King mackeral

Went out friday afternoon and managed to find this guy. Not a big one , but 27", so he made it on the grill just fine





Notice the lucky hat
 
Not the best fish, but if bled when caught and eaten in a day or 2, not bad. We grilled this one with olive oil and Everglades seasoning. Also like them cut into fingers and fried. The smaller one are actually better eating. The larger ones i grill and make dip out of them.
 
i'm guessing it's similar to bluefish. a lot of guys say blues aren't too bad if they go in the oil right away. I wont eat them. all them delicious fish down there, go catch up some snapper.
 
I like to troll for king, lazy man's fishing. Put couple of rods out, idle along looking for bottom fishing spots, listen to "trop-rock". On the radio. Wife sits in the chair reading and every now and then we get a fish. Also fun to drift for them around structure. Tie a wire leader directly to a big spinning rig, with a single hook and a treble stinger. Hook a cigar minnow thru the nose and treble in the tail. Throw it out and drift along. When they hit it, its like they came by on a motorcycle. Usually bigger fish also.

Charlie, our federal snapper season this year was THREE days.
 
Spanish were hit or miss this year. Never really had a "run" like we usually do. We went out and caught 3 or 4, but not any big numbers. They're stll around, but bait schools have. been scarce, so more accidental by-catch rather than being the target species.
 


end result fried king mac w/ cheese grits

charlie, commercial guys get 49% and rec gets 51%, charter boats get 45 days. feds say rec anglers caught their share in 3 days. this is for waters out 9 miles or more.

state waters are open, but most fish have gone deeper for cooler water
 
i'm guessing it's similar to bluefish. a lot of guys say blues aren't too bad if they go in the oil right away. I wont eat them. all them delicious fish down there, go catch up some snapper.
I personally like blue fish, but preperation is key with them. As to comparing them to king mackeral, no, they're not even in the same category with each other. King mackeral is very good table fair IMHO whereas bluefish is an aquired taste(but with good prep, they can be very edible).
 
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