Local Fish Table Fare

    Didn't mean to hijack the video thread. So here is the new thread about fish you target and eat that others won't.


    While living in Fla. I would tag barracuda but wouldn't eat it. Everyone told me to give it to the Latinos cause they love it. I finally asked a buddy of mine from Colombia about it and was told it makes the best ceviche. So next one I got i filleted and tasted sashimi style and was blown away by how mellow the meat is. I eat it raw, in ceviche, in Hawaiian Poke. The meat is perfect for raw culinary dishes.

    HUI KOA KAI O HAMAKUA
    MAHALO KE AKUA
    E MALAMA I KE KAI

    One that I cannot wrap my mind around is how in the southeast mainland we consider Chubs the ultimate trash fish. In Hawaii, though, chubs (nuenue) are considered a score and even eaten raw in poke


    I've never tried it nor known anyone who has, but heard the meat looks and smells bad. When I see pictures of it on the hawaaiin pages and forums it looks dark and mushy but not as bad as floridians had described it to me

    Scupper Pro Gives You Wings!

    Doc and DuQuesnay eat trunk fish here. They have an exoskeleton and nice, boneless meat inside. I never shoot them. They look so .....cute. haha.


    Parrot fish. Man, the Midnight one here is really good. I haven't had one for a few years because they're protected now. They're hard to get close to so it would seem they would still be plentiful.


    Personally, I like small mutton, mangrove or dog snapper. Like, 1 lb small. Gut and scale and fry.


    Chubs....yeah, I never shoot them here. Gray meat. But Mokoa said they're the best for poke. I have to try it here. I know they eat them in Hawaii.

    Quote from sdeisen

    I've never tried it nor known anyone who has, but heard the meat looks and smells bad. When I see pictures of it on the hawaaiin pages and forums it looks dark and mushy but not as bad as floridians had described it to me



    It's that reason I try all fish and ignore what others say unless it's a recipe. I found most people don't have first hand experience on odd/trash fish and are just repeating what they have heard. Everyone has different taste so it's worth finding out for your self.

    Nenue are old school poke. Yes they are very good meat. Not black but vary between gray to white in Hawaii and the meat is firm. I know the different regions offer different variations on fish species that tend to influence their culinary value. In Samoa they fry reef fish with scales and guts still in the fish!


    Eel,,,any of you guys eat it? If prepped right, smoked then simmered in coconut milk is delicious.

    HUI KOA KAI O HAMAKUA
    MAHALO KE AKUA
    E MALAMA I KE KAI

    Quote from sdeisen

    One that I cannot wrap my mind around is how in the southeast mainland we consider Chubs the ultimate trash fish. In Hawaii, though, chubs (nuenue) are considered a score and even eaten raw in poke


    I've never tried it nor known anyone who has, but heard the meat looks and smells bad. When I see pictures of it on the hawaaiin pages and forums it looks dark and mushy but not as bad as floridians had described it to me


    Got to remember, it may look the same, even share a common name but Pacific and Atlantic species are different.
    Atlantic Chub in Grenada, and other Southern Caribbean islands I grew up knowing as the ultimate junk fish, then I came here to Antigua and they sell the bloody things!
    Trigger fish(old wife), parrot fish(chub), Dr fish(blue Tang) are all probably the most sort after fish by locals right through the Caribbean.
    Where we dont have cig poisoning(Grenada, Trinidad) the most sort after fish is the Barracuda, even places like Antigua with high cases of Cig poisoning the locals will take a chance on Cudas, that fish is insanely tasty.

    A bad day at sea is better than a good day in the boatyard
    George Steele

    Quote from sdeisen

    One that I cannot wrap my mind around is how in the southeast mainland we consider Chubs the ultimate trash fish. In Hawaii, though, chubs (nuenue) are considered a score and even eaten raw in poke


    I've never tried it nor known anyone who has, but heard the meat looks and smells bad. When I see pictures of it on the hawaaiin pages and forums it looks dark and mushy but not as bad as floridians had described it to me


    I don't touch 'em personally. But perhaps they are products or their environments. What I mean is that maybe their quality of food in this region is lesser than that of the Hawaiian islands. I'm no scientist so this is strictly personal speculation.


    I've heard that spade fish are good to eat in other parts. I've never shot one for the simple fact that they don't look like they have much meat on their bones.

    Relax & Go Spearfishing

    I'll throw my 02 cents in - should be a fun thread.


    Growing up in Panama we only speared and ate: Corvina, snappers (all), snook, grouper, small jewfish, Black Snappers (Triple Tail), Wahoo, Dorado, Sierra ad King Mackeral, and that's pretty much it. We never ate jacks, bonitos, parrot fish, barracuda, tarpon, and the zillion other fisheye had in abundance. We had some huge Dark Blue Wrasse or Parrot Fish but never ever considered spearing much less eating them. I have speared and landed a couple of really big Tarpon (100 + pounds) but always gave them to the locals to eat.


    With a few spearing trips to Sea of Cortez I've speared and eaten Trigger fish and Parrot fish but honestly - probably not going to do it again. Parrot fish taste mellow, tender flacky white meat but to me Parrot Fish is still an ornamental fish. Trigger fish in ceviche didn't impress me.


    Even today - Maybe too old to change but wouldn't spear. Barracuda to eat. Now my wife who is Japanese tels me to spear her a Jack r Bonito both highly prized in Japan but not my taste.


