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OK, once again showing my inexperience at saltwater fishing, (only got to Senior Member status because of all my questions) here goes another possible snickered at question. Freshwater fishing I catch a lot of fish that need to be scaled.....any Pier fish that need to be scaled?
Personal preference for most of the inshore species. I like to leave the skin on trout,flounder,whiting,small Spanish,mullet and pompano. Sheepshead and most other fish over a few pounds need to be skinned and have the blood line cut out. Scaled with the skin on is how I grew up eating fish but some people thinks it taste to fishy.
I think its easier and cleaner to skin everything. Once you get the hang of it you can skin a fillet in a couple seconds. The exception would be pompano which I scale dehead gut and cook whole. Also for stuffed flounder I scale them of course.
Still not good at skinning Spanish though I always cut through the skin.
I scale flounder, puppy drum, barely legal redfish and small sheepshead if I am going to cook them whole.
Same deal with whiting, ground mullet, spadefish and croakers: if they are going to get cooked whole, they get scaled.
I have a couple of the metal scalers you can get from tackle shops, they are cheap and work fantastic, much better than a knife.
If I fillet any fish, 99% of the time, the skin gets cut off as I am filleting them.
Don't bother taking the skin off smaller Spanish macs, not worth the effort and the scales are so small, you don't have to scale them either.
I skin pretty much everything because I fillet pretty much everything. It's simple---my wife doesn't like bones or skin, so I don't either.
Now, if you want a real treat, you need to scale a big triggerfish and bake it whole.
Pier#r showed me a technique for skinning Spanish (and most other fish) that is an absolute marvel, and I'll be happy to share it with you if we are on the pier at the same time-----and have some Spanish to clean. He doesn't mind you watching him, either, but he finishes so quickly that you only have a small window of opportunity. That is not to insinuate that he doesn't have very many fish to clean, but that he's a whiz with his fillet knife.
I might take you up on that Haywire!
I used to "skin" pond catfish with pliers. When you guys refer to skinning do you mean with the filet knife or pulling the skin away from the meat? I had difficulty removing the skin from my pompano with the filet knife so I just prepared them "on the half shell" and didn't eat the skin. I found that once thawed the skin would peel off with a little effort leaving the meat intact.
I don't really scale my fish. I just skin them, and by those fish I mean sheepshead, flounder, croaker, whiting, and specks. Other species I just leave skin on and scales because they get grilled, (spanish, reds, pompano, and all snappers/groupers).
I don't catch many pompano, but the ones I do, I bake gut and bake whole, head and all. No need to scale or skin them.
Hey George,why don't you post your triggerfish recipe on April Fools Day.
scale a triggerfish...:o
Yeah I think Haywire is trying to pull a fast one on me with his Triggerfish recipe! LOL!Quote:
Originally Posted by Haywire
Right after the triggerfish scaling demo, we will have the shark scaling lesson......
I better get a bigger scaler if I'm going to have to scale a shark, this one will take forever......
Attachment 1597
Don't fergit the sheepshead cleaning lessons ...
Attachment 1598
;-) lol
BDL---Can I pull your other leg now?
LOL! By the way, I know sharks do not have scales!Quote:
Originally Posted by Haywire
I'm surprised Pier#r didn't jump on this one. Actually, the elasmobranches (sharks and rays) do have scales, called placoid scales or dermal denticles. They are tiny and are structured almost like teeth, pointed toward the shark's tail. Sharkskin was once widely used as an abrasive, just like sandpaper. However, they are so small you have to use the same magnifying device to see them that you use to find Obama's virtues. Powerful, as it were. Rubbing a shark the wrong way (dead or alive) can give you a pretty good rash. I got slapped a few times trying to tail rope big sharks and came away with blood oozing out of my arm skin.
I paid attention back in high school biology when they talked about sharks---always been obsessed with fish.
Thanks for the info Haywire, you know your stuff.
Different types of fish 'scaling'...
Fish scale - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...ish_scales.jpg
Traditional methods...
http://us.123rf.com/400wm/400/400/pa...retro-styl.jpg
http://www.florida-fishing-insider.c...aling_fish.jpg
Non-traditional methods...
How to Scale a Fish in seconds - Pressure Washer technique - YouTube
How To Scale a Fish - YouTube
no need for scaling.....learned alot from these guys...notice the black handle knife....5.00 at J&M tackle plenty to choose from, (used from a local poultry business ??) one of my favorite for cleaning larger fish
How to clean a Sheephead - YouTube
