A rig and school shark catch and cook mission featuring ceviche and crispy fried fillets. Plus, a clear breakdown of the real mercury risk in eating shark in New Zealand.

☀️ On the Beach at First Light

For this mission, I wanted to be on the beach for sunrise, but ended up arriving a bit too early and had to set up in the dark! I didn’t have to wait long though — sunrise is always an impressive sight, watching that golden glow appear over the horizon.

The early target species were rig (smooth-hound) or maybe an elephant fish if I was lucky. I didn’t have time to catch paddle crabs for bait the day before (rig love them), so for this trip banana prawns were my go-to bait.

Not long after I'd cast both rods out, my fishing buddy Dave turned up. He brought along his Aeroo Pro drone for this mission.

It wasn’t long before the first fish of the morning showed up — a nice wee rig. I probably could have kept it for the table, but I always feel a bit guilty taking the smaller ones, so I sent it back to swim another day.

First rig of the morning

After releasing the rig, I took the opportunity to send my drone up for an early morning flight. The footage turned out to be some of the most impressive I've captured yet — the golden glow of the sunrise stretching across the ocean looked even more spectacular from above.

Sunrise view from DJI Air 3S

🚁🦈 School Shark, Dogfish and Aeroo Pro Bait Drop

Dave didn’t take long to hook into his first fish of the morning — unfortunately it was a spiny dogfish, definitely not what he was hoping for.

Not long after, he sent his Aeroo Pro drone out for a bait drop around 300m.

Aeroo Pro drone heading out on its first flight of the morning

After a quiet spell with not much happening, I was into another fish — and this one felt much bigger. I was slightly disappointed to see a school shark and a dogfish appear in the surf.

The school shark, however, was right in the size range I like to keep for the table (60–80 cm), so I decided to take it. There is some concern about mercury levels in larger school sharks. They’re likely fine in moderation, but I prefer taking the smaller ones, as I find the flesh more tender.

A 66 cm school shark kept as a table fish

🎣 More Rig Shark

Around mid-morning, Dave decided to wind in the line he had dropped out deep with the drone. It quickly became apparent he had a fish on, although at first it felt more like a heavy dead weight. Eventually, both a rig and a dogfish appeared in the surf.

Me holding up Dave's rig

Soon after, I had another fish on and it felt decent. I could feel some solid thumps coming down the line, so for a while I thought I might have an elephant fish on. But after a short battle, I pulled in a nice rig and kept this one as a table fish. Like my first rig, this one went for a raw banana prawn.

My second rig of the morning – another fish for the table

We tried for more rig with banana prawn baits for another hour or so, but it wasn’t to be. Dave left around midday, but I decided to stay on a bit longer and try to catch a gurnard with oily fish baits.

Unfortunately, no gurnard today — all I caught for the rest of the day were small school sharks and spiny dogfish. By early afternoon, I pulled the pin on this trip and headed home.

🧪 Mercury Risk in Fish and Sharks

Recently, I’ve been getting quite a few comments on my rig shark posts from people concerned about mercury in sharks. Many aren’t aware that rig are actually low in mercury, largely because they sit lower on the food chain and feed mostly on crustaceans.

I explained this in my YouTube video for this mission with the help of some animations and graphics.

Mercury risk in sharks – rig at the lower end, school shark in the middle

🍋🌶️ Shark Ceviche

After my recent videos where I made a rig shark curry, people suggested I try it in a ceviche. I was curious about what this would be like, so decided to give it a go.

I followed the same recipe I would usually use with kahawai. The vegetables included red and yellow capsicums, avocado, red onion and coriander, with red chillies for garnish. And of course the traditional mango for some sweetness.

I "cooked" the fish in lemon juice for about 2 hours in the fridge. I would usually use limes, but I couldn't find any.

Rig shark ceviche

I was genuinely surprised at how good this turned out — the rig was soft and tender. Not fishy at all and no trace of ammonia. Incidentally, soaking shark in lemon or lime juice is one way of neutralising ammonia, which some people are quite sensitive to.

School shark would probably also work well in a ceviche, and that’s something I’ll try next time.

The full ceviche recipe and cooking instructions are in my YouTube video for this episode — you’ll find the link at the end of this post.

🍟 Deep Fried Shark

For the school shark, I went with the traditional deep-fried fish in a crispy batter. This has to be my all-time favourite way to eat shark — I never get sick of it.

Deep fried school shark

In my previous video, I shared the recipe I use for a super crispy batter — I’ll leave the link below.

📓 Field Notes

• Location: Canterbury
• Target species: Rig, elephant fish, gurnard
• Landed: Rig, small school sharks, spiny dogfish
• Conditions: Light winds, clear skies, 0.6 m swell easing, discoloured water
• Tide: Outgoing until 8.30 am, incoming until early afternoon
• Best bait: Raw banana prawn for rig
• My gear: Shimano Xitus Pro 13'6" rods (x2), Shimano Ultegra CI4+ 14000 XTC reel, Shimano Ultegra XSD 14000 reel

🎥 Watch the Full Video

The full mission is available on my YouTube channel:

👉 Watch this mission on YouTube

Previous video with the deep-fried batter recipe:

👉 Watch previous mission on YouTube

Got any feedback or questions? Feel free to drop a comment on any of my social media channels — I read them all.

— Dan