Headed to Yonges island area fishing the last of the incoming and start of the outgoing tides. Water temps were around 85, mostly clear water. We had lots of live shrimp and finger mullet, plus some frozen mullet as backup. We did pretty good most of the day. Ended the day with 6 reds, two keepers, a couple of undersized trout, small black drum and a bonnethead shark. Surprisingly, not one sting ray! Storms finally sent us back to the dock.
Question on cooking for those of you that eat reds. I tried one on the grill years ago and did not like it. I actually remember a blood line or dark part of the meat. A friend of mine says he cuts the gills and bleads them out if he keeps them and they taste great. Iāve never tried that. I do however keep the black drum and think they are very tasty. Just wondering how you guys/girls prepare this fish?
Filleted them and removed the skin. Didnāt have any red blood lines in the fillets. Flour, egg wash, panko breading with some added spices, then fried them in a small amount of oil. Served with lemon. Pretty good tasting fish, not as light as flounder or trout, but still tasted great. We have also cooked them āblackenedā, which I like a lot but itās too spicy for my wife.
Reds are better eating than black drums for me. Anything fried is good, but I prefer filleted out, skinned and then blackened. For a real treat on those smaller fillets, Iāll get a little lump crab meat and sandwich it in between two fillets. Drizzle in butter and bake in the oven. Oh man thatās good stuff. I think the recipe is called crab stuffed, but I do it with flounder on the regular.
Mineās never this pretty, but something like this.
Iāve heard many people talk about bleeding various fish, but personally Iāve not really noticed a difference in anything but a shark. Thatās the only fish Iāll bleed, and I do it by slicing it from gills to but, remove guts, rake the back with the knife, wash in the ocean, and put on ice. Iāve got a buddy that cuts the V meaty area on the bottom of the fish between the gills on every fish he takes and then puts on ice.
Biggest thing, like others have stated, is removing any āredā meat, You can not do that on a fish unless you remove the skin. The grey meat you may see after cooking a fish is what was the red meat and it has a strong flavor. Preparation is key, and expect smaller āchunksā of filleted meat instead of one big fillet if you get rid of all red meat.
Iām definitely with you on this ābleedingā Fred. My preference is to put them strait on an ice slurry in the summertime if I want to keep or if someone wants to keep for their family.
Live box in winter, go home, put them on ice and clean the next day. I donāt want to kill them myself because i honestly donāt want a bloody boat, livewell to clean out when I get home.
Iām extremely anal about getting that bloodline out. Redfish are obviously more distinct than trout. And trout more distinct than flounder. I donāt waste meat and I always soak mine in a lemon water/tap water solution before I fry or bake them.
Never kept a shark so donāt know the first thing about that.
Question for you guys. ā¦and to be fair itās a fresh water wallet question, but are guys familiar with a ā zipperā when cleaning walleye? Wondering if itās something I can do with trout but I havenāt kept trout since walleye fishing this spring.
Oh, and only get walleye from Michigan. I here you can get lead poisoning otherwise.
Not familiar with the āzipperā ? On walleye, thatās my favorite fresh water fish! Had a restaurant that had all you could eat every Friday for $10.99 with a āpopā. Of course that was a bit ago.
On the shark, so much better than a lot would think. Iāve had them put on ice with out bleeding and I wonāt eat them do to the funky smell and taste. Not there if bled right away. I could see your point on not wanting your boat bloodyā¦ A live shark is a wiggley rascal and can make a mess. Nice to have a partner help hold still. raw water wash down or a five gallon bucket of water works wonders on that.
