Matthew Ikeda is back from college to share his unexpected catch of shore caught kahala (amberjack).
Matthew:
A couple weeks ago, I was lucky enough to catch two small Kahala from shore, something that I never thought I would catch. I was teaching one of my friends how to fish for the first time but I brought my jigging setup to try on the side, planning to kind of mindlessly fish the budget Daiso jig while coaching him on how to catch reef fish. The jig came with a light treble hook, which I replaced with a front assist hook so it would snag less.
About 20 minutes in, I got my first hit that felt like a nice Papio, but upon bringing it up it looked like a small Kahala, which I thought was weird, but I was still happy because I had never caught one before. Twenty minutes later, I caught a second one. I knew that Kahala were supposed to have good quality meat minus the many parasitic worms that they usually have, but since these two were young I hoped that they would be healthy and threw them into the cooler.
After I got home, I asked Scott for a confirmation on the ID of the fish, and we both got confused about whether they were in fact baby regular Kahala (greater amberjack) or Kampachi (almaco jack), another more prized fish that looks almost identical. However, after some discussion we concluded that they were just regular Kahala. For an interesting story on how to identify a Kampachi versus a Kahala, as well as the life cycle of the Amberjack tape worm, see one of Scott’s old posts: here
I initially wanted to filet them to check for worms, knowing that fish in the Amberjack family commonly are infested with these parasites. Amberjack actually has very good quality meat, but most people stay away because of the worms. Anyways, my fileting skills suck and I messed up a big portion of one of the Kahala, so I decided to risk it and eat it whole. We ended up steaming the two Kahala in a pressure cooker before preparing a sauce on the side. The ingredients were simple, things you usually see in Chinese style fish (garlic, cilantro, peanut oil, shoyu), heated until smoking hot then poured onto the fish to finish the meal. I was really pleased with the way that the fish turned out, and it tasted even better. It tasted very similar to a Papio, but it was meatier and had less of a fishy taste. It was comparable to Yellow Spot Papio, in the way that it was oilier than other fish in the Jack family. I likely won’t ever catch one of these from shore again, so I’m grateful to have had the chance to try it.
On a side note: The fishing this summer has been pretty disappointing after a really great streak in June. The Oama came in early in June, and both the Oio and Papio action was hot. I initially thought that it was going to be a great summer of fishing, but July has been a pretty terrible month of fishing for me, and I haven’t seen fishing this difficult in a long time. I’m not too sure what is going on but I’ve had more dry streaks than I think I ever have in my whole life, even from when I started fishing. However, there are still plenty of others out there that are catching good fish, so there is still a reason to go out (and regardless it’s good just to be outside). The Oama and Halalu season is now in full swing, so do take advantage of that while you can. Good luck and stay safe.