Croakers

[Tatume]

My Hatteras trip was canceled because of foul weather. Although the bigger boats were okay, 4 - 6 foot waves in Hatteras Inlet is too much for my 30 footer. So, yesterday I went out in the Chesapeake Bay and caught a nice batch of small croakers. They were fun, and it was a warm, beautiful, calm day on the Bay.

After scaling and gutting, I take the heads and tails off, and then make a slice down either side of the dorsal and ventral fins. Then I pull the fins out. It makes them very nice to eat, as there's nothing left except meat and the backbone. A few days ago I got a new Buck 103 Skinner, and I haven't even sharpened it yet (Buck sharpens them, but not to my satisfaction). I used it to make the fin cuts, and what a job it did!

As I write, I have some frying in a shallow pan with olive oil, and another batch baking (wife prefers her's baked). It's not mahi and tuna, but yum, they sure are good.

[w5pv]

Croakers are my favorite saltwater fish,very tasty to me.

[gwpercle]

One of the best times ever had was with a group of friends and family , spent the day catching croakers, They were biting on everything. On the shore that afternoon we cleaned , fried them up and had the most wonderful meal I have ever had. We ate fish until we couldn't see straight....just stuffed ourselves. Those croakers tasted wonderful.
We still talk about that day and how good those fried croakers tasted ( that's been at lest 30 years ago)
Thanks for posting. Anyone who says croaker aren't good to eat hasn't eaten fresh fried croaker.

[farmerjim]

I don't catch many anymore, but when I do , I skin and filet them with an electric knife.

[Tatume]

Denise and I ate croakers until we were stuffed, and we'll do it again soon. I'm with you fellows. They are great fish!

Take care, Tom

[leeggen]

Who in their right mind goes out on the Hateras? Some very rough water most of the time.
CD

[Tatume]

The croakers are running a little bit bigger out at York Spit Reef. We started out trolling for cobia but got bored and went to the reef for some croaker action. We released all the fish the size we kept last week, and kept the larger 3/4 - 1 pounders. They are still small, but lots of fun to catch and again to eat, and we're eating a lot of them! It was a great day on the Chesapeake Bay, and we caught fish to boot. What more can one ask?

[Janoosh]

A day out on the water....lines in the water. ...a good meal......What could be better.???

[starmac]

When I was a kid I caught and ate croaker on a regular basis. It was onlt maybe a 3 mile bicycle ride to a pier that was pretty good for croakers.

Years ago I was working on the coast and one of the hands was from somewhere up north. He went fishing and when I ask if he had any luck, he told me he had caught a good mess of grunts. I had never heard of these, so questioned him on them, finally ask him if he was talking about croakers. lol He said that was it, he knew people was calling them something along that line. I about busted a gut laughing so hard. lol

[Tatume]

Interestingly, there is a family of fishes called "grunt." We're at the northern range of the white grunts in Chesapeake Bay. I think there are about 150 different species of grunts, mostly tropical.

I spent a lot of my time bicycling to fishing spots too. Coincidentally, it was about three miles to my favorite spot, which was good for lots of species, including flounder. Also, I caught a lot of crabs, which my Mother would cook and pick. When we grew up Mom said she would pick crabmeat for children, but not for adults! We were on our own.

I can remember catching so many fish that I couldn't carry them all on my bike. I would hide my stringer by tying it to something under water, and make a second trip. Ah, the good old days.

[starmac]

I used to camp at what is now covered up by the port of houston. when a ship passed in the channel it would suck a lot of water out leaving lots of crabs on the beach, I would just run and grab them, easier than catching them on a chicken neck. lol

[Tatume]

There's a big difference between Houston and Fairbanks! I've long thought about applying for a position at UoA, and almost all entry positions are at Fairbanks. It's a big decision, one that I couldn't make while I was caring for my Mother. Now I may be too old for the transition (still young enough to work though).

What do you do in Fairbanks?

I've read about "crab jubilee" in Mobile, AL. The deeper water in Mobile Bay becomes anoxic, and crabs and other animals leave for the shallows, where some oxygen is mixed into the water by wave action. People gather up crabs, shrimp, flounder, etc. in large numbers. I've never seen it.

Where I live we sometimes have extremely low tides, and I used to walk out to oyster reefs and gather up all I could carry. Alas, the oyster reefs no longer exist, although we are trying to restore them.

Take care, Tom