It’s hard not to commence writing this column without alluding to the lack of serious rain.
Here we are at the end of January and still not a monsoon in sight.
Fortunately, solid intermittent storm rains have lifted river heights a tad.
The Daly River in particular has been running at 3-4m over the crossing, and downstream there’s been some good feeder creek mouth runoff fishing.
Perhaps the most exciting fishing has been at Shady Camp, especially down at the Mary mouth.
I’m not talking barra here but threadfin salmon, and absolute thumpers at that.
I heard numerous reports of explosive threadie fishing during the last neap tides.
Chris Errity and top fishing guide Lincoln Kirby had a smashing session – literally – down at the mouth of the Mary River.
Chris reckoned the water was crystal clear and perfect for those big salmon.
“The mouth was as you’d expect it to be late April: clear as,” Chris said.
“The clear water brings the salmon in to feed.
“When the tide pushed in at the mouth, there were 100s and 100s of big salmon.
”We just used sidescan and drifted around casting shallow divers like Reidy’s B52s,” Chris explained.
“There were only four or five other boats and they were getting into the salmon too on the troll.
“Some of these fish were well over a metre long and in great condition.
“I couldn’t believe how fat they were, and boy did they put up a good fight,” Chris told me.
Apparently there is not enough water coming over the Shady Camp barrage to facilitate 24/7 boat launching.
“It’s flowing only about 30cm high over the barrage,” Chris said.
Threadfin salmon are a great-eating fish, and many prefer it to barramundi.
It fillets well and has a good flakey texture.
I never used to but nowadays I’ll choose salmon over barra given a choice.
It really comes up well deep fried in a beer batter, but be careful not to overcook it.
For what it’s worth, my personal beer batter recipe is as good as any I’ve tried.
The ingredients are: one can of beer, one cup of plain flour, one cup of corn flour and one teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda, aka baking soda.
Pour the beer into a bowl first, add the baking soda, then slowly add each flour while whisking vigorously to remove all the lumps.
The density of the batter mix is critical; you check it by sticking your finger into the mix and lifting it out.
The batter should drip from your finger quite slowly.
Add more beer or flour as necessary to achieve the right consistency.
The batter needs the opportunity to rise, so stick the bowl in the fridge for an hour or two; I like to place a folded tea towel over the bowl.
I like to cut my fish pieces about 1.5-2cm thick and 10-12cm long.
Cast-iron fry pans are best for frying as they retain the heat through the frying process.
I use sunflour oil which has a smoke point of 230°C, higher than any other oil, especially olive oil which I reckon struggles to get hot enough for beer-battered-fish cooking.
It has a mild flavour that won’t overpower other ingredients and it’s also high in vitamin E, a powerful antioxidant.
Place your fish pieces in the batter mix bowl and make sure all the pieces a fully covered in batter.
Get your pan with 2-3cm of oil in it really hot, turning the heat down by about half once it starts to bubble.
Place your fish pieces in one at a time, keeping them separate as much as possible.
Don’t be afraid to cook two or three batches rather than overlap pieces; even then you’ll probably need to separate with your spatula.
Turn the fish pieces over after a couple of minutes by which time they should have browned a bit at least.
Cook for another two minutes then rip them out and place on a serving tray lined with paper towel, and pat down with more paper towel.
Serve with lemon wedges, tartare sauce if that’s your fancy and salt and pepper.
Chips and a salad accompaniment finish of the meal nicely.
Chris Errity reckons big, fat threadies like this thumper 115cm fish were around in their 100s at the mouth of Shady Camp.
Lincoln Kirby with his 115cm threadfin salmon that smashed his custom-made Stix timber lure during the hot Shady session.
