A quick trip out the back of Mana Island to target hapuka turned up an unexpected catch.
I was jigging at 140-250 metres with a 400 gram Zest Lumo blue knife jig. I’ve been enjoying this technique of late as it gives you the ability to get to the bottom quickly and cover more ground easily. Great for prospecting.
A few good bites and I thought I was on the puka! But this time it felt lighter.
Maybe a sea perch?
Can’t be! It was giving a fight.
What could it be, kahawai, trevally? Surely not at 180 metres!
A few minutes later some super silver colour appeared, Wow!
This bizarre alien like fish with mirror like skin was on the deck, absolutely mesmerising.
We couldn’t stop looking at it. The fish was a Rays bream (also known as the Atlantic pomfret). They grow up to 3.5kg and are found down to 1000m.
To prove this wasn’t a fluke I continued to target them over sea mounts in mid to bottom water column with great success. They are very aggressive feeders and will take a long jig, slow jigs and bait.
They are excellent eating. I fried these whole ( flounder style)with some lemon and herbs.
Beautiful!
So …whenever targeting puka, give these guys a crack. Definitely worth adding to kai bin.
