Jumpinpin - bloody good day

[MY-TopEnder]

Hey Guys,

On the back of a fun day in the Brisbane River yesterday, we hit up The Pin for a bit of fun.

We got to the ramp and waited half an hour for the ramp to be free... finally we got the boat in and got the hell out of there but couldn't decide where we'd go first, so i pulled rank as skipper and headed for Kallinga bank. We got there and anchored up in about 2.1m of water just off the centre sand bar.

About 20 mins there my Alvey screams, 28cm bream. 10 minutes later my brothers rod screams, 27cm bream. Another 5 minutes and off goes my Alvey again for a 28cm bream. Within half an hour another 2 bream hit my brothers line...

Its now about 1pm and we've had lunch in a quite period and all of a sudden my Alvey setup bends nearly round on itself and screams line off... i let it run for a bit then stop it in its tracks to bring in a 75cm Shovelnose... took some convincing to die but it went into the esky.

Another hour passed and we had nothing so we packed it up happy with a feed of bream and flake. We thought we'd have a go at Whalleys on the way back to satisfy my Deckie... after all he had to even the score with me. 10 minutes there, lots of nibbles and i was checking the bait on one line reeling it in and a 45cm flathead hit it hard. 10 minutes later my deckie scored himself a legal size swimmer crab sp that was netted and went in the esky.

Score for today
Me- 2 Bream, Shovelnose, Flathead
Deckie - 3 Bream, Sand Crab

[MY-TopEnder]

Shovelnose

[philip_thomson]

thats not a bad catch compared to my trip in the northern bay today. what do you think of the shovelnoses taste wise i have caught 2 decent size ones and released both. tempted to keep one but not sure on the taste. those bream aren;t bad size. my best bream is 25cm :-( i am not very skilled in the cathching bream department
cheers
philip

[Maria]

Hmmm just out of interest, how'd you prepare and cook the flake?

Ben

[MY-TopEnder]

To be honest Ben, i had no bloody clue what i was doing in terms of getting fillets off the shovelnose. So i ran it down the spine up to where the head widened. That got me some nice long fillets then i just skinned them and covered them in flour and pan fried.. they took a while to cook being so thick but it worked in the end.

I don't think the old girl is happy with the frames of 5 bream, a flathead, a shovelnose, and a squire all in bags in her freezer.

[Dr_Dan]

Have to get out and exchange the fish frames for some more crabs! See if taht makes her happier! ;)

[MY-TopEnder]

Yeah that should shut her up till i take over her kitchen again and start splattering fish fillets around... ah well thats life.

[bidkev]

<snip>We got to the ramp and waited half an hour for the ramp to be free... finally we got the boat in and got the hell out of there but couldn't decide where we'd go first, so i pulled rank as skipper and headed for Kallinga bank. We got there and anchored up in about 2.1m of water just off the centre sand bar.



Hi Mate,

I must've drifted past you a couple of times. There's a bit of a hole (dip in) on the Southern side of that bank and it holds some *big* shovellies.

BTW, was it the shovelly or flatty that ate two of your toes ;-)


cheers

kev

[MY-TopEnder]

G'Day Kev...

It was the deckie who took my toes... haha the little shit forgot his lunch so he was gettin starving by lunch time :P

The shovelly was actually a good feed but i think i need some lessons in getting fillets of them.

[bidkev]

Hmmm just out of interest, how'd you prepare and cook the flake?

Ben

Hi Ben,

In my case, first I take off the head, tail, and all the fins. You have to keep sharpening the knife as the skin is bloody tough. A knife won't go through the backbone when you take off the head but if you cut at each side, up to the bone, then you can snap the bone by hand fairly easily.

make an incision down one side of the backbone whilst the shovelly is belly down and keeping the knife to the bone, try not to cut too deep, just far enough to go past the backbone. Then do the same on the other side. Part the two sides gently and then run the knife along the underside of the backbone and it will then lift out leaving you with one big boned piece of meat. Cut it in half lengthways and you have two huge fillets then simply skin it as you would any other fish. The fillets will be curved at the edges so you may leave bits of skin on there. What I do is run a cut along the edges to flatten the skin before the major skinning. Shark is prepared in the same way.

I only keep those that are about 4 foot or over as they are plentiful due to me targeting them specifically and I don't find the small ones worth the effort.

The fillets are thick so you can cut them lengthways to make them thinner.

The deckie simply puts hers on the barbie most of the time and sometimes gives them a splash of beer whilst cooking. She also microwaves them in a closed dish with onion and tomato on top of them. If you find them dry on the barbie, you can cover them with a lid. I like mine dipped in egg and bread crumbs and fried.

The deckie cooks her stingies and catties in the same way.

cheers

kev

[bidkev]

G'Day Kev...

It was the deckie who took my toes... haha the little shit forgot his lunch so he was gettin starving by lunch time :P

The shovelly was actually a good feed but i think i need some lessons in getting fillets of them.

G'Day mate.

Hope you can follow my instructions to Ben. There really is very little waste (other than the head and fins). If you fish the Southern side of that bank with a 10/0 and a large squid on the bottom, you should eventually pick up a stonker......if you want to, that is :-)

cheers

kev

[Cloud_9]

they taste pretty good freeze well. but don't they f up the filet knife (the skin).
you should have been sittin just seaward of swan bay on the edge of the chanel.
jew time. ;D

Cheers Cloud 9

[Cheech]

Kev, how do you know the difference between a sovelnose ray and a shovelnose shark?

The last time I was at the pin a few months ago I got a couple of them near the yellow marker, but thought it was just a ray so sent it back. Have aldo had a few around Mud.

The kids really want me to bring home a shark to eat, but don't want to end up eating a ray. (this assumes there is any big difference)

Cheech

[bidkev]

Kev, how do you know the difference between a sovelnose ray and a shovelnose shark?

The last time I was at the pin a few months ago I got a couple of them near the yellow marker, but thought it was just a ray so sent it back. Have aldo had a few around Mud.

The kids really want me to bring home a shark to eat, but don't want to end up eating a ray. (this assumes there is any big difference)

Cheech


They *are* a ray Cheech......it's just that some folk call em shark 'cause it sounds more "romantic". If you want a cert of some *big* shovellies or shark, or simply want a bloody good fight with leopard rays the size of barn doors, a certain spot at Chain Banks is the go.

Failing that, simply fillet your shovelly as I have described, before you get home, and tell 'em it's shark.....you'd be hard pressed to tell the difference.

cheers

kev