Can you eat smoothound?

[Ken Davison South Wales]

Nick,

 

A good remede for situations like the one below:

 

"We were fishing as described and did indeed catch a smoothy, the boat on the next buoy had caught a few (and killed them) but we put ours back. And as we were leaving they offered one of theirs.. so that is the one I placed in the freezer. But I wasn't convinced it was an eater hence the post!"

 

 

The next time you find yourself fishing along side have to hand a twelve bore shot gun loaded with swan shot, at a range of thirty feet empty both barrels into the side of the offending boat on the water line.

 

This eliminates the craft and releases the smoothies.

[Casey]

You're gonna eat it even though it tastes like sh**

 

My wife, 1971.

[macky]

i cannot believe someone would kill a fish, take it home and freeze it

 

not even sure if they are edible....

 

come on mate... think about what your doing

[five bellies]

Nick.

If you can see your way past a nasty set of innards,elephant like skin,and the smell and taste of amonia wich for some reason gets worse the longer you keep them frozen or otherwise, give em a go. You will only do it once If BY SOME MIRACLE,you like them, stick to the occiasonal small male the females are completely off the field as far as killing is concerned (mind you that is only my oppinion)Allso mate don't allow your self to be brow Beaten into believing it is wrong To Take a fish for the table Just Keep abreast of legal size limits,Endangerd spiecies ect.Odd as it may seem If you would have posted a topic stating that you had just tapped a twenty pound cod on the swede the world and his wife would be slapping your back saying well done. Now I dont Know this as fact, And would stand to be corected,but I Bet there Are more smoothies swimming in the sea than there are big cod Its just that smoothies have become an aknowleged sporting fish and folk dont seem to eat them.Try To Get Hold of the Latest Rick stien book If he dont cook it you cant eat it. may allso stop any future supposed foux parrs.

 

Tight Lines

 

Five Bellies

[guernseybass]

sam-cox:

I always thought this was rubish as what Leon said about 100 1 anglers all taking a few fish each.

according to BASS/NFSA figures there are 300,000 anglers currently at least specifically targeting bass ih the UK.

 

if we all took just one fish a year on average thats 300,000 per year. over ten years that is 3 million bass.

 

& each mature bass will produce tens of schoolies from its thousands of eggs.

 

C&R Kids. :cool:

 

Mark

 

[ 24. June 2005, 11:43 PM: Message edited by: guernseybass ]

[macky]

how many bass do netters take a month ?

[Guest jay_con]

I was just gonna say that.

 

They would have your 300,000 sorted in no time, especially someone with the catching ability of wurzel.

 

Always remember when your working out such calculations that a lot of anglers are like me. Have tried to catch a bass but just cant get one.

[MainBassMan]

Gorgeous fish - just cut into steaks and cook over a log fire - DELICIOUS!!!!!!!!!!!!

[sam-cox]

I love eating fish, bass, mackeral, soals, herrings salmon, smoked eels, thornies, dads, sprats, there is nothing at all wrong with keeping the odd fish for the pot, apart from smoothound cos they really do tast like poo.,.,,

I hate people tell me Im wrong for keeping the odd bass the eat, it realy gets my goat.

[Socksy Squirrel]

Last year my fishing buddy and I took five mullet for the table.

Two for my parents and three for his father.

One of the local fishmongers deals in mullet, on an average day in the summer there are 4 - 10 dead mullet on ice ready to be be sold.

That ignores the mullet that are used for pot or conger bait.

I think that puts our take in perspective.

I have seen large smooth hound and tope sliced up and sold as rock salmon on the same slabs.

If I take one deeply hooked male fish that may die anyway per year for some one that fancies it, then I reckon in a season my net impact on the population is close to nil.

Our total take of all species over a year would probably not fill two fish boxes and we unhook and release many juvenile, unwanted and sport fish that would have been crushed in a trawl or died on a long line if they had been caught in that way.

How many boxes would a trawler want to fill on an average day to call it profitable?

Bait and tackle costs over a year are hundreds of pounds, we could probably buy our take home catch for a couple of months of our expenditure.

I have had occasions when I have been playing a fish and the tackle and the fish have become snagged in the weeds or rocks. I have pulled for a break and lost the tackle. The poor unfortunate fish was probably left tethered to pull the hook, become dinner or starve until it became crab food.

That is sea fishing, if I was fishing on a carp lake with a handy boat I could scull out and save it's life and pick up a photo.

We try to do our best; conserve stocks, handle fish humanely etc but at the end of the day fish do die as a result of our sport.

 

[ 25. June 2005, 01:52 AM: Message edited by: Socksy Squirrel ]