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Random Quote: give a man a fish feed him for a day teach him to fish he will be dead of murcury poisening in 3 years
If you haven't tried spadefish, you are missing out. Season it however you want, pan fry that shit, and look out! Those of you saying it's no good haven't had it--if you have tried it and still say it's no good, you are a damned liar.
Sailcat are fine eating fish (although they are slimey as all get out in the cooler).
Fresh Mullet caught in NW Fla/ALA/MS Gulf coast are perhaps the finest eating fish that swims! Not really but they are dang good. I can't speak for the LA variety cause I have never tried them. They do seem to taste better the furthur East you go.
Spadefish is excellent. I used to eat the heck out of them until about 10 years back I found out that they eat jelly fish. I hate jellyfish so anything that eats them is a friend of mine!
__________________ "Shakin the bush here Boss!"
2008 Sea Pro SV2400CC
2008 Mercury Verado 225
Cage full of crickets and a cane pole
So just how many mullet, bluefish, mackeral spadefish or MUD have you eaten?
I have eaten mullet. Mullet from sandy bottom, clean water are totally different fron the ones here.
IMO, bluefish and mackerel are too oily and fishy tasting. PLENTY of much better tasting fish around here.
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And if the answer is none (which I presume it is) then how can u knock it if you havent tried it? Point taken???
You know what happens when you assume?
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Look, to each his own, I dont eat King Mercuries or bluefish
They why are you complaining about what I eat?
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I just think its funny that almost all of America will belly up to a plate of fried chicken (including myself) but call something else gross due to what they eat or where they roam! Do you eat oysters? I do and love them, but guess what??? They suck in and ingest human feces and every other nasty bacteria and micro organism that we pump into the waters we fish.
This isn't about the diet of the above named species. It's about the edilibility of the species. Yes, I eat oysters.
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Eat what you want, my theory is......."IF IT FRIES IT DIES" and we all know you can fry just about anything.....
__________________
That is crap.
Which idiot told you that CO2 only makes up 0.039% of the atmosphere?
whoever brought up nutria balls earlier. Nutria are damn fine. Put a rabbit to shame imho and I don't feel bad just taking the back legs and backstrap.
As to fish, i am sure spadefish are great. Sheepshead are fine eating and most people turn there nose up at them. People will run you over for blackened redfish, and i think redfish is actually one of the poorest eating of the fish we regularly catch. Somehow people opinion on fish is based on perception more than taste.
Haven't had it before, but I hear Cuda gets a bad rap. Supposed to be pretty good.
Barracuda is as fine as any other reef fish to eat. Any of them can become tainted with ciguatera poison if they eat certain other reef fish. I would avoid those over 3 feet, especially if they are caught on a coral reef in warmer waters as the poison is cumulative. Small ones are great, similar to flounder meat. Grouper and snapper can have the same issues.
For the person saying that mullet was mushy, I would tend to think you were confusing mullet with skipjack or ladyfish which is very mushy and a bit strange in flavor. Mullet has a very stable consistency and holds up well even to grilling, although frying or smoking is best.
I will eat bonito the same day it is caught, but after it has been frozen for any length of time it becomes cat food, but they do love it!
I have been very happy to dine on sheephead and hogfish as happily as any other mainstream food fish when it is fresh. I have never tried spadefish as they have always eluded my attempts to invite them for a meal. I wouldn't hesitate to try it.
40 years ago, amberjack was considered trash fish among many, as was redfish. Of course, redfish over the slot size is not very good, but smaller ones are quite good.
i would eat fried mullet over redfish any day! i release all redfish i catch prettier in the water than on my plate. they are just not that tasty. there is nothing like wadeing with a 10' cast net sneaking up on a school of mullet and letting it rip you will have so many mullet you have to drag the net to shore b/c you cant lift it up. ahh the good ole days!!!
I have eaten mullet from from east to west on the gulf coast, and I will tell you that their stomach is full of mud in any of those places, and their flesh is very good. If you get your mullet out of salty water in Louisiana they are fine. If you catch them in freshwater marsh they tasty muddy. I've had both. I guarantee you a mullet caught off the beach in Grand Isle tastes just like the ones in Alabama or Florida. These are all the same species. They are striped mullet (Mugil cephalus) and they are damn good. And I reiterate that spades are good, especially if cooked fresh.
I like gaftops, but I usually let them go because I don't like getting slimed. I occasionally eat bluefish if I catch a big one, but I don't get excited about them, and to me king mackeral is really good if you eat it fresh. By the way there was a thread a while back about the chub, well they ain't bad either.
I'll tell you something else that most will find strange. Triggerfish liver is really good. Mellow, better than chicken liver. I'm sure some will say WTF you eat fish liver. What about accumulation of contaminants and heavy metals? Well in a small young fish that's generally not a problem. Harvard University tested me for Mercury and I came out with barely a trace. I had less than most people.
__________________ 22' Sea Hunt Triton hunting the waters of the Gulf of Mexico from Cocodrie to Destin.
Don't knock the barracuda. They tend to have a strong odor on the the cleaning table, but the meat is white and flakey, especially on one under 20 or so pounds. As far as poisonous, that's only around coral reefs (definately not a problem in the northern gulf). The poison is cigatera (sp.?) and only occurs in fish that eat reef fishes around coral reefs. I've only eaten a few of them but haven't been disappointed with any of those meals. By the way, I stopped eating kingfish a long time ago and rarely ever will take a bite of aj, so I do have some discerning taste about my fish.
He use a smallish hook baited with clam and a spitshot sinker about 18" above the hook.
Yep, keep a can of clams from the grocery store on the boat and break them out for the spadefish when you get time, I like the taste of them but to much work to clean them to mess with them all of the time. tastes like crappie.
Catching spades can be fun if nothing else is biting. Just throw bits of shrimp in the water around just about any rig. Once they get excited they will bite anything, even a shiny bare hook.
I have eaten spadefish a few times but I wouldn't do it again unless I was really hungry. They just aren't very good IMO.
Someone said sail cats are good. Don't believe them. It is a cruel joke! Once upon a time I fell for it and fried some, fresh caught the same day, and that was the nastiest chit I ever put in my mouth. Stunk up the cabin for days. Left me and my wife both feeling sick after just a couple of bites. And the slime!!! Holy crap!!! I will never bring another one of those god forsaken creatures into my boat again. Compared to sail cats a spade is an epicurean wonder.
To catch them, scoop up a bunch of jellyballs and thred them on a needle on 150# mono with a 6 oz. bank sinker on bottom. gradually lift the line up to bring the spades off the reef and into the upper water column. then start using a 3/0 to 4/0 hook baited with a quarterd jelly ball and a 1/4 oz to 3/8 oz sinker. we kill them all the time like this out of little river inlet around the sherman or other nearshore reefs.
Must be a Gulf thing. I wish you guys could spread your dislike of Spadefish up here. Around here, they are targeted pretty heavily and they are quite good. Maybe they are like ducks and only as good as what they've been eating. I guess Mid-Atlantic jellyfish taste better.
Not really but they are dang good. I can't speak for the LA variety cause I have never tried them. They do seem to taste better the furthur East you go.
No thanks. 
Once upon a time I fell for it and fried some, fresh caught the same day, and that was the nastiest chit I ever put in my mouth. Stunk up the cabin for days. Left me and my wife both feeling sick after just a couple of bites. And the slime!!! Holy crap!!! I will never bring another one of those god forsaken creatures into my boat again. Compared to sail cats a spade is an epicurean wonder. 
