annual fraser trip

[Ken Gargett]

from the annual fishing trip to fraser island. sadly, fish was not the only thing i caught. been down with the dreaded lurgy for the last week. gruesome. some of the pics.

we usually eat and drink reasonably well. 

sadly this 1969 Lafite was past best. 

sadly this 91

 

magnum of 1990 Rockford was pretty special. 

magnum of young but delicious burgundy

this is the very tip of the cape. great to do a trip up - a touch too early for the turtles breeding but it is spectacular. and the dingoes are getting a bit too friendly. sad, as it means they'll soon be shot. 

some great scenery with the dunes slowly swamping the trees. 

plenty of fish for a change. 

 

[KCCubano]

What type of fish species? Any sign of Great Whites in the area? JohnS can u please correct a few of the photos that were incorrectly uploaded? 

[JohnS]

I removed a few of the photos posted twice but, on the whole, I think the photos have come up quite nicely this time!

[Chas.Alpha]

So that is the feared Dingo? It's a collie dog, mate! Try feeding them, I'll bet they'd be a lot more friendly! I have a house cat that would kick their arse!!!

[SpecialK]

Does one of the dogs have a tag in it's ear?

[El Presidente]

I love the blue in that sky. Magic.

[Ken Gargett]

39 minutes ago, El Presidente said:

I love the blue in that sky. Magic.

yes, that was pretty special. especially with the dead white trees. dessie is having it framed. 

 

2 hours ago, KCCubano said:

What type of fish species? Any sign of Great Whites in the area? JohnS can u please correct a few of the photos that were incorrectly uploaded? 

we call them tailor. in the states, bluefish. for us, we very often catch them from the beach or rocky headlands. they do not get as large as the ones from the states but we don't get the same problem with worms. lot of debate over whether they are good eating or not. sane people know that very fresh - as in say grilled for breakfast after beomng caught that morning - they are as good as any fish you can find. but once frozen, best for fish curries and stews. but some just hate them from day one.

a few years since i have seen great whites up there, though with the whales heading there to breed, you can bet they are around. big tigers, and they can top five metres, the main problem. bulls and whalers. 

 

2 hours ago, Chas.Alpha said:

So that is the feared Dingo? It's a collie dog, mate! Try feeding them, I'll bet they'd be a lot more friendly! I have a house cat that would kick their arse!!!

the problem is that morons treat them like the family pet because they are good looking dogs. as long as they get what they want - food - no problem. very intelligent. turn your back and they'll have their heads in your fish bucket. they get more and more confident around humans and start taking what they want. then we have absolute tragedies where small kids see them as dogs and the pack act just like wolves. there are a million warning signs everywhere but that does not stop stupid. 

they hang around humans much more these days as some dimwit bureaucrat decided that they should get rid of all the brumbies living on the island. they might not have been native but the dingoes fed on the weak and old brumbies and kept them in check and had food. we used to see them but they were much more reticent to come anywhere near us. not these days and it always ends badly. even had one of our group, who should know better, lecture us all on dealing with dingoes and making sure we did not feed them. and then i found him feeding a dingo. spare me. 

that is why they have a tag. different colours reflect number of reported encounters with humans. they only get a few chances and then they get shot by the rangers.

and trust me, you could not get odds of your house cat lasting a minute against dingoes. a collie wouldn't do much better. they can be savage. 

[westg]

Fair sized tailor. That would have been fun.,🎏🐟🐟. Looks like a great week . Fishing a drink or two cigars. Perfect. 

[Ken Gargett]

10 minutes ago, westg said:

Fair sized tailor. That would have been fun.,🎏🐟🐟. Looks like a great week . Fishing a drink or two cigars. Perfect. 

westie, sadly the lurgy meant no cigars. the fish ranged from choppers up to decent but nothing too big. no greenbacks. but a great week. 

