Pull on that left ear and let a little air out.......
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Pull on that left ear and let a little air out.......
Wait just a minute, there's a payroll?Quote:
Originally Posted by Pier#r
I was one of the people that thought black drum would be bad eating one day I caught a small one so I decided to eat it I was amazed I won't keep the bigger ones tho because of the worms so if you're not sure how a certain kind of fish tastes just try it bit I'm not saying for y'all to get a bait fish and eat it lol
Yes I don't think shad would taste good:pQuote:
Originally Posted by derekb
Nice to see the return to the topic this string started with. I am laid up tonight with a blood clot and this forum is a helpful distraction. As to the freshwater drum ; they are fun to catch and when you can locate a schooling area you can wear out your arm. The body structure is such that you need to catch drum that weigh 1.5 to 3 pounds to get the best eating filets. They fry well and also are good baked with many different type recipes.
Fin, they told me I could keep all the money I found on the pier and so far, I'm up over a dollar. I ain't sayin' how much I found in the parking lot, might get too much competition.
They indeed fry well I have also grilled them!Quote:
Originally Posted by oldfisherman
I've eaten a fair amount of small drum-up to maybe two pounds and they aren't bad. My brother and I were camping on the Tennessee river and I caught a big one, at least ten pounds. My brother said he'd eat it if I cooked it-and he tried without success. He said it tasted like very fishy rubber bands. There was alcohol involved.......
I like small drum myself.and you know I was always told rays were nasty.i tried them and I like them.same thing with bluefish.and keeping this in mind my better half talked me into trying hardhead one day.we were in port st joe with a uab research group inspecting sea urchin and scallop populations.well every morning we would fish and every evening we would fish.and all we would catch was hard heads and not small ones I mean these things were monster's for hardheads.some had to be around 3 pounds.and the weren't gaff top s.so she decided to talk me into keeping two of them.we went back to the room and I cleaned them.and after I removed the huge bone that runs the length of their heads and half of their back.they looked like a regular old freshwater cat.i threw them in the oven and sprinkled a little lemon pepper on them.well when it came time to do the deed lol she was more gutsy than I was.after her first bite it took her a couple minutes to convince me.and when I finally took a bite I was shocked it had a really mild taste and was actually pretty good.but due to the nature of that beast and the dangers of handling them that may not happen often.
Keep in mind that Freshwater Drum Aplodinotus grunniens are NOT the same species as Saltwater (Black) Drum Pogonias cromis
Not the same species but same family an the only fresh water one.Quote:
Originally Posted by Pier#r
Either one, freshwater or black, the small ones are good eating!
And like I noted in another post, grilled fresh sardines are a very popular dish along the Mediterranean Sea and all over the world.
Give the size of the sardines we catch at the pier, I may try them. if I ever get a chance to fish again.......
Anyone ever tried a gar? I watched a youtube video awhile back and this guy skinned it like a deer to get all the armor-plated like skin off of it. After that he fillet it into small chunks, let it sit in buttermilk a little while, and he tossed it in the grease. He said its good.
I guess if I could ever get one to strike a lure I'd try it, but usually they just mill around at the lake...not too aggressive. Not like a Bowfin, or Grennel as we like to call them, aggressive with a mouthful of teeth. Real prehistoric looking...wouldn't eat it.
Best way I have found to catch gar is at night with some kind of live baitfish. I actually took what I learned from pier fishing last year and applied it to walleye fishing. Unfortunately, when the walleye are not there most of the time the Gar are. I use the same leaders for them as I used fishing off the pier. They put up a pretty good fight and I also wanted to try one to eat, but couldn't figure out how to get through the armor type skin. Alewife's are what we were using for bait and I think we caught every gar in the vicinity. Not a single Walleye. Threadfin or Gizzard shad would be even better bait.Quote:
Originally Posted by SNAKE
They are a pretty tastie fish. Most people around here use cut bait or bow fish for them.Quote:
Originally Posted by SNAKE
Easy way to catch gar. Take about 1ft of nylon braded rope, tie a knot in one end and brush out the rope. Fold it over to the knot tie your line and look for a gar on top of the water. The teeth will tangle in the rope.
In Mississippi we call freshwater drum Gaspergou ( gas-pa-gou-la)
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sean
Louisiana also. Or, more often, just, "Gou"
Very plentiful and easily caught in tail waters below spillways of bigger lakes
Not more than about a thousand times growing up. My grandmother made garballs the likes of which I haven't had since.Quote:
Originally Posted by SNAKE
Way back when I was a kid, I shot a gar with a spear gun and it just bounced off!
Real Cajun Cooking - Pure and Simple: How to Cook Garfish
"Warning: Under NO circumstances should you consume the eggs of a garfish (roe) because it is poisonous to humansand other warm-blooded animals."
Here is a video on how to clean a gar:
How To Clean A Gar Fish - YouTube
thanks for the video.
Yes we do have some strange nick names for fishQuote:
Originally Posted by Sean
That's the way I used until I got a bow for bowfishing. If you have a good bow it will go through their armor. Parts of the fish river are infested with small gar sometimes and they'll either sit on the top or come up for air and I can get a shotQuote:
Originally Posted by DUCK
Just so you all know - Remoras are as good, fried, as any fish I've ever had! They don't have a whole lot of meat, in relation to their overall size, so you have to catch big ones to make it worth it. The flesh is firm and white, with no aftertaste! A+
I had Remoras twice last year. Don't call remoras a trash fish if you haven't put in in the frying pan.
