Oregon Surf Perch

[TheHumungus]

Surf Perch, never eaten any, mild or fishy?

P.S. I've done a lot of surf fishing in the Gulf of Mexico using 52M28 Mirrolures, 1/4 oz. silver and chartreuse spoons (some swear by 1/2 or 3/4 oz, but I like 1/4 oz) and of course lots of different soft, gummy bear/soft plastic types of lures.

Primarily seeking what we call Specks and Red Fish with the occasional flounder when bumping along the bottom.

Man, I miss wade fishing.

Surf Perch are good eating. I use them primarily for fish tacos. A flaky, white fish. Takes about 4 or 5 of them for enough filet meat for a good meal though.. Fish average in the 1 to 1.5 pound range. There is a guy on Youtube called PK YI and he has several good oregon surf perch fishing videos available.

 

[bbbass]

I use this sand flea rake to scoop up these bad boys... Amazon.com : Fish-N-Mate 181 Med Sand Flea Rake, 10-Inch : Fishing Equipment : Sports & Outdoors

I usually find plenty of them in tidal pools on the beach at low tide... Find the sand crabs, you'll usually find the perch in the surf...

Well, are they sand crabs or sand fleas? Where I come from, these are sand fleas and they bite!!!

 

[TheHumungus]

Sand Crabs. In some places, the crabs are also called "fleas" because of the way they dig into the sand. The "sand flea rake" is perfect for sand crabs.

 

[bbbass]

Sand Crabs. In some places, the crabs are also called "fleas" because of the way they dig into the sand. The "sand flea rake" is perfect for sand crabs.

Thanx for the clarification!

 

[UserNameInUse]

A couple of old pics from Long Beach.

 

[Mikej]

Surf Perch, never eaten any, mild or fishy?

Personally, the ones I caught in July were quite soft meat, and somewhat fishy smelling. Not really fishy tasting though. I would hazard a guess that if you didn't keep them cold and get them cleaned quick quality suffers. I'm pretty anal about care of fresh caught fish too. I wasn't really impressed buy their eating quality, but, catching and eating what you caught is never bad if they're taken care of. It's certainly better than Mrs Paul's.

 

[Flymph]

If you don't like fishy, always bleed out your fish and keep them cool. The japanese call it ike jime, or something like that.

 

[Mikej]

If you don't like fishy, always bleed out your fish and keep them cool. The japanese call it ike jime, or something like that.

There's a difference between "Fishy" because the fish wasn't bled, in salmonids for instance, and not cooled properly. And there's "Fish" smell because its FISH. I've noticed ocean fish like rock fish, surf perch, pile perch even when cooled immediately still have their own fish odor. Salmon have a distinctive odor when fresh and handled properly. Heck, being in a boat down wind from a boat landing a big Columbia fall chinook you'll smell the fish when it comes in their boat. If a fish has been properly handled/chilled and still has a fishy smell, I've got no problem with that.

 

[Mikej]

Now I'm hankering for some salmonid...Maybe I'll see if Freddy's has some decent smelling steelhead/salmon in their case for supper tonight.

 

[Flymph]

There's a difference between "Fishy" because the fish wasn't bled, in salmonids for instance, and not cooled properly. And there's "Fish" smell because its FISH. I've noticed ocean fish like rock fish, surf perch, pile perch even when cooled immediately still have their own fish odor. Salmon have a distinctive odor when fresh and handled properly. Heck, being in a boat down wind from a boat landing a big Columbia fall chinook you'll smell the fish when it comes in their boat. If a fish has been properly handled/chilled and still has a fishy smell, I've got no problem with that.

I guess I have learned to call that the smell of success over the years.
Yes, fish have odors and it can be called fishy. Carry on!