[99call]

10 hours ago, Ken Gargett said:

the problem is that morons treat them like the family pet because they are good looking dogs. as long as they get what they want - food - no problem

Yep, Just this week and British family were attacked by a pack of domestic dogs on a Greek mountain.  I would challenge anyone not to be scared shitless if you were trying to defend your young kids against a pack of 15 medium sized starving dogs.   The dad managed to fight them off in the end, but said he genuinely thought he and his family were going to die in that horrendous way.      I would definitely rather be quickly dispatched by a lion, than ripped apart by 15 angry collies. 

[KCCubano]

9 hours ago, Ken Gargett said:

yes, that was pretty special. especially with the dead white trees. dessie is having it framed. 

 

we call them tailor. in the states, bluefish. for us, we very often catch them from the beach or rocky headlands. they do not get as large as the ones from the states but we don't get the same problem with worms. lot of debate over whether they are good eating or not. sane people know that very fresh - as in say grilled for breakfast after beomng caught that morning - they are as good as any fish you can find. but once frozen, best for fish curries and stews. but some just hate them from day one.

a few years since i have seen great whites up there, though with the whales heading there to breed, you can bet they are around. big tigers, and they can top five metres, the main problem. bulls and whalers. 

 

the problem is that morons treat them like the family pet because they are good looking dogs. as long as they get what they want - food - no problem. very intelligent. turn your back and they'll have their heads in your fish bucket. they get more and more confident around humans and start taking what they want. then we have absolute tragedies where small kids see them as dogs and the pack act just like wolves. there are a million warning signs everywhere but that does not stop stupid. 

they hang around humans much more these days as some dimwit bureaucrat decided that they should get rid of all the brumbies living on the island. they might not have been native but the dingoes fed on the weak and old brumbies and kept them in check and had food. we used to see them but they were much more reticent to come anywhere near us. not these days and it always ends badly. even had one of our group, who should know better, lecture us all on dealing with dingoes and making sure we did not feed them. and then i found him feeding a dingo. spare me. 

that is why they have a tag. different colours reflect number of reported encounters with humans. they only get a few chances and then they get shot by the rangers.

and trust me, you could not get odds of your house cat lasting a minute against dingoes. a collie wouldn't do much better. they can be savage. 

I had caught a few episodes of shark week on Nat Geo last month. In one of them they discussed the migration of Great Whites to Fraser Island during whale breeding season

[Ford2112]

Blue fish on the east coast in the surf are large in my bucket list. What a wild place Fraser looks to be!

[winelover]

Ken - fantastic wine and seafood line up - nicely done. I had Coutet 2014 earlier this year. Loved it, it had great energy and wow factor. 

[bates40]

Looks like the Bordain (sp) video where he goes ice fishing. 

[Chas.Alpha]

16 hours ago, Ken Gargett said:

 

and trust me, you could not get odds of your house cat lasting a minute against dingoes. a collie wouldn't do much better. they can be savage. 

Back home (Minnesota) we have these lovely gray dogs called timberwolves. Very attractive, not friendly at all.

[El Presidente]

18 hours ago, Chas.Alpha said:

So that is the feared Dingo? It's a collie dog, mate! Try feeding them, I'll bet they'd be a lot more friendly! I have a house cat that would kick their arse!!!

They look like housepets but they are bastards. 

My son Ben lost a classmate when he was 9 to a Fraser Island dingo attack.  Gruesome story of a pack attacking two brothers walking to the beach. Dad could only rescue one. 

 

 

[Bill Hayes]

Are Tailor anything like Australian Salmon @Ken Gargett? Oily and fishy? Have you smoked Tailor before or had it fresh as ceviche in citrus?

[Ken Gargett]

5 minutes ago, Bill Hayes said:

Are Tailor anything like Australian Salmon @Ken Gargett? Oily and fishy? Have you smoked Tailor before or had it fresh as ceviche in citrus?

bill, not dissimilar though from anecdotal evidence, i think tailor are a cut above salmon for eating, but that is talking about when they are very fresh. otherwise, as i said, curries and stews. they are an oily fish. not sure how one categorises 'fishy'? 

ate a lot of smoked tailor as a kid - dad used to smoke them all the time. we intended to do it this time but never got around to it. have had it ceviche before but not often. works okay but i am not certain that is its best use. 

