queensland A Sparkly Scaley Day At The Pin

[benno573]

Headed out on Saturday with @Sparksie and @Old Scaley, launching from Jacobs well about 6am. Grabbed some yabbies, dropped the pots in and anchored up.

 

The action was pretty slow until Steve came over all biblical on us and started connecting with Moses on a regular basis, unfortunately people were a lot shorter back then so it was hard to find one of sufficient stature.

 

after Steve had unparted the sea, we moved onto the next spot where sparksie added a PB tarwhine at 39cm followed by a bream at 38cm. I had a chat to @rayke1938 a few times but not a lot else going on.

 

we moved again and a few decent whiting came over the side and then we hit on a patch of spotted javelin fish (grunter). For about 20-25min every bait was taken by a grunter, majority were undersized or too close to call but 6 made the grade and accidentally fell into the esky...

 

ended up with 6 whiting, 6 grunter, 2 tarwhine, a bream, 5 sandies and a muddie. Top day out with a couple of good blokes.

 

thanks for reading.

[ellicat]

Any pics of @Sparksie ? I missed him.

Monster of a tarwhine !

If you ran out of bait, Steve could have parted the sea again.

[Luvit]

Nice mixed grill.

[Old Scaley]

It was another great day out, @benno573. Nice to meet @Sparksie too. Thanks for letting me keep the muddie guys. I will be in the good books for a couple of days at least.

Benno is a great skipper who knows that area like the back of his hand. And trust me, Benno has a very intimate knowledge of his hand.

Looking forward to next trip already.

[Sparksie]

14 hours ago, ellicat said:

Any pics of @Sparksie ? I missed him.

Monster of a tarwhine !

If you ran out of bait, Steve could have parted the sea again.

No pics. You know how ugly I am Ellicat. 

[Sparksie]

Great day out Steve and Benno. 

We did well beating the storm too. 

 

[benno573]

57 minutes ago, Sparksie said:

No pics. You know how ugly I am Ellicat. 

 

i dunno glenn... You wouldn't have to ask me nicely... 

[ellicat]

How did he get that bandicoot to stay there ? hahahaha

Looks like he might have eaten one too.

 

[Drop Bear]

Great looking bag. Dinner is sorted for a few days

[kmcrosby78]

Great mixed bag there fellas, well done. Solid couple of bream/tarwhine!!  Ouf of interest, how light do you generally fish when doign that sort of fishing Benno? Oh and I thought you had an 'early' start' ...... I was up that early and I wasn't even fishing .......  Do you normally encounter a few grunter down there this time of year?

[kmcrosby78]

16 hours ago, Old Scaley said:

Benno is a great skipper who knows that area like the back of his hand. And trust me, Benno has a very intimate knowledge of his hand.

Looking forward to next trip already.

Looking forward to the next trip ....... ????? Didn't you just insinuate the skipper was a ..............

[Old Scaley]

7 hours ago, kmcrosby78 said:

Looking forward to the next trip ....... ????? Didn't you just insinuate the skipper was a ..............

Birds of a feather @kmcrosby78.........

[benno573]

10 hours ago, kmcrosby78 said:

Great mixed bag there fellas, well done. Solid couple of bream/tarwhine!!  Ouf of interest, how light do you generally fish when doign that sort of fishing Benno? Oh and I thought you had an 'early' start' ...... I was up that early and I wasn't even fishing .......  Do you normally encounter a few grunter down there this time of year?

Taking the highbrow option on this one... I'm sure many can think of a lowbrow one without me even saying it... 

 

the last couple of years around late spring/early summer I have encountered grunter down around the pin. Normally just 1, maybe 2 in a day though. That was the first time I've come across a significant patch of them. Not complaining... They taste just a little bit better than whiting IMO...

 

gear - I think mostly 4-10lb braid, 2-4kg rods or thereabouts, been a while since I soooled a lot of them up. Light leaders (although I ran out this trip so was using 15lb fluro most of the day) generally 8-10lb. Running 2 or 3 bean sinker depending on current, swivel, about 50-60cm trace, #1 or #2 mustard bloodworm hooks.

 

 A big stingray on the 4lb is always fun...

[Drop Bear]

Has anyone eaten a stingray? are they any good?  Im always looking for something new to try. 

[kmcrosby78]

My Aunty in NZ reckons over there the fish shops cut the stingray flaps/wings into little discs and sell them as scallops (this was probably 15 years ago) with the roe removed. So they must taste alright  

[ellicat]

2 hours ago, kmcrosby78 said:

My Aunty in NZ reckons over there the fish shops cut the stingray flaps/wings into little discs and sell them as scallops (this was probably 15 years ago) with the roe removed. So they must taste alright  

I've heard a similar tale but with shovellies.

[Uthrax]

I know that some species are worth a bit on the Asian market, so there may be some that are ok on the plate

[benno573]

I have eaten ray before when I was staying with a mate in his community up in the Kimberly. Serious process to prepare if the way they do but ended up being very tasty. Speared them on the flats, they only took certain types as some reportedly taste better than others.

[tugger]

Love it when a plan comes together bloody good mixed bag of top quality fish, grunter are top notch on the fang

[Old Scaley]

I saw a Noosa chef on one of the cooking shows a number of years ago who showed how to butcher and cook them.  I gave it a go, but didn't get past the butchering part. Made an absolute mess of it and never tried again. I have also heard that they are sometimes substituted for scallops by using a round cookie cutter.

[Drop Bear]

Well that settles it. Next ray is as good as knecked