Spade Fish

Hey Folks,
How is the best way to fish for Spade Fish? Plan to try for some in the next few days.
Thanks

Send me a PM of what you're fishing with.

I use a medium heavy spinning outfit, a small (#4) bait-holder hook and small pieces of FishBites, in pink or white. Shrimp chunks & squid also work.
Use as little weight as possible. Last spring we got into the big ones, caught a cooler full of dinner plate size ones. Its like fighting an overgrown bream.
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I have caught a few of these but never cleaned one. Do you filet them like a spec or a panfish or are there some funky bone groups to worry about?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by chillinfish

I have caught a few of these but never cleaned one. Do you filet them like a spec or a panfish or are there some funky bone groups to worry about?

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here's my 2 cents: slit the belly open and take the guts off (you can keep the head on if you like), wash thoroughly inside and out and then stuff the insides with small cuts of ginger, salt, pepper, bits of tomatoes and onions... then wrap it in an aluminum foil and then, grill it! The steam until cooked then savor the taste!

I like mine with lots of ginger...the steam from grilling the fish will cook it nicely soft. Now, serve it along with soy sauce and cut lemons. Enjoy!

Responding to CarlF. I have had a lot of success with fish bites. Thanks for adding Spade Fish to the list.

Agree with fish bites and use a small hook. I use the same ones I use for sheepshead. Small light leader with a small slip weight just above the swivel.

Squid works well too and I think they actually hit squid and shrimp faster than fish bites. But they tend to steal squid and shrimp pretty quick. So you end up spending more time with bait in the water and less time rebaiting with fish bites. I've caught 5+ on the same little piece of fish bites and it's nice too because you can always leave fishbites in your bag and don't have to worry about them going rancid.

Last month I caught an ice chest full of them. They weren't big but it was a lot of fun on a small bait caster.

I just gut, head, scale and cook on the griddle with some butter and cajun seasoning. Excellent eating fish.

Thanks to everyone for the information.

Pulled a pack out of the freezer night before last. These were some of the smaller ones I caught but they still eat great. A little butter, rosemary, and dill. Cooked up on the griddle, 6-10 minutes depending on size, and you are set.

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They do look tasty !!!!!!!!!!!!

Small ones get scaled, gutted & gilled and baked whole, don't take the heads off, tons of meat on the heads.
Big ones get fillet, then either baked or fried.
Fine tasting fish.

I saw several nice sized ones caught Tuesday at the pier, and that wasn't on the end ;-)