Eating GT's ??

[John Adams Smith]

I'm a catch and release guy myself, doesn't matter what species GT, Bonefish, Just about whatever I catch goes back to the sea with the exception of if someone wants to eat a fish.  My question is this the recent photos of the Madagascar fishing trip had a GT that got sharked, would anyone eat the GT or just send it back as shark food?

[Angus Hulme]

On our last trip, my brother caught a small GT of around 8kg, which unfortunately sustained serious hook injuries in the gill area and could not be revived. We made the decision that the fish should not go to waste, and so we ate it. We were very surprised when it tasted pretty damn good. It was eaten as cutlets in conjunction with mackerel (cooked on the BBQ), and when served, most of the lads couldn't decide which was better. 

Having said that, we try to release any GTs we catch, but if faced with not wanting to waste one that's died, then I reckon it's worth keeping if it's a smaller fish. I wouldn't know what to do with a bigger fish in that situation though.

Cheers
Angus

[David Clumpner]

I was a Peace Corps volunteer on a small island in Palau where I went fishing for GTs nearly every day of the year.  I didn't really know what I was doing so I didn't catch so many, but if I had ever released one and reported it I might've been thrown off the island.  Instead I did keep every one (maybe 8-10 in a year?) and my family ate and shared them with the neighbors.  Never a comment about it being a lesser-tasting fish, but rarely was there elitism expressed towards free food.

Here in my tiny corner of Japan there is a culture of releasing GTs when fishing on a 'sport' level, but there are also people who keep them.  Some jiggers bring up a few (maybe a dozen/year that I hear about?) big ones and usually sell them to the mainland fish markets.

I have eaten a fair bit of GT in my life and while it's not my first choice, I've found a few ways to make it edible (adding taco seasoning is my favorite).

[John Adams Smith]

If you're into sashimi than smaller sized GT's in the 5-10lb range are perfect for it, if you like dried fish like fish jerky than the larger fish in the 15-20lb range are great for that purpose, seasoned with a little local hawaiian salt and sun dried its great, even smoked.  But here in hawaii there tends to be a problem with GT's carrying Ciguatera so most larger fish tend to carry higher concentrations of it.  I still have hope here as the catch and release mentality is catching on more and more especially for larger GT's.  If I had a sharked fish I'd still eat it or if a fish was throat hooked with internal damage.

[Doug Lindsay]

Hey guys,
We did a trip to Ono Island Fiji in Jan and had GT curry courtesy of a critically injured fish, and it was great! I'm not big on eating fish, but the local chef turned GT into YummY! I think we all want to see the GTs swim away, but its good to know if it goes sour, at least you don't have to waste them.
PS. Ono Island was really cool, we got some great GTs amongst the bycatch. Saw one around 50kgs and Pete Childs ( fellow Gt Popping member ) hooked one that would have given 60kg a real nudge. Of course that didn't last too long in the tough terrain we were fishing  We all got fish around 35kg and our mate fishing PE4 got several around the 20-25kg mark. Our host got spooled using a brand new Stella 18000 after he hooked a XOS YFT on a popper. That was funny 
We are heading up to 1770 in 2 weeks with the Coral Coast Gamefishing guys for a 2 day/1 night trip and hope to get some popper work in up there. Does anyone have much experience in that region on the GTs?
Cheers

[Brandon Khoo]

i can't believe we're having this discussion on a forum dedicated to CnR for GTs!!!   

[Jay Burgess]

i can't believe we're having this discussion on a forum dedicated to CnR for GTs!!!   

haha that's exactly what I thought when I saw the thread title.

I reckon though if I caught a GT that couldn't be released I'd prefer to use it as bait and convert it to something that is more edible... that said, I really hate using bait to catch anything these days.

[Graham Scott]

I took Ben Southall "best job in the world" out last year. We caught a reasonable tea leaf trevally that we ate sashimi...excellent, later we caught a small GT around 10kgs, which was released, unfortunately in his blog Ben reckons we ate the GT!!!!

Aaagh you fish killing redneck graham!!!

Even worse, it was filmed for Discovery Channel, so worldwide I might be known as the bloke that kills and eats GT's, although I hope the producer made better notes than Ben. Also known as the bloke who can only catch tiny GT's.

