Amberjack ..... Eat 'Em????

[Nauti Natured]

Influenced by yet another round of amazing and inspiring pictures from the Merry Marlin crew, I thought this topic was worthy of a new thread.

A lot of people discard the Greater Amberjack as undesireable or a nuisance even. I personally have no experience with them but find much value in a fish that is relatively easy to find, pulls like hell, and is beautiful!

The last remaining question is how it measures up as table fare... I know it is much influenced by your geography, aversion to worms, etc. but I have heard many say it tastes better than grouper!

What do you think???? If you cut the tail section and handle the fish properly do we have some decent table fare or should you just plan on eating the plank you cook it on?

[Captain Michael Buffington]

Influenced by yet another round of amazing and inspiring pictures from the Merry Marlin crew, I thought this topic was worthy of a new thread.

A lot of people discard the Greater Amberjack as undesireable or a nuisance even. I personally have no experience with them but find much value in a fish that is relatively easy to find, pulls like hell, and is beautiful!

The last remaining question is how it measures up as table fare... I know it is much influenced by your geography, aversion to worms, etc. but I have heard many say it tastes better than grouper!

What do you think???? If you cut the tail section and handle the fish properly do we have some decent table fare or should you just plan on eating the plank you cook it on?

White meat and a firm texture that is great on the grill. Just trim the red meat well.

Mike

[clt_capt]

They are great smoked. Just clean the red meat out

[rarhomes]

AJ's and King's smoked is awesome, but it's just like puffers or cudas there are to many other fish that eat better. Some people will swear by AJ's and Grouper.

I will save my freezer for red snapper, triggers and snowies

[Brother Brine]

enjoy 'em smoked, grilled and fried. my brother makes an excellent smoked amberjack fish dip--we'll see if he's interested in posting his recipe here. would echo the need for trimming away the red meat.

i've got plenty in the freezer that we caught 2 weeks ago, and i'm always happy to share. PM me if you're interested in giving it a try.

brian

[WAHOONBOX]

I WANT TO WELCOME BROTHA BRINE TO 'DA WORLD' .....

NICE TO SEE SOME NEW KEYBOARDERS HERE!!

I HEARD A RUMOR ONCE THAT MCDONALDS USED TO SERVE AJ AS THERE FISH SANDWICH? SEEMS THEY WERE BANG STICKED COMMERCIALLY IN FLORIDA YEARS AGO .......ANYONE ADD ANY VALIDITY TO THIS ?

[Water Damage]

have talked to a number of folks who swear it is very good to eat. I have never tried it, guess I can't get past all the worms found in it. I usually have enough other fish to tide me over so I do not have to experiment with that.

the meat does look very good, and most of the worms are around the belly. Most I know who eat it will stay away from the belly and cut around the worms - cutting the meat into chunks.

[merry marlin]

The AJ is the only fish in our area that you are guaranteed to catch 12 months a year on every outing... That's because, one it's plentiful and two it's dum as Hell! Very luckily that fish has worms and very often takes expensive rigs away so folks don't target them. The limit is one per person probably because they could easily be wiped out.
Is it good to eat ????
Probably should promote NO or everyone is going to start eating them!!!
But as an answer, have you seen the TV program of the "Go Fisch" Offshore Adventures? How many times have they prepared AJ freshly shot under the boat... They sure aren't embarrassed of serving on TV!

Commercial size limit is 36" and could be pushed to 40". The guys next to us last week probably had 20 keepers an hour with two rods! This was the first time we saw this fish being targeted commercially. With the bluefin rods it was wack n' Stack, the biggest problem being space and in this heat enough ice...



Once the Bluefin were worth 25 cents a pound.... Now ?
Today AJ's are worth 75 cents a pound... in 10 or 20 years?
Good luck AJ....
MM

[SeaBiscuit]

I have eaten amberjacks from the med, NC, gulf of Mexico and tropical pacific. The flavor and texture is very good. The incidence of worms in the muscle is much more common in the US Atlantic coast. I have seen them in fish from the med, but not very often. In the pacific and the gulf of Mexico the fish is a prized catch. In Panama the locals thought I was crazy when I mentioned that I was not keen on catching amberjacks. We released groupers and snappers there, but every aj that was landed went straight in the box!

Thank God for the worms or that great game fish would already be wiped out!

SeaBiscuit

[Tyson]

taste like cobia.. eat them fresh