Piney Point me to the fish

[Big Mike]

The Tides4fishing site said this morning was going to be a 10, and it was right. Hit Piney Point around 6:15 and the launch was being hit with a fairly good headwind out of the east, but the nice thing about Piney Point is you just go under the bridge and you are on the other side of St George's Island, and in this case somewhat sheltered from the waves and wind. Tried some top water, but the chop and fish weren't cooperating. Switched to my trusty Yamamoto crank bait and the game was on. For the next hour it was fast and furious with a mix of blues running 10 - 13" and rocks, 2 of which hit the 17 3/4" inch mark. Caught at least 18 fish in that first hour. Started to slow after that so I switched to Bass Assassin paddle tail with a chartreuse paddle and started trolling the rip rap and docks. Had a huge hit and fought the fish for a couple of minutes before the line broke. Cursing I tied on another bait, lit up a cigar for good luck and trolled right back through the same spot. Another hit, but I thought I was snagged until I got the kayak turned and the line was still screaming (I had turned the drag down a few after the break off). After an eventful fight I had a nice 22" rock in the boat. Caught a few more small ones along the rip rap and by that time it was dead high tide and things were slowing. Ended up with 23 fish for 3 hours fishing and kept one blue and the rock. The blue is 13" in the picture to give you perspective on how fat the rock fish was.

I made Blue Fish Poke for lunch - I use some Korean hot pepper paste (try it instead of Siracha, you might get hooked), soy sauce, sesame oil and some sesame seeds (I didn't have any green onions in the fridge or I would add that as well). This was my first time trying it with blue fish and I would say it was equal to having it with tuna when the fish was this fresh. Happy boy for lunch and stuffed rock fish for dinner coming up.

[kitkatyaker]

Nice job Mike. So the wind was at 10? Don't you find that a bit rocky for the Pro Angler? In any case you caught a keeper so.....

[Big Mike]

The wind was probably blowing 7 to 12 most of the morning and was shifting to the SE instead of dead east when I launched, which did increase the waves a little- the tide finder site had it's highest rating for the 8 AM hour today at Piney Point - thus my 10 reference. On the leeward side of the island I was only dealing with residual waves most of the morning - probably a couple of rollers in the 1 1/2 foot class that the boat handled fine. Peddling into the wind and the tide current was a bear however on my outward leg of trolling. I do find if I'm heading dead into a bigger wave that the PA does plow a bit, so I try to go at a quartering angle in those conditions (or more frequently head back to the dock).

[Cowpokey]

Do you cook it or eat it raw? I'm sure we have all of those ingredients in the house...plus green onion.

My wife is eating another bowl of fish head soup. She's nuts about fish!

[InshoreMac]

Nice job mike!! Good to hear those reports.

[kitkatyaker]

Mike it sounds like you're an ex navy guy. Me too. I do the same as you but I don't like it on the PA.

[Big Mike]

I ate the blue fish raw in the poke. I find these 12 - 14" blues to be some of the finest eating in the bay, and after the poke I don't know why I've never seen them on a sushi menu. I did semi-retire from working for the Navy, but never in the Navy. However, one does pick up terminology.

[Cowpokey]

You'd probably really like the creations my wife comes up with. The fish she bought and cooked in Korea would stink the whole house up something fierce, I couldn't eat it. I'm surprised how good blue is as sashimi. It seams like most people don't care for blues, but I think they taste pretty good. Not as good as striper or speck, but still good.

She took one of my mom's recipes(?) for frying fish that they used for halibut up in Alaska and it works well for everything here too. I don't know exactly how she does it, but essentially it's to get a coating of panco on fish pieces and pan or deep fry. I still need to get her doing beer batter.

[Pc4sun]

Thanks for the pictures describing the poke. I can't imagine eating it raw. If I cooked it I suppose it ould be good too?

[Goody]

Nice catch! Looks pretty healthy.

Mobile

[Big Mike]

I haven't tried cooked fish in a poke. I don't think it would absorb the sauce the same way, but if you don't like raw, then go ahead and try it cooked. It's cooking, not physics.

[kitkatyaker]

I LOVE sushi! Maybe we could get some sometime. I tried making it one time and made a mess of it

[Cowpokey]

I LOVE sushi! Maybe we could get some sometime. I tried making it one time and made a mess of it

My wife doesn't do the sushi, just sashimi. She just cuts fillets in bitesize chunks and make a dip with soy sauce and wasabi paste.

It doesn't look too hard to make sushi, just need sticky rice and be able to cut the fish in the right size pieces.



Unless you're talking about "sushi rolls" (Koreans make "kimbap")?



She makes that, but doesn't use raw fish; vegetables, fake crab and spam usually. I should have her make some kimbap for the next M&G or potluck...it's really good.

[kitkatyaker]

Yeah, I've been eating sushi for well over 25 years now. I have a few different sushi kits, I just don't want to make it myself. Besides, I also love the sake. The better restaurants have cold sake. No worries. I will still go out with my friends who also love eating it but if you ever feel like sharing your wife's creations. ..

[Cowpokey]

I'll bring some next time we all get together. I prefer soju over sake, but probably because I spent over 10 years in Korea and only 2 in Japan. I do like Japanese food though, sushi, yakisobo, soba soup...mouth is watering.