OF all the fishing articles I have written over the past 40 years, very few have featured leatherjacket.
Appropriately named, this weird looking fish has sandpaper skin and no scales with a spike protruding from the head.
They have a mean set of dentures which they are keen to use if you get too close, as I discovered on one occasion as I listened closely to the grinding sound they make.
There are more than 20 species of leatherjacket found throughout NSW waters and 60 species all told.
Around Pot Stephens the sixspine leatherjacket is the most common around the shallow reefs along the coast; brilliantly coloured with six spines near the tail.
Inside the harbour the fantail leatherjacket is exotic with extended fins and is rarely caught on a line.
Leatherjackets have a firm flesh ideal for recipes such as gumbos or marinara.
Very few recreational fishers target “leatheries” but those who do concentrate their efforts around jetties and wharfs throughout the port as the elusive fish graze on kelp and marine growth on the pylons. The best bait is cubed prawns set on a small longshank No4 hook. Long shanked hooks are preferred as the leathery have chisel teeth that are capable of biting through any nylon line – remember my ear!
The most popular leatherjacket is the Ocean Jacket caught by commercial fishers in fish traps or as by-catch for the trawler fishermen.
With a chunky fillet and an absence of bones the Ocean Jacket is great for introducing the kids to eating fish.
Compared to other fish species at the fish shop the leathery is relatively inexpensive.
Give it a try.
By John ‘Stinker’ CLARKE
