Summer has arrived

[Big Mike]

Caught my first Cutlass fish of the year, a sure sign that summer has arrived. And yes, they are tasty.

This one was in the Patuxent


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[mjkeith13]

Summer solstice!

I’ve never had cutlass fish before. Any advice on cleaning/cooking them?


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[J.A. Veil]

Nice catch. My one and only cutlassfish came during the meet and greet you hosted at Piney Point several summers ago.

[Big Mike]

Summer solstice!

I’ve never had cutlass fish before. Any advice on cleaning/cooking them?


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You can filet them just like a regular fish. I just run a blade from the head to the tail down the backbone. Very small gut area. Do not try to skin them, I just leave it on. You’ve got a strip of meat that’s about the thickness of bacon and you’ll end up mangling the meat trying to get the skin off. Only takes about 30 seconds to cook, it will curl up as the skin shrinks and if you use some Cajun seasoning or paprika it will tint the meat so it kind of looks like bacon.

[dsaavedra]

Nice catch, that would be a fun one to add to my all-time species list...

[mjkeith13]

Nice catch, that would be a fun one to add to my all-time species list...

Ditto! Thanks for the cleaning/cooking advice too!


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[ronaultmtd]

Based on Mike's recommendation I tried them last year...i actually targeted them and caught a stringer full...the cleaning was a bit difficult even with a very sharp filet knife...cooking was straight forward as Mike states...taste was mild fish...not anything I would shy away from...thin filets that cook almost instantly...

[YakMonkey]

They are a pain in the butt to filet. This is how I debone the fish after cooking them.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=EFu2HmM4vNM&t=55


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[Big Mike]

I have to agree to disagree on hard to filet. I had mine cleaned in about a minute. The backbone is well defined and the rib cage is very fine bones that I cut through coming down the backbone. I then just cut them out off the filet. With no need to skin it it’s basically just 2 cuts.

[dsaavedra]

How do you target these fish, specifically? They seem like the kind of thing you'd catch on accident while fishing for other species (like how I caught my one and only houndfish while using a spook for rockfish).

[ronaultmtd]

When I caught one trolling inside the jetty at Point Lookout, I turned around and trolled back and forth through the exact same course catching four more Cutlassfish

[kuljc]

i didn't know these came up to Point Lookout. it's always been on my list of fish to catch, but only heard about them being down in the Kiptopeke area. I'm going to have to take a trip to PLO soon.

[Big Mike]

I caught one yesterday near Solomon’s, today in Breton Bay.

[kidrockfish]

We have caught them down south from the boat, but last year I got one yaking for specs on the Great Wicomico . Nasty creatures. I was not aware that they were tasty. Maybe I'll give your bacon cooking a shot if I get into them again. Thanks, Dave

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[moc]

Ditto! Thanks for the cleaning/cooking advice too!


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Agreed! I never caught one or even tasted one.