While we all love fishing, the catching is only part of the fun! Here we catch and cook Golden Snapper, a delicious food fish found near shore throughout northern Australia.
And while we are ardent proponents of catch and release.
That’s only after we have taken a fish for the table.
Eating fresh fish has amazing health benefits and better still, fresh fish cooked well is well… Yum.
This recipe works well for many species, especially white fleshed near shore fish like squire/pink snapper and bream.
In order to catch and cook Golden Snapper, step one is to catch the fish!
So watch the video and then scroll down for more pics of the day, gear used, tips on catching Fingermark (including a free workshop) and the recipe.
Catching Pan size Fingermark/Golden Snapper
While I’m not an super early riser, I do like to head off around 7am as early morning is such a great part of the day.
Typically I’m happy to use lures, as I’m getting to old to hunt down live bait haha.
But with our cameraman on board for this catch and cook Golden Snapper episode, we really had to catch a fish so I also grabbed some live bait.
Herring and mullet are both great Fingermark Lollies as are squid.
Gear Used
- Reel : Quantum Smoke HD
- Rod: Rovex Inazuma 5-8 kg baitcaster
- Line: Rovex Viros 20lb
- Leader: Ande 60lb
Using your Fish Finder to locate schools.
To catch and cook Fingermark or any fish for that matter, you’ll need to locate the schools.
This is by far the biggest problem most people have when fishing!
Accurately setting up and interpreting their electronics.
To help you get the most of your electronics, we cover the fundamentals in our Sounder Skills 1 course.
It’s only $20 Australian at the moment and well worth a look.
If you don’t learn anything let me know and I’ll give you your money back.
Cooking Golden Snapper
After a gill, gut and scale, we put the head and wings aside for soup.
Scoring the thicker part of the flesh ensures an even cook.
Sometimes when travelling, our accommodation never has a big enough pan.
So we have divided the fish in two.
Crispy Skin Fingermark Recipe.
- Gut, scale, and remove head.
- Score thicker flesh and cut fish to size (if too large for pan)
- Half butter, half peanut oil in hot pan
- Cook until the flesh is white all the way through to the backbone (this one was about 3 minutes) and skin is golden brown (and crispy)
And there you have it. Catch and Cook Golden Snapper with crispy skin!
Learn to catch Fingermark and other delicious foragers (like Pink Snapper) with our free workshop.
Here are some more resources you may find helpful.
