Black sea bass

[relicshunter]

In the last three years I have not seen the black sea bass this thick. They are everywhere we fish, tons of little terrors grabbing everything they can stuff in their mouths. They can stuff in an amazingly large chunk of fish, or large lure. I have managed a few legal ones but not many. Were they shoved out of other areas. Should we be concerned they are eating/ pushing other fish out of my normal fishing grounds. I could hardly catch some pin fish through them all.

[DixieReb]

Some years they are thick like that. The bigger ones are usually farther out, 10-12 ft. Fish a white grub on the bottom.

[Apalachee Inshore]

Idk it seems they are always prevalent during the hot months. I just wish they ran a little bigger in general, they are a cool fish to me. Aggressive, great table fare and pound for pound a good fight. I catch them sometimes when they are not even hooked just have a death grip on the plastic tail and also sometimes get two for one when a small one is hooked and a bigger fish is trying to swallow it. Even when I'm out fishing by myself and releasing every trout I catch I'll toss some rock bass on ice for fish tacos.

[Cjohn10]

And on that note, how does one properly filet and cook black sea bass? I can never seem to get it right

[red_yakker]

And on that note, how does one properly filet and cook black sea bass? I can never seem to get it right

Much the same as any other fish, just on a smaller scale. Remove one fillet, but leave the skin attached at the tail. The rib bones can be a little tough, but a regular fillet knife should do the trick. Flip the fillet over, and cut the meat off of the skin. If your knife is plenty sharp, the skin should come off pretty clean. Then flip the fish over and do the same thing to the other side. Whether or not you remove the ribs is up to you. You lose quite a bit of meat, but if you have kids eating, it may be a good idea.
I normally fry the fillets whole. Don't over cook it, and it is top-notch table fare.
It really helps if they are bigger fish. You don't get a lot of meat off a 10 inch blackfish, but a 13-15 inch fish will give you two decent sized fillets. The barely legal ones can be scaled and fried whole, but I don't like it that way. I prefer to remove the skin.
BTW, a 15 inch BSB is a monster!
Oh, and one last thing. If you have plenty of ice in your cooler, a BSB will stay fresh for 2 or 3 days. They keep better than most inshore species.

[relicshunter]

The are pugnacious that's for sure. I've brought them in just clamped on to a piece of bait way to big to swallow. The weather has been making getting out to 12' tough but I've caught a couple in 7' that I kept. I just don't remember them this thick a few years ago.

[craSSh]

While I love catching trout, I'll take a cooler full of rockbass over them any day.

[2true]

Sooooo goood to eat.....

[xXLoneBowmanXx]

Black bass is one of my absolute favorites to eat. I filet just like anything else-- remove the sides and then carefully skim the meat from the skin-- but the smaller ones can be difficult. As far as cooking, they are really good fried, but the big ones are really good when blackened.

I also don't remember finding them inshore as much in the past, but we've caught quite a few in the oysters and grass flats this year.

[turtlecat]

How awesome would it be to find out after some studies that they thrive on Lionfish offspring and have followed them closer to shore!