How about a mullet?

No, not the haircut.

But the fish.

There’s an exciting natural event for fishermen around Florida in September and October.  Known as the “Fall Run” or the “Mullet Run”, this is when millions (or maybe billions) of mullet that have been hanging out and growing in estuaries, the inter-coastal waterway, brackish areas, river mouths and canals all up and down the east coast decide it is time to head out to sea and start their southerly migration.  Triggered by the cooling temperatures and possibly shortened daylight hours, huge pods of mullet start to show up along our coastlines as they head south to spawn off the south of Florida in the gulf stream.

And the predator fish go nuts!

Wise fishermen know that locating a pod of these can surely promise a good rodeo on the end of your line if you drop anything in the water near a pod that even vaguely resembles a mullet.

Predatory fish such as sharks, flounder, tarpon, snook, redfish, kingfish, mackerel, jacks, ladyfish and bluefish can be found and caught just a few yard from the beach when they are crushing a pod of mullet.

Mullet being chased.

But what about the mullet themselves?

While most anglers are climbing over each other to hook into the big fish, I am the guy who actually wants just the mullet.

Because they are damn tasty!

Most native Florida “crackers” will know about frying up or smoking mullet to eat.

If the predatory fish like them so much, there must be something about them taste-wise or nutritionally that is good, wouldn’t you think?

In terms of taste, they are quite delicious.

Nutritionally, they have almost zero mercury and are extremely high in omega 3 fatty acids that are so good for your health.

And there’s craploads of them to be had in the fall!  Cast-netting from the beach, if there happens to be a pod right there, can fill your net so full with a year’s supply for your whole block it nearly needs a truck to haul it ashore.

Today I happened to arrive at Dania Beach pier as a good size pod of foot long mullet was just approaching from the north. No cast netting allowed at the pier so I tossed my sabiki right in the middle and immediately hooked one up. Half an hour later the pod had gone under the pier and headed south out of casting range, but I had a dozen mullet in my cooler.

Other fishermen were getting some mullet to use as bait and tossing right back in hoping to hook a snook or tarpon. But all I wanted were mullet. The mullet were gone so I was done. I headed home.

I decided to fillet all of them and skin them.

A dozen striped mullet ready to fillet.

Fillets cut off very easily.

Skinned fillet

I ended up with about a pound and a half of fillets.

I loaded two thirds of it in my smoker and put the remainder in the fridge.

Applewood smoked mullet fillets for 1 hour with no seasoning.

The smoked fillets fit into two 8 oz canning jars. I packed the fresh fillets into a third jar. Added a bit of water to the smoked and 1/4 teaspoon of salt to each.

And into the pressure cooker for about 100 minutes.

So how was it?  Delicious.  I am partial to the smoked stuff but the one jar I packed fresh came out superior to any can of tuna you ever had.

I am big on canning for the reason that it keeps in the cupboard and doesn’t overfill my freezer and also that it completely eliminates bones because the high heat of pressure cooking makes them disintegrate.

I’ve got little kids in my family and I am very conscious of mercury in fish. Unfortunately most everything traditional in these warm south Florida waters is very high in mercury.

King mackerel and swordfish are high on the list along with all tuna, jacks and even blue runners. Even grouper and snapper are way too high for my comfort.

But mullet are at the bottom of the list in terms of mercury content. Other fish that share that low place are flying fish, all the small baitfish like threadfin herring, Spanish sardines and round scad. Whiting are pretty low too. And mahi are amazingly low (thank goodness for that).

If I lived in Alaska, I and my family could eat all the salmon, halibut and cod we wanted with never a worry because up there mercury in seafood is nearly nonexistent. But unfortunately down here, even though we are the envy of the world because of our diverse number of terrific trophy gamefish, we are cursed by the mercury demon.

So I feel good that I am feeding my family tasty stuff that I caught myself and that it is completely healthy to boot.

So next time you are at the barber, try a mullet.

Eating bait may not be all that bad………

Summer months here in South Florida bring a lot of bait fish within easy reach.  Huge pods of scaled sardines (locally known as pilchards or whitebait), round scad (cigar minnows), Spanish sardines and various others make for excellent bait for larger predatory fish.

Decent quantities of these can be caught by most anyone using cast nets or the familiar Sabiki rigs.

Round scad being caught on a Sabiki

I have to admit that I am guilty of eating bait.

In fact, if it is round scad, I am pretty enthusiastic about it!

Look, it must be pretty tasty if all those predatory fish like it, right?

One problem with most of the really awesome species that everyone likes here is that the majority are contaminated with high levels of mercury. An unfortunate byproduct of mankind and warm tropical environments.  Predatory fish high on the food chain are guilty of the greatest concentrations.

Locally, king mackerel are ridiculously high in mercury. Not far behind are swordfish, other billfishes, tuna, other mackerel, wahoo and even our delicious groupers and snapper. About the only popular good tasting game fish that is lower in mercury is mahi.  Otherwise, everything from sharks to trigger fish are pretty high on the scale. I find that pretty frustrating because I am really a seafood lover.

Mercury is a poison that specifically affects developing and growing of nerve cells. This is why it is so bad for pregnant and nursing mothers and small children.  Apparently it has less detrimental effects on us adults who have stopped growing.

Since I have a 3 year old girl and mom is still nursing our 4 month old son, I pay attention to the amount of mercury they ingest. This has changed the type of fish that I target locally to those I feel safe feeding my family.  As a result, mahi is mainly what I go after when I take my boat offshore.  Fishing from shore or piers, I go for pompano, medium blue runners, gulf kingfish (whiting) and smaller baitfish. 

The longer a fish lives and the more smaller fish it eats, the more mercury it accumulates. Since mahi grow quite fast they have a relatively low mercury level. Smaller baitfish that live only a few months are the lowest of all and they have the added benefit of being extremely high in the omega 3 fatty acids that you hear about being beneficial. And, they are absolutely delicious!

So, how do you prepare and eat them?

I just recently was at Dania Beach pier and lucked into a good pod of round scad. With my Sabiki, I landed about 75 of them in less than an hour, Added up to about 4 pounds.

A good catch of round scad

I kept plopping them in my cooler on top of the ice. When I was ready to go home I stopped at the cleaning table and cut the heads all off and slit and gutted them all. Took about 10 minutes.

Once home, I rinsed and patted them dry and quickly fried them for a couple minutes in olive oil.

Then they got packed in neat little rows in small mason jars with a dash of salt plus a bit of water and olive oil and put into the canning pressure cooker for about 45 minutes. Once cooled down they get labelled and put in the cupboard.

Another step you can add is to smoke them for a couple hours before you can them.

Smoked scad

If you like canned sardines, you will like these better. If you hate canned sardines, well, don’t try it then!

Other “bait” fish that find their way to may table:    Large threadfin herring (scaled, gutted smoked and canned). Goggle eyes (Smoked, or baked whole, or filleted, skinned and pan fried). Ballyhoo (baked, smoked or canned).