Only "snookers" and their friends and family have access to their fillets. Snook's status on the Florida legislature's protected species list, however, prevents them from ever entering fish markets and grocery stores. It is a white fish, with meat that's heavier than a trout's but lighter than a swordfish steak's, and it has excellent flavor, in part due to its diet of crustaceans and other smaller fish. If cooked with the skin on, the meat will develop an unpleasant soapy taste. If an angler is lucky enough to reel a snook to shore, the large fish should be filleted so that their skin, covered in stunning silver scales, is removed from the flesh. Snook differs from other more popular sport fish like tarpon and marlin in that they are also a celebrated table fish. Snook are prized game fish because of their powerful fights they are described as " largemouth bass on steroids." Once hooked on a line, snook immediately swim toward the sharpest surface, tangle the line in mangrove, or attempt to cut the line with their razor sharp gill plates. It was here that I learned about snook, a devious species of shore fish distinguishable by its silver scales and a pronounced black stripe running from its gills to its tail. I learned to net schools of mullet and rake for sand fleas for bait. When I was about 11 years old, my father began to take me to the Fort Pierce inlet beach in Florida, where the surf is rough and the fish are big and meaty. To try fish en papillote, click here for a recipe.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |