Thread: Uncommon edibles

With the thread about eating and not eating black drum I thought I'd ask which fish that are commonly thrown back you've four to be edible, particularly when small. For example young bluefish or jack crevalle.

Large black drum and pinfish are the only truly inedible fish I have caught on the pier. Pinfish taste like Iodine to me. We've been over the big uglies.

I have not tried ladyfish but might try making fish cakes with them next time I catch a few. One interesting note: As far as pounds sold, I believe they are the top commercial finfish fishery in AL, almost all frozen and shipped to Asian markets for making fish cakes.

The size bluefish we catch here are good eating as long as you remove most of the red meat and don't overcook, fall apart if you overcook. Same with big hardtails believe it or not.

Jacks are fine, have a texture more like pork than fish. Once again, remove red meat. I use them to make fish curry, other folks grill it.

Bonita (little tuny) are tuna, but you have to bleed it (cut the tail, not the gills or head, it will die before it bleeds out) and once again remove red meat along the lateral line. I'm going to eat the next one I catch.

Small black drum are delicious.

I for one like my fish to taste like fish. If I wanted something bland and tasteless, I would buy tilapia or eat store bought chicken breast!

I've posted on here before about the fish that I've tried that were very edible, some even downright delicious!

My favorite such fish is remora, next is sailcat. Most people throw both of them back and say "no good to eat". That's not true. I find both of them delicious. Hardtail is okay. Like most other fish, it's one where you want to remove the dark-red lateral line. Similarly, large pinfish are okay fried. I didn't experience the iodine-taste that Carl referred to. I'll try them again to see if I can detect that iodine-taste.

Big uglies may be unfit, but you'll want to keep small black drum - wonderful on the grill. Just fillet them, cut out the rib-bones and place them, skin side down (you don't even have to scale them) on the grill and sprinkle garlic salt, butter, and a little "Slap Yo Mamma" seasoning. When they're done, the skin will easily release from the fillets and you're left with a plate of deliciousness!
A year or two ago I caught a big lookdown and filleted it. It was good - comparable to the spadefish that I caught on that same occasion. If I catch a small lookdown, I toss it back, because -- there's just not a whole lot of meat on 'em.

I tried to fillet a ladyfish and the inside of it was just mush connected by bones. I still would have tried it if there were a cohesive fillet to deal with. I guess you'd just have to scoop out the mushy flesh-and-bones and put it in a baggie, boil it and then pick out the bones from what's cooked and then somehow work the flesh-pieces into a croquette?

I'm okay with bluefish in the same way that I'm okay with the chicken leg instead of the chicken breast. It's darker-meat and that gives it a different taste, not as delicate as some other white-meat fishes, but it's okay for a change for the sake of variety.

I encourage everybody to make their own decisions about what's good. I am SO glad that I started keeping sailcats and didn't take the common advice that they were "not fit to eat". They're great and similar to stream-caught channel catfish! Try remoras- fry them! They're good.

The only fish that I've tried that I don't like is hardhead catfish. Probably the only fish I won't even try is the pufferfish because of that toxin in (primarily) their internal organs.

I know you won't find them swimming in the gulf, but common carp in the 10-15 lb range (from clean water) are excellent when smoked. If you have a good brine and some apple wood smoked carp (in my opinion) almost rivals smoked salmon or trout.

Carp is like the no. 1 commercial fish in the world, especially in eastern Europe, India and China.
Guy I used to work with in Montgomery begged me to catch them, they made an Indian Fish Curry with it.
The US is the only place they are considered inedible.

Speaking of freshwater, I've heard that gar are supposed to be good to eat, as well as drum, but Ive not tried either.

Originally Posted by CarlF

Carp is like the no. 1 commercial fish in the world, especially in eastern Europe, India and China.
Guy I used to work with in Montgomery begged me to catch them, they made an Indian Fish Curry with it.
The US is the only place they are considered inedible.

Common Carp are omnivorous and very opportunistic as well as long lived. As such they are one of the species that tend to accumulate more contaminants (mercury and PCBs). The state of Michigan advises against consuming any carp from lake Michigan, also I'm pretty sure that they now advise against eating lake trout of any size (unfortunate because Lakers are also delicious). I read up on Alabama's advisories before eating my fish from the gulf- didn't worry too much because I don't eat Spanish any other time of the year. Does anyone base their catch/consumption on the state advisories?

I don't catch enough fish subject to the advisories to worry about it.
There is no advisory on Spanish macs, only Kings.

Pretty sure I saw something in the advisories on Spanish and bluefish... But I could be mistaken. I've been on the east coast a bit in the last year and in the gulf recently, so its entirely possible that I'm remembering another state's advisory.

We absolutely love bluefish with all dark meat removed. My son swears it and flounder are his favorite fish to eat. To me, blues have a distinct taste, one that is unique. Fresh and fried they are hard to beat, imo. I have never kept one until last year. I will keep many more in the future, when I am down to the pier.