That's the second stargazer today I've seen caught on a lure. Never seen it before!
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Closest I've come to catching a stargazer. Nearly grabbed the bloody thing three times. Slow, but fast!
https://i.ibb.co/FwHsGWh/Screen-Shot...4-29-at-20.jpg
Monkfish are good eating and high value in other parts of the world.
I'm not fussed on them myself.....mushy muddy flesh.
I have seen them touted as great eating fish on those reality tv cooking shows tho.....but let's face it 90%of the rest of the world doesn't know what a fresh or good fish is.
We catch a fair number at work....some get quite large!
Not a high value fish at all for us.
Took Dad and his mate out Thursday.
13 big fat flounder first drag.
As we were sorting out the net from that to go to my next spot a couple of fellas fanged up the channel to exactly where I was about to go....oh well we had a feed already and it was a beautiful morning on the water/mud.
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Took a few out to a mates for tea and cooked outside with the stars and Ruru .
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Stargazers and monkfish are completely unrelated species of fish, but stargazers are sometimes called monkfish in NZ which leads to confusion. I don't think true monkfish even occur in our part of the world. Monkfish are good to eat. I've never tried stargazer.
No never!
However the New Zealand Quota Management System show codes for the following.
Brown stargazer BRZ
Giant stargazer STA
Sand stargazer SAZ
Scaly Stargazer PLZ
Spotted Stargazer SPZ
Unspecified stargazer STG
So it would appear much like flounder and sole there is many subspecies of Stargazer.
There is absolutely no mention of monkfish in the QMS that I could find in a 2 min Google so I assume it is a marketing name like calamari instead of squid,Akaroa cod instead of red cod,blue grenadia instead of Hoki etc
Monk fish is the "retail name" for it just like "lemon fish" is the name for rig I believe. Makes it sound more "trendy" for the city folk!
I have caught a few stargazer/monkfish (name this in supermarket) in flounder set nets in Pelorus sound - very firm dense flesh and from memory was hard to pan fry and cook through. I have found it to be good in fish casseroles or curries as it holds together well i.e: https://www.feastingathome.com/brazi...w-aka-moqueca/ This recipe is just outstanding albeit I add way more fish than called for.
Sadly, flounder netting in our bay has become just a good way to catch shit loads of spiny dogs and set lines for snapper pretty much the same issue.
Took a workmate and the Son out today for a drag, first time out in estuary for mate...he loved it.
22 flounder one big rig released.
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I've tried to eat one and it was bloody horrible. Eaten monkfish overseas and thought it was ok, either they're different fish or i caught a bad one.
I'd like to find out that's the case, the bay we stay at in QC Sound has plenty of stargazers and a distinct lack of anything else. I filleted and fried it, maybe I'll be more adventurous with my cooking next time. In my defence, my BiL couldn't eat it either, and he lived in India and PNG for a while- the stories of his gastronomic exploits leave me feeling quite ill!
It's weird to fry, the flesh seems so dense that it is hard to get cooked through - Bro in law fried some up inside the bach and gawd what a stink my wife has never let him forget about the pong. But in an Indian/Thai/other curry or a stew like moqueca it holds together well and its really nice.
Fishing next weekend for me!:thumbsup: taking a few of my work mates down to the bach for the weekend
After last weekends trout fishing and a few days holed up due to all the rain, it was time to hit the saltwater.
Ziggy the dog and I ventured out onto the mudflats to target the incoming tide to fish the channel edges. With water the colour of mud a bit of rain and a strong NE blowing the tide on the turn, it wasnt long before I had a small Skippy and Jack Mack on the beach been cut into long strips for fresh bait.
Baitcaster mode engaged and a few tentative runs, who doesnt love the sound of a bait runner peeling off, soon enough this Snapper came home for dinner. Had another couple of strong runs with one solid hookup only to drop the snapper half way in. This one was enough for dinner and it was home to cook up Fried spuds and Baked Snapper. Good way to spend an afternoon and the dog had fun chasing seagulls and been on bait chasing duty getting covered in mud.
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The snapper was soon baked on the webber baby Q stuffed with onions, red peppers, chili, ginger and the most important ingredient butter......
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Cheers FBD
ok guys just after a bit of info on bait cannons , age 70+ and a few medical probs i'm not getting the range i used to
with my old warehouse silstar . has anyone here used one or had experience with one , thank you .
Due to the rather damp conditions outside today I have been mucking around inside with some fishing gear. Tried a little experiment and it seemed to work. A snake proof jig rig. Plastic coated wire attached directly to mainline with an FG knot. It seems to hold. Just the thing for winter @stingray:D
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A work of art @Shearer!
