Season’s Greetings

Season’s greetings my fellow fisheroos.

As I write this article I was reminded it was nine years ago today they were pulling bodies out of the water after the 2004 tsunami. When I say reminded of that tragic occurrence, this was a happy event, related to me at the Drift Inn as a contender for the “catch of the week”. So this month it goes to a bunch of guys from Australia who pulled a commercial fisherman out of the water in choppy seas two miles west of the gap between Racha Yai and Rach Noi. The poor chap said he had been in the water for five hours after falling off his fishing trawler around 4/5am. The boat’s crew said they were lucky to find him as there was, as usual as this time of the year, a lot of junk in the water and a person treading water looks just like another coconut among dozens especially in conditions where there is a lot of “white horses” white water. Congratulations to all involved, what a Christmas present to give anyone, the gift of life. “CATCH of the WEEK” – FOR SURE!!!

As we approach 2014 and are getting over the Christmas festivities food may be the last thing on your mind but in this month’s article I thought I would expound on preparation when cooking Cobia. Some time ago I had a professional chef on board who caught a fair sized Cobia, he took it back to his restaurant and reported the next day that it tasted terrible. Having tasted Cobia I was inclined to agree, but recently I found out that when you catch a Cobia you must immediately cut just above the tail and break/ cut the spinal column, hang and bleed the fish if you want the best results when cooking. Apparently, not a lot of people know that.

Photo – Something fishy about this guy – guess who – Ho Ho Ho!!!

Wishing all my Ofishinado friends a happy and productive New Year’s fishing.

Tight lines

Jimmy