[joeypots]

Nice photos of what looks like paradise. Blue fish are indeed good to eat. We will bleed one or two as soon as it’s landed to eat fresh. Smoked, they are fantastic. Around here in the fall tons of bait, pogies or menhaden to be precise, school up and the predator fish will gorge. If you are lucky with your spinning gear and a weighted treble hook, you can foul hook a bait fish and a blue fish will hit it in no time. Gotta be one of the best ways to catch a fish, I think. Around here, if the blue fish are active in the shallows and you can see them ten feet out in the waves, it means there are tuna, big tuna, chasing the blue fish.

[El Hoze]

I think I may have mentioned this before but I am from US (grew up in New Jersey) and we typically refer to small bluefish as snappers, tailors are medium sized (and the most common), and gators are the big ones (call it 10 lbs. +). Tailors are the best for eating as snappers are too hard to filet and gators can get oily. Bluefish give a great fight pound for pound. We used to eat fresh bluefish growing up, my dad would grill it in aluminum foil with some lemon, salt/pepper and breadcrumbs. Delicious. I have made ceviche with it, doable but not ideal as it can get mushy.  I would imagine it would make a pretty good smoked fish dip.

[Chas.Alpha]

On 9/2/2022 at 7:31 AM, El Presidente said:

They look like housepets but they are bastards. 

My son Ben lost a classmate when he was 9 to a Fraser Island dingo attack.  Gruesome story of a pack attacking two brothers walking to the beach. Dad could only rescue one.

Is there ANYTHING in Oz that doesn't kill you? 😲

[Ken Gargett]

9 hours ago, joeypots said:

Nice photos of what looks like paradise. Blue fish are indeed good to eat. We will bleed one or two as soon as it’s landed to eat fresh. Smoked, they are fantastic. Around here in the fall tons of bait, pogies or menhaden to be precise, school up and the predator fish will gorge. If you are lucky with your spinning gear and a weighted treble hook, you can foul hook a bait fish and a blue fish will hit it in no time. Gotta be one of the best ways to catch a fish, I think. Around here, if the blue fish are active in the shallows and you can see them ten feet out in the waves, it means there are tuna, big tuna, chasing the blue fish.

bleeding them immediately is definitely key. regretting we did not get around to smoking some this trip. when i was a kid, i believe the government banned what you call deliberate foulhooking - we call it jagging. we used to do it occasionally with schools of mullet. ours are caught either on spinning gear or more often, something like a four hook rig of off 4/0s with a pilchard. 

somewhere i have a photo of a tiny tailor which i caught on that gear laid next to the pilchard it attacked. the pilchard was bigger than it. 

 

6 hours ago, El Hoze said:

I think I may have mentioned this before but I am from US (grew up in New Jersey) and we typically refer to small bluefish as snappers, tailors are medium sized (and the most common), and gators are the big ones (call it 10 lbs. +). Tailors are the best for eating as snappers are too hard to filet and gators can get oily. Bluefish give a great fight pound for pound. We used to eat fresh bluefish growing up, my dad would grill it in aluminum foil with some lemon, salt/pepper and breadcrumbs. Delicious. I have made ceviche with it, doable but not ideal as it can get mushy.  I would imagine it would make a pretty good smoked fish dip.

mushy is exactly the problem unless you get it done right out of the sea. 

for us, they are all tailor. smaller ones are also called choppers and the big ones greenbacks. it is very rare for us to see one as big as 10 lbs. occasionally. and they do give a great fight. they were originally called tailor here because the way they chomp through anything reminded someone of a set of tailor's shears. 

[traveller]

Lots of new vocab learnt on this post!