Keith Lusher 08.31.24
Croaker is arguably one of the vital scrumptious species of inshore fish. My historical past with catching croaker goes again to my highschool days when my buddies and I might catch an ice chest stuffed with fish in someday.
The equation was easy: discover deep inshore passes with a transferring tide and fish on the underside utilizing a drop-shot rig. Every part was mild—mild line, small hooks, and an ultralight rod and reel. For bait, we might carry a couple of useless shrimp and use small items for the primary hour or so. Then, once we ran out of shrimp, we might reduce the stomach meat from an undersized fish and slice up small items to make use of as bait for the remainder of the day.
After filling the ice chest with fish, we might carry them again to the home, clear them, and stack the ziplock luggage within the freezer for future fish frys. Whereas the fishing was memorable, it was the fish frys that stood out essentially the most. This occasion would offer among the best-tasting fillets we’ve ever had.
Not a lot has modified over time; Croaker continues to be my favourite saltwater inshore fish to serve up. Nonetheless, I’ve adopted a method I discovered from an outdated Cajun pal named Ben Higgins. I used to be cleansing a multitude of croaker someday with Higgins, and I seen him working his fillet knife down the center of the fillet earlier than tossing it right into a bowl of ice water. I requested what he was doing, and he merely acknowledged, “I’m splitting the ends.” Higgins defined that he was slicing about 2 inches off every finish of the fillet. Since the very best a part of fried fish is the skinny finish, which fries crispy, Higgins was creating extra of what’s most individuals’s favourite part of a fried fish fillet.
Splitting the ends is finest completed when initially cleansing the fish, however the fillets can be sliced proper earlier than including them to the batter.
In fact, this technique just isn’t solely good for croaker but in addition for all sorts of fish. I just lately fried up a couple of speckled trout fillets and replicated Higgins’ “break up finish” model. I used to be rewarded with a batch of scrumptious fillets with crispy ends.
So, in case your favourite a part of the fish fillet is the crispy fried finish part, I extremely advocate attempting Mr. Higgins’ break up ends approach! It’s a crowd-pleaser and may even be a dialog starter at your subsequent barbeque!
