting for the rain to start before they breed.

The fishing in Proserpine River has been amazing. I have never seen so many big barramundi caught with the average size over 70cm and I saw 3 fish all around 110cm caught this afternoon in just a few hours. I also saw all 3 of the big girls released which is an awesome indication that recreational fishers recognise just how important these big breeding females are to the future of the fishery.

Proserpine River has been closed to commercial netting for many years and despite a few recent incidents of illegal netting in the river, it remains one of the great barramundi rivers on the Queensland East coast.

The bay itself, and river mouth, will no doubt receive a lot of commercial pressure this year, probably exacerbated by the netting closure in other barramundi fishing areas, but at present, at least until the flood rains come, the Barra are holed up in their thousands inside the relative sanctuary of the river.

While recreational fishers will no doubt take a few it is nice to see a fishery well managed. Tightly controlled bag limits, slot sizes and a growing sense of responsibility amongst anglers who are increasingly letting big fish go free. It would be great to see the commercial sector adapt a practice of releasing all the big females but know this is not going to happen. Regardless of commercial pressure in Repulse Bay the numbers of fish in the river give me great optimism that the existing management regimes are working, and working well.

Always a side benefit of the start of Barra season is a good run of mud crabs. Yesterday was no exception with 6 beautiful full “muddies” adding to my Barra tally and these became a very simple but all-time favourite dinner last night. Ingredients are so simple. A little chicken stock, splash of white wine, lots of butter and LOTS of freshly cracked black pepper. A little trick I have used for years is an old fashion coffee grinder as a great way to make a LOT of cracked pepper. I prefer to steam my pre cleaned crabs first and then make a sauce with the rest of the ingredients. Crack the still warm crabs, reduce the sauce down in a heavy pan or wok till the liquid is just about evaporated and then toss the crab through the thick crusty, almost dry spice/butter sauce. Serve with rice, a bib and a finger bowl. This is a Singapore staple and I think the best way I have every eaten mud crab. Drop me a line if you want more specific measurements.

It will also be a great time to buy real, wild caught, local barramundi in our local restaurants and fish shops. Ask the question of wait staff and make sure you are getting what you pay for. It is a great fish but has suffered a little from some occasional issues with fish farmed and/or frozen imported barramundi.

All time favourite Prawns

Seafood has quickly displaced Turkey as Australia’s favourite Christmas fare and prawns seem to be first on the shopping list for every order. We are lucky to have so many varieties to choose from. Sweet inshore banana prawns & endeavour prawns. The blue leg and Ocean King prawns and 3 different types of Tiger Prawns, all caught in our local waterways. You will often see prawns “graded” along the lines of “10/20’s”, “15/25’s” or” U10’s” and this is an old fashion grading system which has stuck with prawns for over 50 years. I don’t quite know its origins but it relates to numbers of prawns per pound (450 grams). So 10/20’s will be a mixed “medium to large” size which will be between 10 and 20 prawns per pound. 25 and 50 per kg. And so on it goes, the higher the count number, the smaller the prawns while a U10 grade means these are big prawns running to less than 10 per pound.

The large local tiger prawns get right down to a U6 grade and these are serious prawns, running to often almost 100 grams each and it was a plate load of these that was my contribution to a Christmas Lunch with friends.

Rather than boring old boiled and served cold with cocktail sauce I went a little extravagant with my all-time favourite prawn recipe. This really does need big green prawns but it is a sensational way to treat a wonderful local delicacy.

Take of the head, but leave the chest plate/legs and rinse out the intestines. Split the prawn down the back and remove the tube and cut with your knife, almost, but not quite, through and then flatten the prawn down with the palm of you hand, leaving the shell on one side and open prawn flesh on the other.. (The pictures will help demonstrate what I mean).

Pop in a bowl while you blitz up some olive oil, garlic, chilli and parsley, pour this mix over the prawns and massage well into the flesh side and then leave covered in the fridge for an hour or 2.

Throw them flesh side down on a smoking hot BBQ, turn after 1 minute and liberally grind over some black pepper and sea salt. If you have a BBQ with a lid, now just drop the lid, turn off the BBQ and come back after 2 minutes. DONE.  Squeeze over a lemon and peel off the shell to eat but actually try eating the crispy legs and chest plate.

This really is the best prawn recipe I have ever used and is a new staple on our Christmas Table, but something you can do any time the jumbo Prawns turn up in your local fish shop. Always ask for U6 or U8 for this recipe and if every the U3 Leader Prawns(Black Tigers) are running then this takes the dish to a whole new level.

