mangrove snapper (a particular fave of mine). yup, they got teeth and they do snap! have had some thumbs bit, myself. the way they can jut those jaws out is really something!
ETA: mangies are good eatin’! mmhmmm!
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also bitey, but fun to catch:
barracuda!
mum (78yo Florida Woman)
actually likes catching 'cuda off our bayside dock
CeCe is the little nurse shark that lives under the dock. we don’t want to hurt her, but she does like to bite the squid bait. we always make sure she is released unharmed. we love sharks, just not when they bite a tuna in half before you can boat it!
the taxman cometh!
you get a fish head, shark gets lunch, ain’t that just the way with taxes?
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I got the same lesson from my father, but we were mostly catching flathead where through the back of the head is sort of obvious. And from a little boat in a relatively protected bay, so using a knife was generally safe.
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wow! cool looking fish! salty or fresh water? I like that blue tail fin. what’s it like cooked up?
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Salt water and they are delicious! They have a medium-firm, white flesh with a tiny bit of fat and it flakes beautifully. Battered and deep fried or steamed is best - they don’t grill well, partly because they fall apart but also because the fillets have a pronounced fat end and a thin end.
They’re not difficult to catch but you have to go to them, so a big sinker straight to the bottom with some trailing lines. Rough, raspy teeth that can get through a line but aren’t a problem to work with. Their dorsal spines on the other hand are super sharp, so we always pulled them off the hook with rigger’s gloves.
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Inspired by the “Jesus take the wheel” thread:
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Thanks for all the tips on this thread! We just went out this morning and I got a couple nibbles and a couple perch on the line but didn’t land any of them. It’s probably good to have at least one outing where I don’t bring home dinner 
We did see great wildlife, more so than when we’re just paddling around not fishing. Saw a few great blue herons and kingfishers, tons of ducks, loons with chicks and a couple beavers. Never a failed trip, amiright?
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That’s hilarious! But definitely not a 10 lb bass shown there, is it?
I got Mr.Linkey into my new hobby and we caught our first perch yesterday. Delicious! Cooked up whole and served with fresh tomatoes from the garden. Much tastier than the bass I caught before. We did the immediate “dispatch” and put on ice, and I’m sure that helped, but I think I just like the perch species more for eating.
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Perch are delicious.
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What’s your favorite cooking method?
For me, it’s filets with the skin on dredged in flour and pan fried in butter. Oh, those little filets taste so sweet and nutty!
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The perch I have caught have all been too small to keep. Many years ago my brother-in-law caught a bunch of them while ice-fishing in Alberta. I helped fillet them, which took a while because we needed a lot of them to feed everyone. As far as I recall, they were cooked the way you describe, and didn’t need anything else.
Question: I always learned “fillet” (rhymes with billet) as the way of deboning fish, and “filet” (rhymes with Edna St. Vincent Millay) as a cut of meat, but more recently I’ve seen “filet” used for both. Is that standard now, and is it pronounced differently for the two uses?
(I note McDonalds’ Filet-O-Fish sandwich, but I don’t consider that definitive.)
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As far as I know, you are correct. That’s just what autocorrect did to my post when I typed “fillet.”
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I took my daughter and niece on a hike to a mountain lake to catch some trout. My niece wanted to make herself some fish for dinner, and we knew just the place. It was a cold and rainy hike, but the fish were very cooperative, often hitting our flies before we were prepared to strike. At the end we had collected 4 smallish trout for her dinner, each taking turns fishing. I only have photos of three.
I
ETA: I used a modified ikejime technique, first pithing the fish then cutting beneath the gills to bleed them, then putting them on ice.
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Those are some beauties! What did you use for tackle?
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Dry flies! With the overcast weather, the trout were smacking them on the surface with abandon.
Specific flies were: #12 parachute green drake (until I lost it in a tree) then a #16 yellow humpie. I don’t think it mattered much, as they were piling on anything that looked like food.
Oh, and the fish were all coastal cutthroat trout.
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dang, those are some very pretty trout, Trout! cutthroat is damn fine eating, too! one of the very few freshwater fish that I actually enjoy (both catching and eating!)
a fine day, to be sure!
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My niece sent pictures of the trout in the pan and on the plate (and they do indeed look delicious!):
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mmmmm…
properly done frito pescado entero, truly the way to prepare those beauties! I savor this from all the way over here!
*chef’s kiss!
eta: I like to nibble the very crunchy tail bits when done this way!
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I now know the identity of a mystery fish my wife and I cooked up when we took a short vacay to a fishing resort in Tampa. The whole time was mostly an exercise in cut lines from a variety of toothy fish, but we had a couple nice dinners, one of mangrove snapper and a large pinfish, and the other of blue crab and stone crab.
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My parents used to catch Dorado [1] off the west coast of Mexico. Dorado are a strong sport fish. If you don’t kill them the instant they’re in your boat, they’ll put blood and scales everywhere then jump over the other side.
The Mexicans taught my parents the trick. Get a plant spray bottle and fill it with cheap tequila. As soon as the gills are out of the water, poke the nozzle under the gill cover and give it three or four good squirts. The fish goes limp almost immediately and dies.
So tasty.
[1] In the south Pacific, they’re called Mahi mahi.
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