cbbt 8/23-24

[JohnE]

Sunday at cbbt was pretty bad. I launced at Sunrise with a couple of tkaa friends into some washing machine conditions and waves up to 3' hoping for it to calm down later in the day. It was just a bad day overall. We did not do well at first sbc. We decided to run for 2nd sbc. It did start calming down slightly. But I opened my center hatch to get out spade fishing gear to find about 3" of water. Headed straight back to first sbc because I was freaking out a little not knowing if it was getting worse. We were able to get most of the water out and continued fishing. Nobody caught anything good. Only dink flounder and trash fish.
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Monday was the total opposite.
Greeted with glassy conditions at sunrise.
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First fish of the day in one of my favorite spots was something so large that I straightened out a 5/0 owner cutting point fighting it and never got to see it. A few minutes later, I landed a 17" flounder. We ran for 2nd sbc, where I got 1 spade and a bluefish. Then to island to wait out current and nothing but toads and puffer. On the way back in, more spades and another keeper flounder. Also a double header bluefish hit on my flounder rig. Wind started picking up later in the day and got pretty choppy while we were heading out.

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[tufnik]

Good work on the fish, John. Thanks for the report. And that flat water; it looks so nice to fish on.

[Slobber Bob]

It looks like you guys are dialing into the spades this summer!

So did you have a leak or just water coming in from the rough conditions?

[JohnE]

The spades are stacked up out tbere, but predicting where the biggest schools will be on a given day is tough.

I cleaned up the hatch seals/sprayed with siliconr and pushed in the rudder line plugs. Got choppy coming back in today and just a little streak in the hull. It is something topside or else I would have had more water. I had too much weight in the rear tank well for a day that choppy. Could have just been sand and stuff preventing hatches from sealing.

[tufnik]

I had spade dinner last week for the first time. The taste is "just OK." I prefer tog and sheep. Of course, flounder is tops. Unless the spades are big like the ones boaters catch at the towers, I probably wouldn't target them.

In rough choppy conditions, my Outback typically gets about a quart or so of water. Leaks in from hatches and other small openings (e.g., rubber braid guides). So, something's wrong with yours. Keep both round hatch seals clean and conditioned with protectorant. Certainly a leak check is needed.

[JohnE]

Trigger is much better tasting, but I eat spades. I am going to find a way to prepare them so they taste delicious. I enjoy the fight so much, I was going to catch and release more after I had my limit today, but it got too choppy. A citation spade would be quite the fight. My friend got some today bigger than I have ever hooked. The big ones were not where I would expect them to be.

[RavensDfense]

There is so much to target at the CBBT, I often find it tough to dedicate the time to spades, but the fight does look pretty badass. Maybe I need to make that a priority next time I am there.

[Slobber Bob]

I had spade dinner last week for the first time. The taste is "just OK." I prefer tog and sheep. Of course, flounder is tops.

I've never eaten a spadefish before, but I'm curious to try one. What kind of meat is it? I guess what would be the closest fish you would compare it to for texture and quality of meat?

I'm also a little surprised to see you said flounder is tops. Especially over tog and sheep. I know it's all personal preference, and I'm not saying your wrong so I hope you don't take it that way, but I find flounder rather bland. It doesn't have any natural flavor compared to other fish. It might just be me though, but flounder is towards the bottom of my list.

[JohnE]

I decided to go ahead and make another quick trip this morning before reluctantly returning back to NoVA. Got into some nice spade action from 8-10 am before current picked up hard and we decided to call it a day. I landed 13 or 14 and kept 3.

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[JohnE]

Spade is not bad eating. How did you prepare the fish, Tufnik? It is not my favorite, but I don't dislike it. When I tried to cook it whole, it was not very good though...trigger is awesome cooked whole and I thought spade would not be bad that way. It should be filleted and dark meat removed.

-I agree with Tufnik on the flounder. It has always been one of my favorite fish to catch and eat (going all the way back to my oldest memories of catching them as a kid).

[tufnik]

Yeah, I like triggers too, probably on par with tog and sheep.

I think I know what you mean, Bob. You like a little more fish flavor than flounder. To me, flounder has a light fish taste that is quite savory and not overbearing. Light sauces go good with flounder. But that doesn't mean I don't like stronger tasting fish. For example, I like mackerel and smoked blue.

Since the spade was my first time, I like to have it prepared so I can taste the fish without too many spices. No sauce. Usual pan-fried after a dip in egg and coated with flour. After that, do whatever.....panko, fish taco, blackened, etc.

I had small spades, so it wasn't easy to fillet.

Hey, Bob. If we happen to fish together, and you catch flounder, would you give it me? ...lol....

[JohnE]

Spade is sort of an oily fish. That is why I did not like it at all when cooked whole on the grill. It was pretty bad actually. Filleting is relatively easy in my experience...just like any other fish--cut right in and feel the bone structure with a good fillet knife. I can fillet just about any fish easily, so not sure how easy it will be for others. The spade meat is white and relatively mild (if you make sure to cut out the blood/dark line), but it is a very soft texture and might be mushy and probably pretty gross if you cook it wrong. The best way so far for me is to cook the fillets on grill frying pan, but an electric griddle will work just the same. It does not seem that it would hold up to grilling on an outdoor grill, you would have to put in foil or something and it would be mushy that way. I might try it to see with a larger fillet, but I think it will fall apart too easily.

-Just ok is how I would describe it also, I guess. It is the soft texture that is a little weird to me. I am going to make fish tacos with some tonight. Last night I had it with some red onions soaked in lemon juice, a little spice, and a little sugar (no limes in the fridge) and some quinoa. I marinated the fish for a few minutes and brushed it with some butter and light spice while grilling. It was not amazing but not bad either.

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[Slobber Bob]

Hey, Bob. If we happen to fish together, and you catch flounder, would you give it me? ...lol....

I think I could trade some flounder for a tog or sheep

[JohnE]

I marinated some spade fillets in an olive oil, brown sugar, sweet ginger garlic spice mix, a packet of red goya spice, and a little water to thin it out a bit. I put it on the smoking hot grill pan sprayed with some non stick spray to sear really well on each side. It was pretty damn good this time. Put it in some corn tortillas with a mix of black beans and sweet onions and a little hot sauce...I look forward to eating this again. I did not sear the fillets hot enough the night before.

[JohnE]

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bxr...cUk/view?pli=1
Finally got some decent footage with the gopro now that I have it running off a power bank.