[Greg Burt]

Ouch, 'Reality' TV Graham

[Peter Morris]

i can't believe we're having this discussion on a forum dedicated to CnR for GTs!!!   

haha that's exactly what I thought when I saw the thread title.

I reckon though if I caught a GT that couldn't be released I'd prefer to use it as bait and convert it to something that is more edible... that said, I really hate using bait to catch anything these days.

No what I heard Jay,

I heard you were rubbing that big chum ultrabite berley sausage all over your poppers before each session over in NC.

Pete

[Jay Burgess]

i can't believe we're having this discussion on a forum dedicated to CnR for GTs!!!   

haha that's exactly what I thought when I saw the thread title.

I reckon though if I caught a GT that couldn't be released I'd prefer to use it as bait and convert it to something that is more edible... that said, I really hate using bait to catch anything these days.

No what I heard Jay,

I heard you were rubbing that big chum ultrabite berley sausage all over your poppers before each session over in NC.

Pete

It's a conspiracy!

[Warwick Joyce]

I read just the other day a story in a spearfishing mag (not sure which one?) about a few sydney siders that went on a spear trip, and after a few days fishing collecting great table fish like wahoo, trout, bluebone, jobfish and so on, their last drift one guy decided to spear a GT! @!#$$#%#@$
Anyway it took 2 spears and some time to kill the fish which was weighed at a co-op and came in at 62kilo's. They filleted it and took it back to sydney with all the other fish to eat.

Is it bad for me to hope they get ciguatera?
I suppose at least they did something with it instead of discarding it.

[Jon Jarvis]

I read just the other day a story in a spearfishing mag (not sure which one?) about a few sydney siders that went on a spear trip, and after a few days fishing collecting great table fish like wahoo, trout, bluebone, jobfish and so on, their last drift one guy decided to spear a GT! @!#$$#%#@$
Anyway it took 2 spears and some time to kill the fish which was weighed at a co-op and came in at 62kilo's. They filleted it and took it back to sydney with all the other fish to eat.

Is it bad for me to hope they get ciguatera?
I suppose at least they did something with it instead of discarding it.

Why the problem with that? It wasnt wasted. Im betting that divers see some massive GTs out there. This guy decided to shoot one for the challenge primarily. Isnt that the reason you guys chase them? I bet now he has it crossed off his list he wont do it again.
Wonder if anyone here has had GT's die after the fight or been sharked. Would be exactly the same except he ate his. 

[Luke Wyrsta]

ItOts not the same.

The intention isn't there. We also fish with a catch and release ethic. If the unfortunate does happen - the fish becomes parts of the food chain. Eating big GT is plain stupid - ciguatera poisoning is very high possibility.
 
Anyway let's not continue this discussion. Spearfishing is so far from the sportfishing we undertake and eating GT is a incidental rarity amongst this fraternity.

[Travis Heaps]

Why the problem with that? It wasnt wasted. Im betting that divers see some massive GTs out there. This guy decided to shoot one for the challenge primarily. Isnt that the reason you guys chase them? I bet now he has it crossed off his list he wont do it again.
Wonder if anyone here has had GT's die after the fight or been sharked. Would be exactly the same except he ate his. 

The majority of popper fisherman who chase GT's use barbles hooks and hook setups so to minimise the damage to the fish, catch, take a photo and release.  If one is damaged, let alone dies, most anglers feel very remorseful.  This is very different to swimming up to a 62kg fish and shooting two spears through it's gills. 

Also I take the note that they filleted and took it all home with them with a grain of salt also.  Any spearfishing photo of a big fish that doesn't come with the disclaimer "oh we ate every last bit and it was delicious" these days gets slammed - and rightly so.  Once they get through their bluebone/trout etc and start on the GT i hope they get cigutera too. 

Either way I can almost guarantee (or at least hope) that somewhere along the line this bloke will remember the sight of that monster fish swimming along and then the sight of in carved up on the filleting table and realise which one he enjoyed most.
 
(edit: Lukes post put up while I typed mine...i ignore that post while you've been typing warning doodad  My point stands)