Spanish are in

[phatdaddy]

spring is offically here, these guys started showing up middle of this week. caught 20 in about 45 minutes of trolling, but only these 5 were legal (12 inches) i am not a big fan on eating them, i will put them in the crab trap or turn them into a grouper later on. you guys up north hang on its on the way.....

[THEFERMANATOR]

I need to get out and get a few. I personally like to eat em myself, but that's just me. I IMEDIATELY put them on ice and filet em out as soon as possible. Cut them in half to remove the boney strip down them and get the blood strip out. Then soak em in salt water overnight in the fridge and fry em up in corn meal. My other half HATES gamet tasting fish. but LOVES to eat fried SPANISH MACKS.

[phatdaddy]

i will try the salt water trick, thanks

[labii]

Phat , how far south are you ?

[tsubaki]

And what's the water temp?
You got them from the Gulf or Atlantic?

[phatdaddy]

I'm on the northern gulf coast, 100 miles east of pensacola. water temp hit the magic 68.5*
pompano should be next @ 70*

[Steplift 72']

Originally Posted by THEFERMANATOR

I need to get out and get a few. I personally like to eat em myself, but that's just me. I IMEDIATELY put them on ice and filet em out as soon as possible. Cut them in half to remove the boney strip down them and get the blood strip out. Then soak em in salt water overnight in the fridge and fry em up in corn meal. My other half HATES gamet tasting fish. but LOVES to eat fried SPANISH MACKS.

Sort of starting to look like the recipe section so I'll chime in. We love Spanish when prepared right. There are fish you can't go wrong with, Red Snapper is an example....but the limit is 2 so you have to get more creative with the lesser species......

I always fillet and strip out the bony part and bloody strip like THEFERMANATOR, then place them in a bowl of icy salty water till brought inside. We marinade them in Italian Dressing and grill them basted with garlic salt and butter.......

If they go into the freezer, they've already soaked in the salt water. When you take the fillets out to thaw, then put them in the refrigerator in a bowl of Italian Dressing and go from there.

Try this before they go in the crab trap, we use the carcass of filleted spec's and sand trouts for the crab traps. I've found that the fish with oily flesh like Spanish work best grilled. Hey, you Florida guys eat Smoked Mullet and we use those for Redfish bait........In fact we can trade a 12" Mullet for a 30" Redfish on most days.

[phatdaddy]

between you guys & vic, i guess i will revisit my spanish recipes. the taste is not that bad, but the texture of the meat is mushy to me, not flaky. maybe that is what the salt water does, tighten it up.
on the subject of mullet, i think this part of the gulf is the only ones to eat them. down south, tampa? on south they think we're crazy.
on redfish, i think the smaller , the better.

[tsubaki]

They showed up this week at Jacksonville.
Fernandina (just north of Jacksonville) is showing temps at 70 degrees.
We are still between 61 to 64, so it will be a little while.

[tsubaki]

phat, the Spanish are the easiest ones to fool with.
Fillet, leave the skin on, dip in the corn meal and fry when the grease is about to burn. DONE, MAN!
If they are mushy, they been in water too long or the grease wasen't hot enough or something.
Mullet is great till it is in the freezer, then the crab trap. Now smoked is a different story, mustard or tomato base, painted on just to dry the sauce into the meat! GOD it's been a coon's age since I've had that!
Oh yeah the bass, when they get over 16", they are crap.
12 to 14 inches taste best but the DNR put a stop to that!