This couta's for you..!

[BIG GAV]

Got a few last night at corinella, big one was 78

[Trumpeter]

Barracouta used to be eaten a lot in Australia:

"A major fishery existed for this species during the Second World War and the 1950's during which it ranked equally with mullet in the sheer magnitude of catches. Blackburn (1950), a fisheries scientist, states that "Barracouta was the only species in Australia which made a substantial contribution to the war-time demand for more fish". In the late 1940's catches reached 13 thousand tonnes per annum. Though concerns were raised about stock levels, it was shown that the apparent fluctuations in catches were driven more by fishing effort and the level of food available to the Barracouta schools. Once widely used for canning and the fish and chip trade, this species is now less popular and fished at much lower levels"

Source:
http://www.fishesofaustralia.net.au/hom ... 1#moreinfo

Did people just not give a crap about the worms then or is the parasite a recent development?

I'm fortunate enough to have inherited an archive of LBG articles from 1970 onwards, over 1000 in total from a well known LBG identity. They talk about them being an incredible nuisance to the High speed metal spinning revolution during the late 70's early 80's becauce they were so damn prolific guys were hooking up before anything else had a chance to look at the lure.

Anecdotally we find concentrations of them in cold water in close to rock ledge. They aren't a bad sports fish if there isnt' anything else about on light gear with light wire traces. I havne't seen any reference to the parasites in them with regards to whether or not they are safe to eat.

They're perfectly safe to eat cooked, just not a good candidate for sashimi.

[Lightningx]

Nice one mate are you going to use them for bait or?

[DougieK]

Nice one mate are you going to use them for bait or?

Bait, food, or "other" ?

[Scraglor]

To actually contribute....

I only ate couta once and it was *ok* Probably not a bad sashimi. Pike on the other hand are freaking delicious.

I read online, that you should never ever eat them raw, I cant remember why, but I remember it was really bad for you. Having said that, I read it online, so it may not be true, but definitely worth bearing in mind before you slice one up for sashimi.

[barra mick]

I actually don't mind eating them when fresh, just got to work your way through all the bones.

I have never tried them mate. Only ever used them as bait. What do they taste like? Can you compare it to another fish?

The local fish and chip shop sell them and they are very tasty, better than eating a dirty stinking Australian Salmon, but you need a good size one otherwise thy are very bony and I might add that the heads would be my number one Snapper bait especially early season :thumbsup:

Smoking would be the way to go for salmon


Salmon are delicious if you bleed them straight away and prep them properly. Ducky has recently had some success smoking them as well, I havne't tried it yet.

[FishnMiss]

Salmon are delicious if you bleed them straight away and prep them properly.

I'm not a great fan of Australian Salmon but as Mick said, I have found if you bleed them well and when I fillet them I remove any blood lines and they taste nice. It's really not much work to do either.
I have also baked them whole modifying a Jamie Oliver recipe with some great results.

Sorry Carl somehow jumped off the Couta subject

[barra mick]

Got a few last night at corinella, big one was 78

nice work big gav

[Lightningx]

Couta sashimi doesn't sound too appealing to me especially with the presence of worms lol...

[Fisho87]

Taste great battered from the fish and chip shop, used to get it everytime