A friend of mine who fishes offshore said the “reef donkeys” around here aren’t good to eat. He said they have parasites in their flesh. I grew up fishing the Gulf and we loved eating them. No problems with parasites. Have any of you guys seen this? Thanks.
Smalls are sometimes OK but the mediums and large are loaded with spaghetti like worms.
Go to google image search and search for amberjack worms
26 Seahunt
Angler’s Dream
Holy schnikeys! I almost threw up. Well, answered that question. Thanks.
The worms ain’t always bad, just cut out the ones that are there and the rest of the meat is fine.
They serve them at Boulevard Diner, had it covered in Jamaican jerk spice over cheesy grits…tasted pretty darn good to me !
- Adam
I have caught a few and to clean them you have to look at the worms and i couldnt at that point eat it. anything 15+ is probably loaded
Fished down in Destin a few years ago and caught plenty amberjacks and releasedthrew them back due to what we seen in them here. Met a local down there and fished with him our last day there and he insisted we keep the Jack’s. We told him they were loaded with worms and he told us the Jack’s in the gulf didnt have the worms like the ones in the Atlantic. Sure enough they didn’t and meat tasted awesome. Anyone know why ours would have them and the gulf’s doesn’t.
28 WA Hydra Sport
Twin 225 4 stoke Yammies
“Fin Loco”
You just have to cut the worms out,the meat taste good…we don’t keep many but when we do people don’t complain…
I do not know why ares have parasites and the gulf doesn’t
There is no way i am “cutting the Worms” out of something and then eating it. There is plenty of other great tasting fish in the ocean.
“Good things come to those who bait”
AJ’s are great to eat. I like it more than a lot of other species. The worms are in the tail in the ones here, and they don’t bother me at all. I have found them in larger speckled trout, and I know people don’t turn their noses up at them. I made fish tacos out of a small one last week and everyone loved them.
After filleting hundreds of pounds of AJ’s through the years, I would rather eat a vagrants socks than a wormy AJ! Yes they sell it in local dining establishments…they also sell Basa and Swai, and I don’t eat that either. Why would you want to “eat around the worms” when there are so many other great fish to catch and eat here. I won’t even stock it in my market. Bon Appetit !
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NMFS = No More Fishing Season
“Back home we got a taxidermy man. He gonna have a heart attack when he see what I brung him”
Yeah, if I saw that in a fish I was cleaning, after violently vomitting, I would then tell myself there’s no way I’m eating that fish. That’s a shame, b/c we loved eating them from the Gulf. Never saw a single worm in them. Ever. And we caught some big ones.
I catch a lot of them in the Gulf too and never seen a worm. Great fish. Here on the other hand, I’m with Sells, I ain’t eating that!!
Capt. Larry Teuton
Cracker Built Custom Boats
“Ships are the nearest things to dreams that hands have ever made.” -Robert N. Rose
I talked to the smart people down at DNR and was told that the worms are shark tapeworm larve. After a shark eats an AJ they mature into tapeworms. These things can live for many years inside an AJ. It must be very painful having them embedded in the muscle fibers.
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NMFS = No More Fishing Season
“Back home we got a taxidermy man. He gonna have a heart attack when he see what I brung him”
Love the “vagrants socks” comment!!!
The ones we kept this year were great. They are in the tale section mostly and from what I have read that is by design, most likely part to be bitten off by a shark.
2006 pioneer 197 SF 150 4s
One of the first times I had it was at Commander’s Palace in the Big Easy…it’s no Hymans , but they know a little about cooking fish.
Fry up the fish, the worms will dissolve. Taste better than kings and spanish and are easier to catch. 
Set the trap boys, we going to pass through them again!!
Gonna be while getting rid of the vagrant socks mental image. Thanks, Sells’.
17’ Henry O Hornet
26’ Palmer Scott