    Great thread - thanks Makoa - should be fun.:thumbsup2:

    Yeah, that was my problem with Kaku, Cuda, the slime and the ammonia smell! But Bruddah is it good. Personally I'll sashimi a piece of flesh of any fish I'm not familiar with and taste it raw. That way I know the flavor of the fish if it will be good eating or not. Cig is scary but seems to be regional in occurrence within certain fish. I know fish on O'ahu that are hot with cig are fine to eat on Big Island. Fish in Caribbean like Cuba and other reef predators are hot with cig but in Central Fla are perfectly good to eat.


    Oscar, you need one Local Hawaiian Boy to cook your Uhu...parrot fish! OR just make a light beer batter and fry it. The flaky white meat stays very moist and makes for great fish tacos or fish n chips.


    Local style uhu...stuffed with a mixture of mayo, green onions, lap Chang (Chinese sausage), carrots, then steamed.


    Now I'm hungry!

    I lived for 15 years in Polynesia and Melanesia and everything from the Ocean was eaten as far as I can remember unless it was poisoning seafood. I still remember the first time I ate Remora (very delicous),highly regarded in the Islands.We used to go on 2 week spear :):)trips to Minerva Reef and everything on this Reef was bountyful and xxxl,I remember Parrot fishes there averaging 2.5'.We made a lot of OTA IKA (raw fish salad in coconut cream with chily peppers) and cooked fish in the UMU (earth oven) in coconut cream wrapped in banana leafs, absolutely yummy!!! I ate seafood over there some westeners are dare to touch with their hands. Another good example from a very good friend of mine,he is from the Phillipines and makes the best smoked fish dip and some other filipino dishes out of Bonito where others after tasting couldn,t believe that it was in fact Bonito.There's a lot of repeated hearsay on the net without that person having actually tasted that fish they gripe about.REMEMBER ANDREW ZIMMER:IF IT SMELLS GOOD,EAT IT!!!!!!!

    moved my comment to not hijack the other thread.


    Quote from makelymyday

    We were talking about this the other day regarding trigger fish. In the Carribean they are hunted and taste great. Out here in a Hawaii nobody I know shoots them. I got one and tried it out here. It was alright but didn't seem to be any where near as good as the ones I ate in the Carribean. Anybody else have similar expierences?


    I wonder if the Hawaiian ocenanic triggers out by the bouys would taste any different? I know I have eaten the hoggies (black trigger fish that grunt when you catch them) and we would skin them with pliers or cook them whole. They were not bad but not what I ate while in Cancun, that I really enjoyed.


    I always enjoyed eating papio but uhu it depended on how it was cooked. Sometime uhu is too mushy. Like perch in California it can be mushy but if you cook it for a little longer the meat firms up and is moist and flaky. I always wanted to try it with mayo, green onion, and lap chong just never had it that way.


    Also everyone talks about vermillion in California as outstanding table fare. I remember we caught some and ate it the same day and it was super rubbery. Same thing happened to me with sculpin which is supposed to be amazing as well. My favorite reef fish are sheephead and calico. For some reason sheephead get a bad rap. But maybe I just had some weird vermillion and sculpin?


    I think sometimes its like aku and otado some of the best sashimi but nobody likes to admit that they eat skipjack. lol


    Then again some people will not eat jack rabbit but hare is a delicacy in Europe. I love eating jack rabbit but I wonder if the name makes people think about their food differently?

    When staying with cousins on Naviti island, Fiji we would eat puffer fish. The village would simmer them for hours in coconut milk and make a soup with them. I always thought they were poisonous but they ate them and I enjoyed how they cooked em. In Hawaii and while living on the mainland we cook a lot in the umu/ imu (Samoans cook with heated stones above the ground=umu, Hawaiians cook with heated stones under ground= imu). We use the imu and burry pig, breadfruit (ulu), Hawaiian-Filipino sweet potato (purple flesh) and fish in coconut milk and wrped in Ti leaves and banana leaves. I was raised same way...everything from the sea is edible and valuable, limu (seaweed), opihi (limpits found on rocks in surf zone), pu'i (eel), he'e (octopus), and just about every small reef fish. Even the various triggers, not the best tasting, but when camping you can throw them whole on the coals and the meat steams inside the tough sandpaper like skin.


    How about scorpion fish (nohu)? Awesome white meat. One of my favorites, pictured below with my son Kawika.

    Been dying to get a scorpion fish. Haven't spotted one yet. Probably looked past a dozen already in holes just haven't trained my eye to see them I guess. Soon!


    So funny people don't like aku. You can drive down the road and see it advertised for sale. Some people out here buy it over ahi.


    Crazy how people avoid jacks to. The ones out here taste great.

    Quote from hank

    Doc and DuQuesnay eat trunk fish here. They have an exoskeleton and nice, boneless meat inside. I never shoot them. They look so .....cute. haha. .


    Hank - This brings back some great memories - I was living on a sailboat in the Virgin Islands and across the street from where our boat was moored a local lady grilled trunk fish and gave you a reefer while you waited for the trunk fish to cook, at least that is what I was told. Damn, they were soooooooooo good. :thumbsup2:

    "Weird" fish I like to eat: Cuda for sure, bonito, trevaille jacks, sardines, trunkfish, spade fish. I eat cuda over wahoo. :)


    I don't shoot trunkfish though. Too stupid.


    Spadefish meat is grey when raw, but cooks white and tastes good. Also forbid my kids to shoot them. Too stupid as well.


    Let's seee how is it in Panama. This weekend I'm going to Las Perlas. There should be some action there. :)

    Marco Melis

    A bad day fishing is ALWAYS better than a good day at work.

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