Well, maybe not "smoked em" but we did get on a good bite.
A pard and me fished out of Hopedale La. yesterday and caught 30 reds in about two hours along with a few puppy drum.
This was the first trip of the year and was a good one.
Now, does anyone have a good fish taco recipe?
John

Does anybody here fish for reds, specks, etc?

There is a good fish taco recipe in the cooking forum, back a couple months IIRC...

And in the olden days when I went to school in NC we called any red under 10 lbs a "puppy drum"..

I love the regional variations in fish names...mudfish, dogfish, grinnel...all the same thing..Crappie ( pronounced Crawpie) Crappy, White Perch...all the same thing...
Menhaden, 'haden, pogies...all the same thing....you get the drift...


Ingwe

Here a "puppy" drum is a black drum less than 27".

Yep, will be in Florida next month for 13 days of uninterrupted saltwater fishing!

Being a bachelor has it's advantages!

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I do ,i'm in nw florida right now -the weather has been cold and blowing here -water temps are several degrees below normal for this time of year.
I have fished s.la. many times -inshore and offshore -venice la. to grand isle -absolutely some of the best fishing in the world.
I bought a small boat [gheenoe] to fish with -plan on getting after them hot and heavy soon.

Reds on the fly are one of the the most fun things in the world to catch. We had a hayday in Port Sulphur, in Feb 2yrs ago. In two days of fishing, 3 of us boated no less than 50 reds. We were catching 20-30lb reds on 8wts, what a rodeo. I only broke one rod. The smaller ones, 10-12lbs we cooked on the half-shell with butter and lots of lemon with a side of boudin. Dayam!

Hijacking.....ol mike...how is the Gheenoe? I have been eyballing one of those for a while now. Thinking its size may be the cats azz in some of our smaller rivers here. Can you put oarlocks on it and row too? That would be the ticket!

Smokin' a red fish? Sounds like quite a challange just keepin' 'em lit. Like crawdaddies, you smoke 'em tail first?

Old men like me have trouble holding their water AND wisecracks.

Wayne

Abso-freakin-lutely! Love fishing for reds. Whether they are slots for the grill / fryer or targeting the bulls for sport.

Sounds like a great day was had.

I do. We get more snook than reds in my little part of Florida. I tend to throw them all back, snook that is. The slot size is so small its like hitting the lottery to get a keeper. I got two last summer and tossed them both back. Reds are just about my favorite eating fish. I can see why they almost got fished out.

The reds never really came back very strong in my river after the net ban. I like them broiled myself. No need to fry a fish this good.

I put the fillets on a broiling pan and spread some mayo on them and some italian bread crumbs. Or, I put a little italian salad dressing on them. This also works as a marinade too. Then I just broil them for about 4 min or so, making sure the fish doesn't get too close to the flame. Doesn't take long.

I cook most of my fish this way. I hardy do anything at all to salmon fillets. Maybe a little a little Old Bay, but that's about it. Snook, I prefer to bread and fry.

Does this answer your question?

Caught 45 reds myself this day in a few hours. Was using fresh dead shrimp. Any where from 12lbs to 2lbs. I had a blast.



Caught these specks out of Big Lake, around Lake Charles, LA. We were fishing off the birds and we were using top water and swim baits. I have a bunch of family in Sulphur, LA still and im hoping i can plan a trip down there when school gets out in May this year.

That last picture smells like fried fish!
My whole family loves fried specks!

I live and fish over in the Panhandle of Florida. Red fishing has been slow but picking up with the warmer weather.

Starting to get the fishing bug myself............mostly fishing Sabine Lake in SE Texas..........so far have caught the big 3. Reds......slots of course, Specs and Flounder.

Have a fresh mess of fish in the fridge now for tomorrow's supper, and will take tomorrow off and try to catch some more!!!

Im headed down to Sulphur,LA May 17th-26th for non stop reds/speck fishin and hog huntin! Cant wait! Will be a much needed break from school before I start my summer job

A few Port Sulphur, LA fish. They aren't afraid of the fly.




My buddies....

DAMN MAN!!!!!!!!! That looks like the Big Lake(Calcasieu Lake)area or maybe Black Lake. Caught a few about the size of the Reds in the last pic down at the Jetties but never in Big lake. Hopefully that will change in a couple weeks!

HuntKY...I'm gettin REAL tired of tellin' you this buttttt....


YOU SUCK!!!

Ingwe

Here's a picture of a few fish from last May. We would be catching them now if not for the oil spill!

Raghorn: I have never eaten a sheephead. Are they good? Schitt, who am I kidding, my family family in Louisiana could cook a rubber boot and make it taste good. I just have never thought about keepin them when I caught em. Always threw em back. Funky teeth on the bastids though!

Ingwe-- we just got back from the Middle Keys on Tues. Luckily, we missed the [bleep] that passed through Nashville last weekend and thankfully no major damage to our house. BUT, 3 days of feeshing the flats, and not a feesh caught. Wind was blowing 15-25, gusts to 30, water temp hovering at 80 degrees. Thousands of tarpon were hanging out in the channels, waiting for the flats to warm up, they like 85-87 degrees on the flats for the migrators to move up really good. Saw a few laid up fish, but b/c of the chop, we couldn't spot them until the boat was practically right on top of them. By then, the fish had seen the boat too and weren't interested in participating in our fun. We maybe had 15 shots at tarpon, all over a 100lbs, 1 shot at permit, saw 1 school of bones and few singles. Permit were off spawning, so we didn't see many of them. I can't figure out why we saw so few bones.

I guess for every "hit it out of the park" trip there are some busts too.

OK...

Maybe you don't suck quite so bad......

Or are you just tryin' to make me feel better..after watching it snow on Cinco de Mayo...and Seis de mayo for that matter....

Ingwe

They are quite good. I only keep the ones that are big enough to mess with (4lbs + or so). Don't ever cut into the rib cage, just walk your knive right over the top and over it. You will end up with a pretty nice cut of meat that I refer to as "sheephead shoulders." I like them on the grill but they are damn hard to beat when fried fresh after catching.

The oil hasn't affected the fishing one bit!!!!!!!
Go catch em.......DAMN MEDIA!!!!!!!


George

Your right, the fish probably has not been affected, but all fishing east of South Pass has been closed to fishing by the LWFP. That means all of Shell Beach, Hopedale, Delacroix, and the east side in Venice is closed to all fishing!

Good advice has been given. They are a great tasting fish, just a little harder to filet.

Yall seeing any of that stinkin' oil yet?