Honour The Fallen | What to Do When Fish Don't Last The Fight.

On April 25 every year, Australians prepare for our Anzac Day—A day when we should all stop and take a moment to remember, with gratitude, that we owe our freedom to live as we choose to the brave men and women who make up our defence forces. All around our great nation, medals are polished and uniforms pressed. We remember those whose lives have been lost in an effort to protect our shores and all that we stand for as a country. Anzac Day is possibly one of the most humbling, and yet most proud days on our calendar. No different, I expect, to the equivalent in any country.

As I reflect on these thoughts and blink the tears away, my mind wanders out to the water we all cherish and the pastime we love… fishing. Yep, that’s living! “Freedom to live as we choose”… I love my life.

Can I take this opportunity to thank all of our soldiers, past and present, for their bravery and commitment on my behalf? I hope that such a small gesture might help them and their families know how much they are appreciated.

I was out on Darwin Harbour last week, chasing the tide. Barra up in the creeks for the last of the run-out and then rock walls and islands on the way home. We had a fun day, landing a few barra in the early part of our session and then flicking our various lures at any swirl of activity that happened around us.

I hang my head in shame when I think back on the beautiful queenie that Steve hooked up to, only to be blown away because I was too girlie on the boat controls and didn’t get him away from the oyster-clad pylons quick enough. Lesson learnt.

We were heading in, both of us watching the terrain of the seafloor unfurl below us via our Lowrance HDS8. We were both keenly interested in the imagery as neither of us is familiar with Darwin Harbour as a fishery, although we’re keen to become very knowledgeable.

Suddenly, Steve pulled back the throttle and our boat slowed and sank into its bow wave. “What?” I asked.

“5-7 metres of water rising quickly to a rocky island,” he replied, looking to his right at Old Man Rock punching through the rising tide. “That’s queenie and trevally country, for sure!”

I was impressed. Not a day goes by when I realize just how much more there is to learn!

Steve turned the wheel on the console, gently pressed the throttle forward and nudged us over towards those rocks. Right then… at THAT MOMENT… as if by design, the water surface erupted into a shower of salty drops screaming exodus from the wake of a thrashing school of fish!

No instructions required, I cast my Yozuri lure into the thick of the melee, not sure what fish was causing the disturbance. I didn’t really care… I was there for FUN!

No go, first cast. New trajectory… plop… wind, wind, wind… pause… zzzzzeeeee! The line ripped taut and took off subsurface in the direction of Papua New Guinea!

I was packing light with a Stradic Ci4 3000 spin reel on my Starlo Stix Tournament Series MidSpin rod, rigged with 20Lb braid. I was loaded for hare rather than bear, but this gear is easy to feel confident with.

What a great battle! The fish fought hard, giving me a good deal of stick before we got to see colour. It was a beauty—a golden trevally bigger than we’d seen in Darwin waters. Once it got an eyeball of our hull, however, it burrowed hard and fast, undoubtedly seeking a handy rock or sharp patch of reef to help liberate it.

This trevally and I doe-si-doed in this see-saw duel a few more times before we were able to get the net under the 95cm fish and lift it into the boat for a photo session before releasing.

Sadly, this particular session didn’t see our fish survive. We tried desperately to revive and swim the trevally, but our efforts were fruitless. Steve and I looked to each other. What to do with a fish that dies yet is not considered a table fish?

I’m sure this happens to us all at some time. I recall a fight to the death battle that Steve had with a milkfish… the gallant fish simply had no more to give when it came in. In its honour, we ended up ignoring all advice previously given that said they were too boney to eat and took the fish home to the smoker. The result was an incredibly tasty (albeit boney), densely packed fillet of smoked fish that had friends raving for weeks!

… So why not cook up a big trevally? There’s no sense or honour in wasting a good fish, right?

Our golden trevally became my own version of kokonda (a Pacific Islands style of numus) and some fillets marinated in orange zest and chili. Was it any good? OH YES! Totally worthy of the fish and the fight that it put up. Its flesh was a surprising combination of pure white through to red like raw lamb! The deepest brown meat was fed to an enthusiastic puppy, but all other meat (and there was plenty) was used to feed a barbeque of eight friends. We used the ratty bits of the whitest meat in the kokonda, which was delicious, and all other meat was cut into tidy, even sized pieces for the marinade.

I’m including a run down on how I prepared the fillets… hopefully it might inspire others who find themselves in the same sad quandary, regardless of the species.

Meanwhile, you can keep up with the progress of our keen-but-still-learning group of like-minded piscatorial white belts on my Fishingscool page on Facebook.

A recipe built upon suggestions collected on Fishingscool’s page on Facebook
(please note: I am passionate about food, as opposed to rigid. As a result, I do everything to taste. Please combine the following ingredients to suit yours.)

Ingredients

1 golden trevally or some other unexpected fish
brown sugar
fresh orange juice
garlic
fresh hot chili (go mild if you prefer)
fresh coriander leaves
zest of orange

Once you’ve filleted your fish and cut your fillets into individual portions, rub them liberally on both sides with brown sugar before stacking them in a glass or plastic bowl.

In another bowl, combine the juice of your oranges, garlic, fresh chilies and coriander leaves.

Preheat your barbeque or pan and when you are 30-45mins away from cooking, pour your marinade over your sugared portions.

Cook quickly (until flesh just turns white… remember that your portions will continue cooking after removed from the heat) and serve hot.