The Mud Crab Drought is over

The annual Mud Crab drought is finally over. Every year, subject to weather conditions, the majority of our Queensland Mud Crabs head to sea, as far out as the Great Barrier Reef, to spawn and the crab drought starts. For such an iconic North Queensland staple which features so heavily both on our menu and in our marketing it is a difficult time of year. We are typically very busy, deal with a massive influx of Chinese Visitors during “Golden Week” in October and everyone wants “Muddies”. More particularly they want Chilli Crab at Fish D’Vine and it kills me. This year prices at the Sydney Fish Market topped $75 a kg and every crab caught between Darwin and Gladstone was Sydney bound. One morning I even jumped in the Ute and drove to Rockhampton and back, a round trip of 1200 kilometres just to pick up 50 live crabs at the “bargain price” of $49 a kilo. It makes it hard when we have a reputation for Chilli Crab for $59 when the crabs are costing me $50 each. In season the supply outstrips demand and the price will drop to under $20. Every year we stress, and every year, usually early in December the “drought” breaks, the “Muddies” come back and the chefs, the front of house staff and the customers are all happy again. Chinese visitors come to North Queensland for the seafood and really don’t understand “out of season”. We have been using beautiful Bay Bugs this year to make up the shortfall, doing them the same Chilli or Black Pepper style as the crabs and while the Bugs have been great, there is nothing quite like a North Queensland Mud Crab. Welcome home boys; we have missed you.

Into the fire

No photos for this one and an "after dinner" and a glass (or 2) of wine post. Just got home from a typical busy Friday night shift. Cooked up one of my favourite quick diners. Some linguni with a simple sauce of slow cooked garlic. chilli and olive oil. Some mussel meat, flat leaf parsley and knob of butter and 1/2 glass of "chardy" into the just cooked pasta and pop a lid on for 3 minutes to let the flavours marry, top with plenty of cracked black pepper and "channel surf" TV. I have becomea bit of a fan of the new SBS Food channel and just happened across a show called "Anthony Bodaine Into the fire". A story of a "celebrity chef" getting back on the pans; fascinating TV and capturing the absolute essence of our industry. Look it up on You-Tube. Pour yourself a glass a wine, settle in with a nice bowl of pasta and take a glimpse inside the world of a restaurant as told by a true story teller. I have just lived this show. I live it every night. I have never seen it explained better and still love what I do.

kev

Golden Snapper Moon

This time of year as the water heats up during the early summer, and barramundi season comes to a close a fish I just love becomes a target. Locally called “Finger-mark” they are better known as “Golden Snapper”. A member of the lutjanid family which include all the “tropical snapper” they look a lot like Mangrove Jacks but with a deep golden hue and, particularly in the smaller sizes, have a dark blotch (thumb/fingerprint) towards the tail. I love fishing for these on the larger tides and early flood, which in our neck of the woods always coincides with a full or new moon. An evening spent in the deep hole at what is locally known as “the 5 ways” in a system called “The Inlet”, located  in the North Western corner of Repulse Bay. Located about 20 25 39.6 S and 148 48 15.2 E, have a look at this on Google Earth. It is just about a creek fisherman’s idea of heaven. Barra, Crabs, Jack and, of course, finger-mark. To fish this system, as we just did, as the golden “super moon” crested the mangroves was an awe inspiring experience. A dead calml night just made it even more special as was the run back across the bay to the ramp in the Proserpine River by the light of the moon. The only thing missing was live herrings. No matter how hard I tried I could not find any herring and these baits are the difference between an ordinary “bite” and a hot one. There were clearly plenty of fish in the area but these are very fussy feeders and really only respond well to live herrings or prawns. None the less we got enough for a feed and this is my absolute favourite eating fish from our local creeks. Treat it well and treat it simply. Nothing more than a light dust of seasoned flour and pan fried in a little olive oil and clarified butter with a squeeze of lemon and a little salt and cracked pepper. This is “the” best eating fish in North Queensland but seldom appears in fish shops and restaurants as it requires too much specialist effort to catch them.

White on Whitehaven

I know we live somewhere special. It is why the entire world beats a path to our door. While the Great Barrier Reef is an iconic tourist attraction, it is accessible from many points along the coast.

