Ok so I bagged a few kahawai last weekend - I gather they have to be bled before cooking them to minimise their strong taste. I didn't do this at the time - just filleted them and put them in the freezer. Are they best smoked or just used for bait or cat food? Has anyone got a good recipe for cooking them?

Yep as Smudge says...hey you got 'em, may as well smoke 'em. Once smoked eat as is, or make fish cakes (smash up with cooked potatoe) delicious!

Basically you don't HAVE to bled them but put on ice at least as soon as you catch them.

A very underrated fish in my opinion. On capture I immediately cut through the spine to bled for 20 sec then pull the head away taking all the gut with it and bung the flesh on ice.

cut the fillets into slabs and chuck them in batter and then fry them in hot oil
nan loves em

Kahwai sashimi = delicious! Pretty much done only when freshly caught, dip a bit into a little mixture of soy sauce and wasabi and its good to go!

 "I think sashimi is fish-flavoured chewing gum, and will run a reasonable distance to get away from it."

I'm a rare one that actually likes Ky.  We caught a few last weekend and I filleted, removed the dark red flesh then cut into fish finger size portions then crumbed them.  They've been frozen and come out fine to my taste buds. Had them on the day of capture to and I can't really taste a huge difference with the frozen ones.

Very under ratedd fish i reckon, filleted fresh they make great sushimi and cut in half and smoked is all good too!

As they all say above Seagull, fresh is best, cut out the red meat and bleed if you can...

Dont get me wrong I'm a big KY fan. I target them at night over winter land based and probably keep at least half of my catch for food, a few others for bait and let the rest go. Without a doubt I have caught more kahawai than any other fish by a long way. In this family we would mostly feast on snapper first, gurnard second and kahawai third.

To be honest I don't really think bleeding them achieves much but I usually do so just because. The last kahawai snack I had was from three smaller fish of around 1.5kg and didn't bleed them and they tasted fine. To bleed just put a knife through the gills and cut through the throat, as another poster said that will cut the artery (or is it a vein?) right behind the heart and the blood will squirt out. Another option is to stick your finger through the gills and just break through the throat by pulling your finger through, takes a bit of manly effort but it's a great gross out trick for the squeamish. You can then bend the head back and squirt blood all over your mates really clean boat, he wont mind at all.

I'm not a fan of cutting the tail for two reasons - it isnt as effective as cutting it's throat & it is a really good way to cut yourself. When I bleed a ky I often put them head first in a bucket with a little water and throw a towel over the top to keep the mess in.

Good to see lots of kahawai fans here and thanks to all for a very good help for Seagull.