But we bait fishermen target gurnard and other delicious fish in the winter rather than snakes! :thumbsup:
Yes. I see your point about stripping the plastic off the wire. I hadn't thought of that.
The idea of the FG was to keep a minimal connection. The glorious southern sailfish will slash at anything shiny/making bubbles so you don't want to use swivels of even crimps as they will target them as well as the lure. I was only going to use 100mm or so of wire from the lure so no, it won't be going anywhere near the guides. I have given the knot a pretty through test and they haven't shown any sign of slippage, braking a uni knot connection first. The braid seems to dig into the plastic pretty well. It may turn out to be a waste of time but worth a crack I guess.
I'm always having ideas for fishing rigs. Some of them work out, others less so!
Tropical fly fishers and European pike anglers use knotable wires which may be of interest.
that knot looks very much like what we use to join mono onto a fly line...never had one let go and yes they bite into plastic cover really well. if worried you could always loop wire back onto itself and twist it off to form a loop... sort of another hook eye...
Ohiwa Harbour produced the goods again,
With an evening low tide last night it was off to a spot on the channel edge to target the last of the outgoing tide and slack water tide into the cool of the evening. A prefect night of no wind, clear skys with a sunset transitioning to banging stars and stillness of bugger all noise of civilisation.
The dog enjoyed her run and the snapper went 45cm and made a great mothers-day lunch along with the kahawai, both been hot smoked over manuka chips with sourdough bread buns and plenty of butter....
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@Fat belly Dog never had much luck in the harbor.Buy the looks of that I'm obviously doing something wrong [emoji848]
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@hunter Al.7mm08 I have had plenty of fish-less sessions in there too..
I think its more this time of the year or even the shit weather /large swell last few weeks. Been a few reports of good fish the last couple of weeks, I have also gone to 2 bar-o hooks fishing a ledger rig rather than a running or pulley rig. Small baits and fresh if I can catch a mackerel or skippy or small kahawai. I have been having best luck on a bait runner set to just hold in the current, the bigger snapper seem to pick and run and with the small baits and 2-bar-o s are helping, funny thing is I am not catching many undersized snapper at the moment with this set up.
I tend to target Low tide incoming tides as spot i fish you walk out to the channel edge, but I think either change of tide change of light would produce.
Cheers FBD
I am going to unlock one more new fish before I leave here.
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Had a great day out off Ohiwa Fishing from a boat today, decided I would fish a 20 gram micro slow jig first up while the rest of the boys on the boat fished bait. I had a ball and caught a heap of snapper with my best going 68cm, no photos as I wanted to get it back in the water after a great fight on the light jigging rod. Caught a Kingfish just under 70cm and a few rats taking the jig on a fast retrieve along with a few Kahawai. Non stop action on snapper in the 28-32 cm range went back and picked up a bonus gurnard and trevally. Hard to get the jig past the blue mackerel schools on a fast drop but when I did it was taken on the bottom or close too. Great fun.
The big 68cm Snapper was caught after catching a smaller snapper off the bottom, winding it up but dropping the small one about 10m off the bottom, I paused to say F*%K all and just got smashed by the big boy "Fish On!!!!", great fight, long runs had the 4000 reel screaming and a healthy bend in the 6-10kg rod.
Havent fished micro slow jigs before but I think I will be going forward. My last fish up here in BOP before heading down to Nelson for a few months, tempted to stay for the fishing now.... Keen to bring the rods and the jigs down south to see if I can get into a few winter Gurnard, cudda and spiky dogs....
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the pink jig strikes again.
Great fun,little jigs on light gear.
and very effective.
Gave up using bait years ago, except for nostalgia
Microjigs are bloody lethal!
If do`t have sea sick, I will buy a nice boat or yacht, and live on it.
Bring all the shiny shit you’ve got, the southern salefish are hungry…:thumbsup:
All jokes aside ..get here quick , our snapper season seems to be hanging on by it finger tips …cannot wait to get out into the tide chasing flounder ..
I’m feeling a trip to okiwi should be organised, so let me know when you touch down , we’ll get @veitnamcam home from sea , @Pengy down from his roost , and roster @ROKTOY a weekend off , @Shearer has all sorts of gear to feed to the fishing gods, @kukuwai and lads are fishermen of great ability , @madjon loves a feed of mussels , @mikee can have a weekend off the birds …so that’s a start …the rest of the rat bags can fill the gaps ..
Let’s say Friday - Sunday in a couple of weeks time allowing for VC to be home from fishing to go fishing.
I can book a batch , cheap rates but it’s a bit rough ..