I was finally able to go out fishing!!!  (January 3)

It was my first trip of the year 2017, and also the first time since the last April.  It was such a long time since the last time I fished, and I was even confused with what to bring to the boat.  Well, I brought everything I need for fishing, but I didn’t bring any camera…

Sorry.  There’s no photo except this one which my friend took for me.

The tide was loose all day.  We were around 130m to 160m area.  140g jig can easily reach the bottom.  But the fish was not active all day.

I tried everything, got a few contacts and it was by slow pitch with rather heavy jigs of 230g and 260g.  The other anglers on the boat got only a couple of amberjacks, mainly with small light jigs in fast jigging approach.  I decided to stay with slow approach with heavy jigs.

 

At 130m, I got a  big hit with 260g Arc on 603-4 just before, and I just couldn’t hook it.  Disappointed, I changed to Abyss 230g on 603-4 with PE2.0.  I was about 10 cranks from the bottom when the fall stopped, and I cranked up about 5 times to hit this fish and hooked.

It was 6-kg Longface Emperor, Lethrinus olivaceus.

This is one of my favorite fish!   It’s a great fish in any cooking.

 

And I got a little Golden eye jobfish, Pristipomoides flavipinnis

This is a little tasty fish too.

This will be our dinner tonight.

 

Here we go, Longface.

I’m saving this fish as I will have 10 people to feed later this month.

 

Such irresistible lips .

 

This fish has such tough scales.  Even with Ginrin Fish Scaler, it’s hard to scale and I would have some scales flying around.  I decided to skin it.  This was much easier.

 

My cat was quick to smell it.

 

He knows he will get a piece if he behaves.

 

Longface has such plump, springy meat.  The texture feels like a free-range chicken.

I was going to freeze this fish now for later use, so I’m not doing sashimi.  It needs to be heated.  I am planning to teri-grill it after sous vide.  But I didn’t know what temperature to cook in.

With fish like salmon, amberjack, and spanish mackerel, I know I like to cook at 48C for 40 minutes before the brief grill with glazing sauce.  48C is for buttery, flaky, and juicy texture.

But with Longface, I thought I needed experiments.  First I tried 48C and it was still a little more chewy than I wanted.  This fish is full of collagen to bind up the muscles.  I need to break down these proteins for better texture and better flavor.  I also tried at 52C and 56C.  I think I will try at 52C for 60 minutes.  I will try to post up how it will come out.

 

In the meanwhile, the jobfish became our dinner tonight as Nitsuke, teri glazed fish.