Spanish are in

[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!

[Steplift 72']

Originally Posted by 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.

The only place I've ever seen mullet on the menu is the Florida Panhandle. They always told me the sand bottom over there makes the mullet more tasty. I know we don't eat them here, but there's a big local commercial fishery netting them each fall in the lower Calcasieu River. Makes me wonder where they're going and who's eating them.....not around here.

[phatdaddy]

strange how locale makes different fish rank different on the food chain. up north they love bluefish, down here, grind em up for chum. i agree with you though, i think the different fish taste according to their food supply.

being from louisiana, you probably fish for sac-o-let(sp?) & gas-pa-goo(sp?). i worked in N.O. for 6 months and the locals went fishing for them every chance they had.

[Steplift 72']

Originally Posted by phatdaddy

strange how locale makes different fish rank different on the food chain. up north they love bluefish, down here, grind em up for chum. i agree with you though, i think the different fish taste according to their food supply.

being from louisiana, you probably fish for sac-o-let(sp?) & gas-pa-goo(sp?). i worked in N.O. for 6 months and the locals went fishing for them every chance they had.

Sac-a-lait YES. That's a local name for White Perch, it doesn't get much better than that.

Gas-per-goo NO. That's a freshwater drum found in the ugliest, nastiest water like drainage canals.

[phatdaddy]

i believe white perch in north florida is crappie or if you are north of I-10 "croppie" or east of the Suwanee river "speckled perch".

if people in La can't find a way to make it taste good, it must really be a nasty fish. i loved working over there. never had a bad meal anywhere. and usually the worst looking the place was on the outside, the better the food.

also worked in ocean springs ms, only place i ever saw anyone put french dressing on pizza.........

[Steplift 72']

Originally Posted by phatdaddy

i believe white perch in north florida is crappie or if you are north of I-10 "croppie" or east of the Suwanee river "speckled perch".

if people in La can't find a way to make it taste good, it must really be a nasty fish. i loved working over there. never had a bad meal anywhere. and usually the worst looking the place was on the outside, the better the food.

also worked in ocean springs ms, only place i ever saw anyone put french dressing on pizza.........

No fishing this weekend! It's been blowing 20 - 30 for days now. Guess I shouldn't complain with the beating that tornadoes have given the folks 200 miles north across the US.

Down around New Orleans, if you don't see a little rotten wood or peeling paint, the restaurant probably isn't worth stopping. Another tip to pass them by is if they have to advertise on the interstate.