BigBendFishing.Net

I like to use the old stand-by recipe for mergansers

And what might that be

I thought I could get a bite. Now, let' see if we can set the HOOK.

Filet BoBo.
Marinate in your strongest marinade atleast 24 hours(lots of garlic and Everglades seasoning)
Preheat a solid brick(not one with holes in it as they will not retain heat)in the oven @ 350 degrees.
place marinated ffilet on the preheated brick and return to oven for appox 20-30min or until fish is flaking when prodded with fork.
Remove from oven
Sprinkle with fresh parmesan chees
With flat spatula carefully remove BoBo from brick
Throw in trash
EAT THE BRICK !!!!!

That's Great Dewya! Tunnies are such great fighters on light tackle that you just WISH you could eat them. I've actually tried a couple of times to smoke 'em, marinate 'em, etc. Jacks are a delicacy in comparison!

Sounds like the same recipewe have for coots

I don't hunt coots. The bag lmits are toooo liberal. I'd much prefer woodies(limit2) or hooded mergansers(limit 1)

When I was a youngster I lived in the middle of nowhere (still do) on the edge of the River Thames estuary marshes.2 miles of marsh and grazing fields between the end of my garden and the river.

On one day every year (Autumn time) the farmers held a Coot Shoot.
Anybody who lived in the village, or worked on the farms, that had a gun, was welcome.

The idea was to walk up the marshes and flush the coot, mallard,teal,widgeon and occassional snipe or woodcock.
After the first hour, the sky would be full of ducks,just flying in circles.An occasion for some outrageous high bird kills.There was always someone who had sneaked some 3" BB,s in to their cartride bag.

The fields were all bisected by ditches and larger "fleets" (rush filled larger ditches). A gun was always placed at the gateways between fields in the hope of getting a fox or more likely a hare as it exited the field.

This shoot covered an area 2 miles square.
There was a break at lunchtime for pies, sandwiches and drinks (no alchohol, after the year that Mr Batchelor fell and shot his toes off).

Suprisingly, it was very well organised and trouble free (apart from the above)
The shoot ended back at the pub,the Horseshoe and Castle, which would open at around 4pm to sort out the "bag" and serve beer.
I had a great life as a kid.

Re cooking bonito, someone out there must know how to make it flavorful. Too many orientals keep it to eat. Years ago we tried eating hardtails but the blood made them too strong no matter how hard we tried to bleed them. Today, it's one of our most flavorful fish, because we learned how to clean it. Filet, skin, cut out the blood line and the flavor is delicious. Moreover, you can freeze it in water for a year and it still tastes fine when thawed.
-Bob

I've had bonito. The Japanese fillet it out skinless and boneless, then dry it, for up to a year or more. The first time I saw it was at the in-laws house. I thought it was a chunk of oiled red cedar. They shave it just like running a hand plane over a block of wood, then use the shavings for a garnish.

Of course since I married a Japanese wife I've eaten a lot of things that I used to only consider bait. Most of it's pretty good. But some of it would gag a pelican.

Mmmmmmm Pelican.

A friend from Pensacola and I kept a couple of small bonitos once. We cut the tail off immediately, bled them overboard, and threw them on ice ASAP. I seem to remember Vic Dunaway's book says "not bad when boiled for tuna salad" or something like that. Couldn't be worse than canned tuna, could it?

I'll have to admit to it boys, I've eat all the afore mentioned fish and bait. I've been married to a lady from the Phillippines for 30 years this April. She can make smoked Bonita taste almost as good as smoked mullet. Ya'll catch a nice Jack, she'll drive a while to get it before you throw it back. Stands at the cleaning station at Keaton Beach waiting for someone to offer scraps from a big fish before they go in the crab bait box. You see, I have no choice but to try to fish every day to keep her, her mother, and two sisters across the street stocked in fish. It's a hard job, but duty calls.

Go to: recipe-fish-seafood.com. Type in bonito in their 280,000 recipe search engine. They o


nly have 2 recipes for bonito on file. But,who knows?