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A tribute to trevally

ASK 10 different anglers to nominate their most underrated species and you’ll most likely get 10 different answers.

It’s a subjective issue, and it depends heavily on where you fish and what you fish for.

On the stretch of coastline I most often fish – the NSW far south coast and north-east Gippsland in Victoria – there’s a species that I reckon is a strong candidate for most underrated.

I’d wager the humble silver trevally would poll well on a local survey of fish species that fly under the radar.

For estuary and inshore fishos like me, “trevs” virtually have it all – they’re abundant, they’re available year-round, they fight like mad, and they taste terrific.

It’s confounding why they’re generally not mentioned in the same breath as other southern species like bream, flathead, tailor, whiting and bass.

Getting stuck into a few trevs of late, including some decent sized models, reminded me how lucky I am to have a sportfish of this calibre “on tap” almost year-round.

It also motivated me to write this piece on them and give them the praise they deserve.

So here’s my tribute to trevally!

Silver linings

I have lost count of the number of times silver trevally have come to my rescue.

They’re a fish you rarely go out to deliberately target, yet they often save a session from complete disaster.

I catch most of my trevally as by-catch while targeting flathead.

Trevs love a soft plastic, especially a 100mm Wriggler, which happens to be me go-to lure for flatties.

They’re also partial to a whitebait, peeled prawn or nipper – favoured flattie baits.

They favour similar terrain, too – weed egdes, drop-offs, channels and rockwalls.

You’ll usually find them in water 2-4 metres deep – sometimes a bit deeper – especially if there’s some bait or structure about.

On days when they’re thick, it can be hard getting a lure or bait past the marauding trevs. It’s a good problem to have, though, and I never complain.

From the second you set the hooks, it’s obvious you’ve connected to a trevally.

They all fight doggedly, even the small ones, pulling drag and holding deep as they lie on their sides to maximise their power.

For their size, they fight harder than bream or tailor. And they’d definitely pull a similar sized flathead backwards. 

They inevitably go for structure, too, and bust-offs are common.

Landing them is made tricky thanks to their characteristically soft mouths.

Go too hard on them, and the hooks will pull. Don’t go hard enough, and they’ll brick you. 

It’s the ultimate balancing act.

Silver service

It took me a long time to fully appreciate trevally’s eating qualities.

They were always quite good filleted and cooked, but definitely not on par with a dusky flathead or whiting.

Then, about 15 years ago, my mate served me up a plate of fresh silver trevally sashimi – and that’s when it all changed. 

Sashimi trevally is all the rage these days, but back then it was a new taste sensation.

I was immediately hooked, and just about every trev I’ve caught since has been served raw with a dash of wasabi and soy.

If you haven’t tried them raw, I highly recommend you do. Just remember to bleed the fish promptly and place it on ice. 

In preparing the fillets, ensure you remove all the red meat, leaving just thinly sliced pieces of firm white flesh. Eat it fresh – on the same day if possible.

The result is right up there with any other sashimi I’ve tried, even holding its own against fresh yellowfin tuna or ocean trout from hatted Japanese restaurants. 

Silver slabs

NSW south coast silvers don’t typically grow to an enormous size. 

A 50cm specimen is big – and they’re usually 40cm or below. 

But there’s a place about 1000 kilometres to the north-east that harbours silver trevally of truly epic proportions.

Lord Howe Island, lauded for its kingfish, bluefish and double-header wrasse, is arguably the best silver trevally fishery on the planet.

I have only visited once (nearly a decade ago) but I spent my entire trip battling gargantuan silvers up to a metre long and weighing more than 10kg!

The largest models live offshore, and we had a couple of memorable sessions attempting to haul these bruisers to the surface in 70 metres of water.  

There are also some behemoths up to 6kg in Lord Howe’s famed lagoon, which is comparatively shallow and easily fished from a boat, jetty or shore.

We were hooking these fish alongside kings of similar proportions and I can honestly say the trevally went as hard – or even harder – than their more highly rated counterparts.

It was actually embarrassing how silly some of these fish made us look on medium spin tackle. One even broke my rod!

That experience cemented my admiration for silver trevally as a sportfish. They simply don’t get the plaudits they deserve.

If you fish the coast in the south-east corner of the country, silver trevally are ready and waiting for you right now. 

While they don’t grab the headlines, they deserve a great deal of respect as both a sport and eating fish.

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