On the grill, Pompano is my favorite, with black drum (small, of course), and flounder and large whiting as next-to-faves.
I've been saying this for years. Their meat is indistinguishable from cobia.Quote:
Originally Posted by eym_sirius
Thank you for this public service!Quote:
Originally Posted by Pierless
;-) lol
#r, are the two fish related? They do sort of favor one another in a distant kin sort of way.
Yes. Based on anatomy and DNA, cobia and remora's are closely related to each other, and distantly to Jacks as well.Quote:
Originally Posted by divedeep
There are two "free-swimming" species of remora in our area, the 6 other species found in the Gulf only attach to whales, porpoises, marlins, swordfish, turtles, manta's & sharks, and these species are very specific to what they attach to.
Yesterday I saw an albino remora on a leopard ray. White all over. Sure do wish I could have caught him and added him to my trophy remora collection.
Any of y'all eat croakers? Read some where there was an easy way to clean them
Croakers were the backbone of a mainstay meal for me & bro growing up on Mobile Bay (fish & grits).
We just scaled em, headed then split the belly open to eviscerate and momma fried em whole for us (we picked out the bones).
Nowadays I treat the medium sized ones like white trout and ground mullet, whiting, spot, etc in that 9"-12" range.
Scale them, than split them down the back, removing the backbone, ribs, head and guts.
This 'butterflied' whole fish can be battered and fried whole with only the fin bones to deal with!
Attachment 2331
Very little wastage ;-)
That sounds realy good! I will be keeping the lager ones next time!Quote:
Originally Posted by Pier#r
I fillet these same species over 12".
IMHO the larger specimens are a little too thick to deep-fry ;-)
Croakers are fine eating. Like others noted, fillet the bigger ones, scale, gut & cook whole the smaller ones.
Back in the late fall this year we caught a ton of big croakers at the pier. Cooked them up just like a whiting or slot red and they were great. They tend to have less meat for their size than a whiting or white trout, but definitely good for the table. I canned some of the meat and intermixed it with whiting, I still have a few jars of those left.
Them croakers are so good it sometimes bothers me a little to use them for bait. I feel the same about mullet -- we go to such expense and trouble to catch yellowfin tuna once in a while, when honestly a net full of mullet ranks right up there.
When it comes to the remora cousins, namely sharksuckers (mostly whitefin), that are infesting our pier, there is no disputing their taste quality. They are similar, and even slightly better than cobia. In fact, a properly prepped Crevalle Jack is also high quality on the texture and taste scale.Quote:
Originally Posted by eym_sirius
The issue, however, is not with taste, but with parasites.
Spaghetti worms (a cycling shark tapeworm larvae, Poecilancistrium caryophyllum), living in the muscle tissue and vertebrae columns of these fish and many other species make them less appetizing to most anglers. Additionally, the items occasionally discovered in the stomachs of sharksuckers and remoras can be severely grotesque.
That said, these parasites are completely harmless to humans either raw or cooked, and therefore shouldn't be a concern overall. If you've ever eaten a redfish or speckled trout, you've probably eaten hundreds of these larvae and never knew. No worries--you're safe.
Eat those remoras if you want, but regardless of their taste quality, they'll never be a desirable dinner fare since they have much higher exposures to contaminants and density of parasites than other accessible fish of higher quality--readily available to us local anglers.
Croakers are delicious. Mid-late November they are thick on the end of the pier next to the pilings. Caught several in the 17-18" range.Quote:
Originally Posted by Psychobilly
Have any of you ever ate the black eels that are way up in the freshwater rivers(pearl river)? I'm from Columbia, MS and we have little black ladies that will take all of those slimey snakes you can catch... They say its good but I'm not sure about eating one. I'm also a bit disappointed that I hear mixed reviews on the jack tasting poorly since I gave mine away the other evening only to hear later that they taste good if done right.... WHAT IS RIGHT? AND what does jack actually taste like?
American eels taste great. The skin is toxic, so you must skin them.
The taste and texture is similar to alligator tail.
Cut meat into sections and half cylinders so it is cooked slowly, evenly and thoroughly.
Crevalle is only a matter of removing the spaghetti worms first. After that, cook it like you would a redfish traditionally. Can make fish balls out of it too. Catch smaller crevalle to help with fewer worms--which are harmless to humans, but not appetizing to see.
To help with taste, once landed, cut the jacks gills where the gill tissue meets the body on the inside and dip it's head in ice and water. The heart is by the gills, and it will bleed out quickly.
Once filleted and worms removed, leave on ice at least 4-6 hours so the meat can slightly age. Soak in either buttermilk or coat in dijon mustard an hour before cooking for enzyme conditioning.
Marinate in dales or moores mixed 50/50 with water for 15 minutes if you want extra tang.
Enjoy. Compares to pork chop.
In my opinion, however, there are better fish to eat. I use crevalle for making canned dogfood. So seriously only eat it if it's all you got or just plain wanting to try it.
