Great catch! They are different to the Yellow tails we get over here. Most people just catch them for live-bait to catch Kahawai, John Dory, Kingfish etc. They do make good bait, but they are 1 of my favorite eating fish. If you know how to get the bones out. For cold smoking, I usually fillit them like normal then split them in half, leaving behind the bones that run up from the tail. Making 4 skinny fillets per fish. Hot smoking I split down the backbone and open them up. You know they're ready when you can just pull the backbone out with your fingers. Don't wash the fish in freshwater. a light salting should be enough. Makerel dry well too if you wanted to hang them for a day or so. My favorite is to gut and scale them and fry them in a pan with a small gas cooker right there on the walf where I catch them. Fryd up with garlic, butter, lemon, salt and pepper whyle they are still flapping. Yum!
The good thing about little fish like Makerel, is they don't take long to cook. Makerel also make good raw fish. Very popular here. People laugh at me when they see me preparing Makerel for eating, because they are so small. Well done mate. My mouth is watering.
Can't wait for summer!
You can lead a dog to water, but you can't make him a horse.
by wheels » Fri Jul 29, 2011 2:39 pm 
