Yay, back to my beloved, my beloved and my beloved house, bed, dog, son, beloved South Easter.
Up at 7, wow, after all the north-ing still manage to get up early, excited to go and see my Josh, missed the little blighter something awful. Happy reunion, coffee, then on to my favourite shop, “Tuckers”. My Grandwave had another service as was making a bit of a noise, just 2 weeks after the last service, turns out there is a bit of a burr on the pinion gear, but it runs plenty smooth now, no noise at all in the cast, almost too quiet. Also picked up my oscillating slider for the BG 60.
Also fed my tackle demon by getting a sensation 12 foot, spinning rod to match my Fin-Nor Coffee Grinder, the Kingfisher spinning stick has a too soft tip for my liking, and only casts up to 3 oz.
Had a great chat at Tuckers as well discovered what the various numbers on the rods mean and set myself up to do some sliding which will be a first for me, not of course to catch sharks but that big Kob I am hunting, on my purchase they presented me with a good bottle of 05 red, going to save that for the big Kob. Great shop, good service, friendly people and fair prices.
Left suitably rewarded, home to give Josh his lego and me a little power nap. The dogs also needed a walk so the afternoon saw us getting sand blasted at the beach, got a few white mussels though, amazing how they seem to occur in groups and if you find one there are sure to be others about. The water was warm and a great colour, excited to take my new baby out.
That had to wait for the evening, Josh and Wilma watched “How to train your dragon” and i went to St James. Ahh the sea, lovely feeling of peace enveloped me as I stood ready to cast into the foamy surf. Mmmm maybe not such a good idea to try a new rod in such a rocky place, wasn’t getting much distance and lost 4 sinkers in quick succession. Knotting the sinker leader worked well though and i kept my hook trace throughout. Running out of sinkers, no bites and a promise to come home and have dinner with the family found me leaving after sunset, fishless but happy.
Interesting supper, Wilma working at Bargain books in Tokai, had met a woman, got talking and the woman mentioned that her husband was a refrigeration engineer for a Japanese trawler. She also said that they had been given some fish, and she would bring some in for Wilma. Turns out the fish was Patagonian Toothfish, aka, Chilean Sea bass, a fish that has been badly overexploited, so much so that is has been fished to commercial extinction in places like Marion Island, it is also on the don’t eat list of Greenpeace.
Now obviously Wilma didn’t know this, and gratefully accepted the offer of fish. Whether the wife of the refrigeration engineer knew, or whether the fish had actually been caught legally, are question that have to be answered. it does show the power of education though, if Wilma had know about the endangered status she would of been able to have a meaningful conversation with the woman.
Anyway it was quite unique and delicious, oily and rich, buttery and tasty. Next on my list is probably Whale.
Mike the common name for the Patagonian Toothfish amongst the fishing community is also Butterfish. Whether its because of its rich buttery taste or the fact that it is usually presented in blocks resembling blocks of butter, I don’t know but an awesome eating fish! It is on the endangered list and currently illegal for sale in ZA as far as I know. You might wanna edit this post before the “Kreef traffic cops” come knocking!
Butterfish is a good name, it tasted like hot melted butter with a fish flavour. Sad but i won’t eat it again, like to know which trawler brought it in.