Fish with JD

The web's best fishing magazine

Rockfish with Crackling Ginger

By 1 Comment

Yum!

Looking for an awesome, supremely easy way to cook up white-fleshed fish like rock/lingcod, halibut and striped bass? This is it!

You only need a few basic ingredients and even fewer skills in the kitchen to make this turn out fabulous. I learned this from my good friend Rainsong who lives on the ocean in Humboldt County. She adapted it from a similar dish a family member tasted overseas.

The Goods

Ingredients:

  • Fish fillets
  • 1-2 Cups Freshly-Grated Ginger
  • Peanut Oil
  • Green Onions
  • Rice
  • Tamari or Soy Sauce
  • Sesame Seeds

How to Do It:

Start off by cooking the fish. Keep it simple here: Basic steaming works best but you can also lightly pan grill it with a bit of soy and sesame oil…

Cooking Fish

In a small pan, heat up 1/2 to 1 cup of peanut oil. Get it super hot…pull it off the heat when the oil starts smoking, Be careful here!

While the oil is heating, spread the cooked rice over a platter. You can go white or brown here…whichever you prefer. Then, place the cooked fish on top…

fish on rice

You next move is to cover the fish in fresh ginger, green onions and the drizzle on Tamari or soy sauce. You can also add sesame seeds…

ready for Action

Now, here’s where the magic (& fun) happens! Take the smoking hot oil and lightly drizzle it over the whole dish. The heat of the liquid will caramelize the ginger. Check out the video…

And that’s it! Serve that baby up and enjoy! Rainsong said that the recipe is so simple she’s even done it while camping!

Want to learn how to catch rockfish? Check out my guide to catching rockfish with light tackle.

Now, that’s one Huge Striped Bass!

By Leave a Comment

  
Tom Tomasian, beast slayer and our number one fan on the East Coast, nailed this behemoth of a striper off the New Jersey coast recently. 

The massive bass (don’t you guys call ’em rockfish back there?) weighed about as much as 8 limits worth of California stripers…or exactly 62.5 pounds! 

I didn’t catch what he caught the fish on, one that big may have eaten a German Shepherd, a full-sized goat, two kindergarteners or maybe a Prius. 

In any case, that’s one heck of a striper!

Anti Striper, Bass, Catfish, Panfish Legislation Making Headway in the HOUSE

By 1 Comment

stripers
Here we go again! The water mongers are trying to pin the blame of the Delta’s woes on striped bass instead of the real issue!

This time around, U.S. Representative Jeff Denham (R-Turlock) today offered an amendment to the Commerce, Justice and Science Appropriations Act for 2016 which would “ensure an appropriate focus on predation control efforts” in an attempt to recover fish listed as protected under the Endangered Species Act.

“In the Central Valley, predator fish represent a constant threat to native populations such as steelhead and salmon,” said Rep. Denham. “While we’re spending millions trying to save the lives of these fish, which play a huge role in the allocation of water, we must also be working to eliminate the threat that predator fish pose. My amendment would require the NOAA to prioritize controlling non-native predators so we can save salmon and steelhead.”

This, of course, is simply a way to divert attention from the fact that a lack of water and poor water quality are the number one reasons all the fish on that list are Endangered.

All you have to do is take a look at a graph of Delta fish populations. Fish like salmon, steelhead…and Striped Bass are all in a nosedive. The common denominator? Water…not predation!

You can read the whole story here

This, of course, isn’t the first time Republican lawmakers have tried to eradicate striped bass from California. Jean Fuller (R-Bakersfield) introduced anti-striper Bills in 2009 and 2010, both of which got smashed. I’ve been saying all along, however, this fight is far from over…

Two of the Biggest Inland Stripers Ever Caught!

By Leave a Comment

66.9-lb striper

Man, there have been some BIG stripers showing up join the radar lately, including this massive 66.9 pounder caught recently by Alvin Vang of Clovis, CA. He was fishing San Luis Reservoir off the bank with a white Fluke from the Romero Visitor Center.

While big enough to swallow dogs and small humans, this fish actually fell shy of the California state record 67.8 pounder, which was caught in 1992 from neighboring O’Neill Forebay by Hank Ferguson of Soquel, CA. For more on this story, check out the Fresno Bee

MO Record striper

Not to be outdone, the great state of Missouri – Bull Shoals Reservoir to be exact – just pumped out this new state record 65-pound, 2-ounce striped bass to Lawrence Dillman of Rockaway Beach, Mo. Hillman was fishing alone at night with a 6-inch live minnow near Powersite Dam when the leviathan hit.  See the whole story at USATODAY

Historical Significance

So, just where do these two fish rank on the all-time striper leader board? Well, the official IGFA All Tackle World Record for the species is an ocean fish caught off Connecticut in 2011 that weighed 81 pounds, 14 ounces.

The two fish above are certainly in the top 1o and more likely, the top 5 all time taken in freshwater lakes. The current freshwater striped bass record is a 69 pound, 9 ounce fish caught in Alabama in 2013.

Underwater Stripers: The Rejection!

By 2 Comments

The Rejection

Denied! Here’s an underwater pic shot on my Okuma Water Wolf Camera today of a striped bass giving my lure the equivalent of the middle finger.

He followed for about 10 feet and then decided something just didn’t look right. The interesting part of this shot is the fact that my lure has flipped upside-down…right at the same time the fish rejected it. In previous frames, he was right on the plug’s tail…and the lure was running true.

I had no idea the plug had any roll to it, even after tuning it next to the boat…and yet here it is “flying inverted.”

To see the two pics of what occurred just before the rejection, read on…Click here to read more…