When it comes to seafood delicacies in Victoria, gummy shark is highly prized. However, correct preparation is paramount to ensure they're at their best on the table and this begins as soon as they come aboard your boat.

Step 1

Dispatch your gummy quickly and humanely.

If a gummy remains alive for a time after being caught, there's an increased chance of the flesh becoming bruised as they thrash around the deck or in the icebox.

The quickest way to dispatch a gummy is a few hard and sharp blows to the back of the head with a small club or 'billy' as they are sometimes called.

Step 2

The gummy then needs to be bled. This is absolutely vital with gummies and other sharks to avoid an ammonia taste in the flesh. Most people bleed gummies with a long and deep incision horizontally behind the head, which allows the blood to run out.

Personally, I also like to gut gummies and make sure the bloodline that runs down the spine is cut out. Do this by running the tip of the knife down the length of the spine, just piercing the visible bloodline.

Once all this is completed give the gummy a quick rinse out in the water then put it on ice immediately. If I'm cleaning fish in this manner and am continuing to fish, I put the entrails into a bucket rather than dumping them over the side of the boat. I prefer to avoid gummy guts floating down my berley trail and past other prospective gummies.

Cut a long and deep horizontal incision along the back of the head.	Gutting gummies allows you to remove their insides and clean out their spinal bloodline.
A quick rinse in saltwater before placing the gummy on ice.

Step 3

Once at the cleaning table, take a fillet off each side of the shark then remove any fins that may be attached to the fillet. Now the fillets need to be skinned. Lay the fillet with the skin side down on the table and, with a sharp knife, run the blade between the flesh and the skin, trying to leave as little flesh on the skin as possible. Once removed, discard the skin and remove any small pieces of cartilage that may remain on the flesh.

Find a long, flat and stable surface to take off your fillet.	A good fillet won’t leave much of the flesh behind on the frame.
Remove the fins.	Hold the skin and with a shuffling motion, run the knife along the bottom of the fillet, trying your best to stay close to the skin and maximise the yield from the fillet.

Step 4

The finished product, ready for packaging and the freezer, assuming it’s not on the dinner menu that night!

Cut the fillet up into pieces and bag them up in appropriately sized portions.

The great thing about gummy shark is that it freezes exceptionally well. I believe that freezing can actually improve the taste by 'quietening down' any residual ammonia taste.