From The Table of Adam Guy – Japanese Flounder

Adam Guy, one of our favorite contributors, has brought us yet another great article and meal from the seas of Japan. You may remember Adam’s previous “From The Table” article on Japanese Cuttlefish, well today we have a great feature of Japanese Flounder prepared to perfection utilizing every part of the fish in true Japanese fashion.

As always, fantastic work from Adam Guy. So long as Adam’s catching and eating, this should become a regular column.

The approach of spring means one thing for the Tokyo fisherman: Japanese flounder. The fish spawn in shallows during the coldest months of the year, and during this time do not feed, leaving the fish with a great appetite when winter comes to an end and the water temperature rises. I headed off recently with some friends to Yokohama and despite the foul weather, was lucky enough to snag a brace. These flounder are highly prized in Japan for their sweet flesh and command a high price in traditional sushi restaurants.

Like all flatfish, the flounder are cut into four fillets, rather than two as for normal fish. Then the fish pieces are skinned, and the ‘wings’ separated from the meat. The best part of the flounder are the fatty wings which are delicious as sashimi, and the fact that they comprise so little of the total meat of the fish makes them a rare treat. The skin is also tasty deep-fried or parboiled. But the fillets themselves are also quite delicious in their own right, here I have salted and pressed them between konbu kelp leaves, and then cut and served them just like sashimi. The flesh of the flounder is quite sweet and firm, and is complemented perfectly by the perfumed flavour of the kelp.

Lastly, in keeping with my general aim of wasting as little of the fish I catch as possible, I made the treat known in Japanese as ‘hone senbei’, or deep-fried bones. The flounder bones, with fins and head still left on (I removed the head from one of the fish I caught, as the hook was set deep in its gullet and I couldn’t remove it) are first cured in saltwater, then wind-dried till completely dessicated. After chopping the bones into manageable pieces, they are deep-fried until crisp and golden, given a good shake of salt and served. A most delicious and nutritious accompaniment to beer or sake!

Cheers,
Adam Guy

Mercedes Bionic Fish Car?

I am a big car fan, and I love fish, but I have no idea why Mercedes would build a car that looks this bad. Of all the fish in all the oceans of the world, they picked one of the silliest looking fish I can think of. As far as looks are concerned, they may have well based this car on a mud skipper, or a cardboard box. From what I understand, the idea was to build a hydrodynamic car, which is a great idea if your drive you car in the water – but who does that? If you ask me, designing a car after a fast predatory fish may be a better idea. On a good note, the concept car will do an amazing 84 mpg a constant 56mph. Why dont they design cars like the 1977 Aston Martin Vantage anymore?

“Ostracion cubicus, a native of the Indo-Pacific coral reefs, may be sleek, but it doesn’t have enough under the hood to take full advantage of its hydrodynamic shape. The 138hp Bionic concept car, on the other hand…”

Courtesy Mercedes-Benz

via popsci.com

In Soviet Russia, Canned Fish Eats You

Mmmm salmon!

via englishrussia.com

World Record Pike

The current world record northern pike is a 55 pounder (25kg) caught by Lothar Louis of Germany in 1986. This is a record I believe will be beaten in the near future. Huge pike are being caught throughout Canada and the Europe that could be potential records.

55.1lbs caught in Lake of Grefeern, Germany Oct. 16, 1986

In Canada, at least two Provinces have potential for a future record fish. Both Ontario and Manitoba produce pike over 50 inches each year. Jon and I have seen first hand the huge pike northern Ontario has to offer. Ontario’s current record is just over 42 pounds while Manitoba holds claim to what is perhaps the longest pike ever caught, measuring an estimated 70 inches.

Canadian Pike versus European pike

edit: Then again, maybe the next world record pike will come from Italy.

New Contributor Article – Japanese Tackle Shops

Congratulations to Craig Thomasian on being the first new contributor to Fishing Fury for 2007. After reading about Craig’s adventures in Japan, specifically shopping at various tackle shops, something I have always dreamed of doing, I asked if he would like to write a short experience for us and he did! Craig also contributed an amazing set of unboxing photos of his high-end gear, behold the EverGreen Opus-1.

I recently took a much needed vacation to Tokyo, Japan. Being an angler and import tackle enthusiast in the land of the rising sun turned out to be both a blessing and a curse. The blessing: an inside look at Japanese tackle that we don’t see stateside and the wonderful stores that sell it. The curse: my uncontrollable spending on some very cool but expensive tackle items.

The first tackle shop I hit was Sansui. This is a small chain of stores in Tokyo. They deal in nice high-end tackle for all fishing disciplines. I went to the Shibuya location which was a little strange. They’re essentially 2 locations not far from one another, each with 2 stores. They have a saltwater store, fly fishing store, shore saltwater/main store, and a largemouth bass store. I went to them all and of course made a few purchases including an EverGreen Opus-1 spinning reel. This reel is very hard to get here in the US since there is no EverGreen presence in the States. In Japan they are one of the top, if not the top, bass fishing rod manufacturer. You can check out the unboxing photos in the galleries.

Read more about Japanese Tackle Shops by Craig Thomasian.

There is also the case of the mysterious long spoons, one I’m sure Adam can solve for us.

Craig also recently visited the Bass Pro Shops in Las Vegas and snapped some great photos. Craig’s blog is a great place to keep track of his latest adventures and see some cool ass cars.

I’m very happy to say that even though we don’t get many comments here, there is a growing number of readers out there that really enjoy the site and want to help it grow. We’ve posted before saying how much we love it when you contribute your fishing pictures and stories, and to show our appreciation we even printed out some stickers to send out to contributors. I’ve even heard a rumour about more t-shirts..

Good job Craig!