Thread: Kahawai

Got a heap on sunday and monday. I would hook em up then grab a kid to wind em in.







off the beach they were all good fish with some being real donkys. Later fishing in the river a pool must have had a thousand kahawai in it all around a kilo size wise.

Gave one to some trampers for tea and kept one for bait all others released.

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They must be very widely spead around the country.
Are they further south as in dunedin and south from there?

This one from tonight was 4 lb

Anyone cold smoked them? Would that keep ok? Poor mans salmon?

I think bottling/canning them (like salmon or tuna) is best if you want to keep it for a while but never done it myself. I'm sure Google can help though.

we fillet and put them in a brine for 12 hours pat dry with paper towels .cover the flesh side with cracked peper and piri piri seasoning and cold smoke for 8 hours .let set in fridge for a night and vacume pack you can freeze or leave in fridge will keep for 6 weeks in fridge no problems
cheers john

Have you tried it as sashimi

Yes, and cooked cold in lemon juice and then coconut cream is one of the better way of eating them!

Lucked out on the Kingfish up around Abel Tasman the last few days, so had a fish from the beach at the inlet to Torrent Bay and got this one, half way through fighting him there was a real big splash and flash of colour and all of a sudden the Kahawai seemed to have gained twenty times the power of a normal Kahawai and was stripping line like crazy...... After a while and just before I was about to run out of line he went back to being a normal Kahawai and I landed him, take a look at his back, im thinking a Kingy slammed him while I had him on the line? Was pretty exciting stuff on the wee rod!

If you can't get a vac packer try excessive amounts of cling film. (Glad wrap)

Originally Posted by craigc

If you can't get a vac packer try excessive amounts of cling film. (Glad wrap)

and you can use it to "shatterpack" your fillets so once frozen you can just unwrap as many as you need to defrost instead of the whole lot.

Originally Posted by veitnamcam

and you can use it to "shatterpack" your fillets so once frozen you can just unwrap as many as you need to defrost instead of the whole lot.

'shatter pack'?? Free flo? I had some fresh car-y fried in butter the other day, was good. Still the best big snapper bait imo

Originally Posted by Gibo

'shatter pack'?? Free flo? I had some fresh car-y fried in butter the other day, was good. Still the best big snapper bait imo

Yes sorry. Shatter pack is a comercial term for free flowed.

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kahawai are really good hot smoked when fresh
i havent cold smoked any yet, too much energy for kahawai in my mind

raw fish is good use of them too

vaccum seal the filets if you can and eat them sooner rather than months later
I only freze fresh
bleed them as well while they are still alive and ice them down

Im on the hunt for some Jars and goin to bottle some.