Reeling in ‘The Big One’

Number 10 on the Bucket List – go fishing and catch a big fish – has thus far proven an elusive feat. It has become palpably clear that fishing the Johnstone River in the tinny is never going to cut the mustard.

Luckily for Mr M and Grandad M, our next-door neighbour is single, but has a 5.6 metre half-cabin, and last weekend was in want of a crew for a morning on the reef. The weather forecast was only so-so for the trip out, so an early start was in order.

The great thing about early starts is the chance to catch the sunrise. They put in at Mourilyan Harbour and headed out to the nearby islands.

And they were rewarded! Mr M was pleased with his two mackerel, great sport, with the number two catch definitely ticking the box for the bucket list. Hooray!

However, catch of the day to Grandad M with a massive Queenfish. It gave him plenty of sport and we are assured he was utterly exhausted when he finally got the beast aboard (too tired for a decent photo on the boat, so we had to snap one on arrival back home).

The crew back home were super exited when the catch came in! Way too much for a single meal, but we ate like kings with Thai Green Curry Mackerel for dinner. Although good quality pre-packaged curry pastes are readily available and make for an easy go-to, for anyone that’s interested, here’s the green curry paste recipe we were gifted by Pui on our Phuket honeymoon, many moons ago. There’s something about bringing the ingredients together with a mortar & pestle that makes the dish feel even more special.