Stevie's Island - Butterfish Bonanza

Yesterday was about the crayfish, today's theme is the Butterfish.

This morning we woke up to find our anchorage had gotten a little bumpy overnight. So after everyone had crawled out of their beds, we packed up the boat and left to find a calmer spot at Stevie's Island.

Once we got out of the shelter of the Cavalli's, the sea state was very uncomfortable. Daniel went a bit green and quietly made a contribution to Tangaroa off the back of the boat. After about an hour and a half, the water got a little bit calmer as we got around the Western side of Stevie's. We found a likely looking spot and put the anchor down for lunch.

Unfortunately the swell was bending around the corner, so we opted to try and tuck in a little closer and succeeded in a marginal improvement in comfort. Nathan and Daniel jumped in for a dive, setting a couple of ground baits to try and lure in a snapper. Although there were a couple of legal snapper feasting on the busted up kina, nothing was worth taking so we let them be.

Nathan did bump into a nice fat Butterfish, and popped a nice shot off just behind the gills. After a little bit of extrication from the seaweed, Nathan ticked off another target species, and we had a beautiful feed for dinner, adding to the Butterfish Daniel shot previously.

It was a bit of a miserable afternoon with rain showers, so indoor activities prevailed for the rest of the afternoon (excluding Nathan catching and accidentally releasing a nice Kahawai).

For dinner, Vela whipped up a soup using the bones of the Butterfish, as well as her Chinese pork belly specialty dish, while Nathan and Daniel crumbed and fried up the Butterfish.Read more