There is however only 1 Whitehaven Beach, and it is right here, off Airlie Beach. Consistently voted the best beach in Australia and amongst the best in the world our company has a permit to undertake event catering on Whitehaven and we have just completed our biggest night time event. Billed as “White on Whitehaven”, this was a formal high end dinner for members and guests of Abell Point Yacht Club. Guests came in their own yachts, from the humble 30 foot sail boats to glamour 90 foot motor yachts, they just kept coming as the weather gods smiled on us after 3 weeks of rough seas.  

Guests dressed in white with a formal table setting and dined while the tide rose almost to the very edge of the table setting.

Our staff team arrived by barge and turned this deserted stretch of paradise to the ultimate “pop-up” restaurant.

When we debrief after a major event we pick up any little errors or things we will do a little different next time. At this debrief, I am so proud of our staff because there is just nothing that needs to be done differently. From the time the barge hit the beach till we packed up and left it was perfect.

 All the team left back in Airlie at the restaurant and the catering operation did an amazing job on the prep and then had a smashing night at the restaurant as well. It all makes us very proud and a little humbled by what a wonderful group of people we employ and that they love the “outside the square” challenges of turning our “thought bubbles” into magnificent reality.

Let the pictures tell the story and tomorrow, I’m going fishing. The last full moon before the end of the barramundi season and I think I just might know where to find a few!

Another side to the Whitsundays

There is something magical about a mangrove creek at first light. The water is usually mirror calm and the smells, the buzzing insects, the first birds up and about looking for a feed. I grew up fishing mangrove systems and while past years have spent more time on the blue water I just love getting back to my roots in a mangrove creek. As barramundi closed season gets closer and the water warms I took the opportunity for a morning on the Proserpine River. A set of new moon tides meant a dead low at first light with the first push of the run in tide signalling the start of the typical feeding burst for barramundi and king Threadfin which are the prime target this time of year. The “Prossy: river now has a wonderful new ramp and launching facility, a long way removed from the very “ordinary” old ramp and dirt track I started using there over 20 years ago and it has meant a definite upswing in the size and style of boats we now see on the river. The river is ever changing, new banks, island where they never used to be, old island just gone the river is like a living thing. I don’t spend as much time on the river as I used to and some of my favourite old spots are gone but the fundamentals are still the same. Find the bait and you find the fish, work up onto the flats in shallow water on the rising tide, fish light and be patient. It can be a very relaxing way to spend a few hours. I saw more baby crocodiles than I have ever seen so I guess this is a great sign for the health of the river, and I saw enough big ones to remind me we do live in Crocodile country and to be careful around the water. A great day, a nice feed of fish and just another side of the wonderful and diverse waterways within a few minutes’ drive of the tourism hub of Airlie Beach.

As good as it gets

One of the great things about our company is a reputation for “Any Time, anywhere, anything” and when this relates to catering it means we get to cook and serve in some remarkable places.

The pictures tell the story and while this is not really “fishing” related, we did have to use boats to get there, so it is kind of relevant. I also passed a nice big school of Tuna feeding on the surface off the back of Whitsunday Island but was too loaded with function gear to even have room for a fishing rod.

This is the famous Whitehaven Beach, a dinner at dusk, a full moon and the corny old cliché about being “as good as it gets”.

The guests for the dinner arrived on the “birthday boys” private super yacht and got to enjoy a very special experience.

Our next Night time function on Whitehaven Beach is the much anticipated “White on Whitehaven” dinner for members and guests of the Abell Point Yacht Club.

We love what we do and where we get to do it. The best job in the world is when your hobby is also your job. Cooking, fishing and messing around in boats……it just doesn’t get any better.

The doggy in the window!

As promised I have taken a few pictures of filleting, preparing and cooking the Dog Tooth Tuna as well as using the yellowfin as high end sashimi. Plus a little image of “to the victor goes the spoils”. One certainty when I am filleting tuna is the other chefs hovering and shaving any left-overs from the bone, straight into a soy/wasabi mix and an instant lunch. We tried both the Dog Tooth and Yellowfin side by side with the yellowfin having a slight edge but to sear and cook with it is the dog tooth by a country mile.

In order of appearance.

A Dog Tooth ready to fillet

Filleting a dog tooth and see the “white/paler flesh.

Side by side with a small Yellow Fin

The 2 fish filleted and side by side

The “Chefs lunch”

How much is that doggy in the window? (sorry oldies will know what I mean)

Dinner is served…seared and sliced rare with ratatouille

Yellowfin the best way.