Reel Life | Battle of the fish: freshwater vs saltwater

The choice is mammoth, but there are so many more species to choose from, so you can agree or disagree. Here are my top five choices:

First is King George whiting, second is flathead tails, third is gummy shark, fourth is snapper and rounding out my top five is tuna. Just pipping blue-eye trevalla.

As you can see, there are no freshwater fish in my top five, but as I have said on many occasions, when it comes to eating fish, I am a saltwater snob. In my opinion, the salties win hands down for flavour, texture and size. You may differ, and I would like to hear your views.

So, how do I rate freshwater fish?

My number one is Macquarie perch, but as they are mostly protected, they are not on my table all that often. Second is the import to Australia, the European or English perch, better known as redfin. Third place is trout, any of the species: brown, brook or rainbow. Fourth is the native yellowbelly, and as far as tablefish go, I rate the Murray cod.

I almost place silver eels above cod, but because eels are so damn hard to prepare to eat, I dropped them down the list. The same goes for black fish.

How you cook your fish is important. ‘The simpler, the better’ is my motto. In most cases, dusted with seasoned flour and cooked in peanut oil or olive oil is my method of choice. You can use this method for any of my top three, but battered or crumbed works just as well. Any fish you can use these methods on ends up on my list of favourite. There is a trick: do not overcook; keep the fish moist.

Where to catch your fish? Well, at present, according to all reports from freshwater sites, the most active spot is Lake Eildon; you can catch all five of my top selections there. Mostly in the river arms as well as in front of the wall. And would you believe in the Eildon boat harbour?

For trout, go to any of the popular places in the north-east, such as the Hume and Dartmouth.

Speaking of trout, the trout season, which has been closed, opens on September 7. The cod season closes on September 1, with the exception of Lake Eildon. However, the size and bag limits for taking cod remain the same.

Now, let’s look at Adamas Fishing Charters at Queenscliff. Rod Lawn has been waiting for the start of the snapper to start to run, and the big fish should start to appear within the next few weeks. The big breeders should reach their peak in mid-October through to the end of November. They will reach all the way up the bay to Port Melbourne, Altona, Mornington and St Leonards.

Rod said King George whiting could be caught in Western Port Bay among the shallow weed beds as well as off Queenscliff. Also, among the weeds, gummy sharks are in and around the reefs and dive wrecks, and flathead are to be had fishing the sandy bottoms.

That covers Victoria, but north of the NSW border at Eden, John Liddell said most of the fishing was along the inshore reefs where the boys from Freedom Charters were bagging snapper, morwong, flathead and kingfish.

Most of the fishing was done between Boyd’s Lookout and Green Cape. There was some fishing off the shelf but there was little result.

Further north at Narooma, Graham Cowley said he was getting about the same. Most action was on the reefs around Montague Island as well as the sandy bottom where good-sized flathead were being caught.

Best of luck with fishing, but make sure you stay safe.

Be a safe driver on the roads, and stay safe health-wise. Remember, COVID-19 is still about. Stay safe on the water.

That’s it until next week when it is the start of spring.