guide to sea edible sea fish

[rach]

Hi could anyone recommend a good comprehensive book with pictures of edible sea fish around the world.
thanks in advance for your input
regards rachel

[JPA Cate]

Hi, Rachel,

We have bought a number of books for fishing, over the years. There are two good ones we've found: Grant's Guide to Fishes and Wendy and Scott Bannerot's The Cruiser's Handbook of Fishing. The latter includes " a worldwide guide to edible fish and shellfish". Grant's is printed on polypropylene paper, so doesn't suffer from cockpit use, has photos showing the fish, with color variations within species, and gives an indication of which fish to avoid. "Edible" is sorta in the eye of the beholder. Some people like Bonita, others prefer a whiter meat. However, all the pelagic fish are edible, and only unsafe if they feed on reef fish in places where ciguatera is present. Bannerot discusses gear, and offers instructions for cleaning and preparing the fish, and our edition is printed on regular paper.

In New Caledonia, the tide tables for the year includes a section on fish to avoid there, in French, with pictures.

Ann

[chris mac]

Localized to the Pacific Northwest, but I like this one
It lists most, if not all the fish in the area, their habits, how to catch,how to prepare, and if they are worth the effort.

[Jammer]

I also recommend the Bannerot book. A good general introduction to saltwater fishing as well as a reference on various species.

[MIRELOS]

Some time ago, I purchased North Atlantic Seafood by Alan Davidson with the purpose of cooking fish in different manners. The book is awesome in describing the fish with drawings, where it is fished and different ways of cooking according to different areas of the vast Atlantic (northern hemisphere). Its annotations are very educative and at times amusing, I know it's not a fishing book but what do you do with the fish after it's caught?...you cook it and eat it, et voila!

[Maka]

I recommend checking with the locals.
Ciguatera poisoning in fish can change from year to year by location and species.
It is also possible to get a test kit for it.

[Ken Z]

I was given advice 30 yrs. ago in the bahamas not to pepper fish I was cooking until after I tasted it. Apparently toxic fish feeding around reefs have a peppery taste, which would be disguised if one peppered the fish while cooking. I still use that practice, but i ve never had a fish that tasted peppery.

[JPA Cate]

I do not know whether the kits are available again. We used some, one year. That was the last time we got ciguatera. There's a lot of anecdotal chat about ciguatera , much of it wrong, but the International Association of Medical Assistance to Travelers (IAMAT) offers some informative discussion of it. Also, University of Hawaii will be a good source.

Ann

[Jim Cate]

Originally Posted by Ken Z

I was given advice 30 yrs. ago in the bahamas not to pepper fish I was cooking until after I tasted it. Apparently toxic fish feeding around reefs have a peppery taste, which would be disguised if one peppered the fish while cooking. I still use that practice, but i ve never had a fish that tasted peppery.

This is some of the incorrect info that Ann mentions above. The cigua toxin does not alter the taste of fish... unfortunately, I can personally attest to this in the three instances that we have eaten a toxic fish.

The test kits were removed from the market some years ago due to excessive failure rate.. which I also can personally report upon. One of the toxic fish had tested as OK,but zapped us pretty badly. I am not aware that they have been reintroduced as of now.

Our experience is such that we simply don't fish when in coral waters. We now have residual toxins stored in our livers, and if we ate a badly toxic fish the results would be quite serious, possibly fatal... too big a risk for us.

Jim

[Ahmet Erkan]

I need recommendation for a book that can teach me how to catch small to medium size fish by towing the right kind of jig while single handed ocean cruising. No need to catch a huge fish that won't be eaten in a day or two and go to waste, unless the book can also cover how to preserve the catch so that it can be eaten over a week or two.
Maybe there is no such book, maybe advice from cruisers who have been there and done that.
So far I have been talking to the flying fish that land on my deck at night and die and I tell them how much I appreciate them feeding me. After the appreciation ceremony I slice them and eat them with a little lemon juice. Yumm.
Thank you in advance.

[Bill O]

Several guides available online, here's a few.

Pacific Identification guide to the common coastal food fishes of the Pacific Islands region (pdf download on bottom of page)

general fish/shellfish pdf http://www.seafish.org/media/publica...tification.pdf

Schultz's field guide to saltwater fish http://kinkahobby.weebly.com/uploads...water_fish.pdf

Cheers,
Bill O.

[hzcruiser]

Originally Posted by Bill O

Several guides available online, here's a few.

Pacific Identification guide to the common coastal food fishes of the Pacific Islands region (pdf download on bottom of page)

general fish/shellfish pdf http://www.seafish.org/media/publica...tification.pdf

Schultz's field guide to saltwater fish http://kinkahobby.weebly.com/uploads...water_fish.pdf

Cheers,
Bill O.

Thanks for the very helpful links, esp. the last one!

[KP44]

Originally Posted by Ahmet Erkan

I need recommendation for a book that can teach me how to catch small to medium size fish by towing the right kind of jig while single handed ocean cruising. No need to catch a huge fish that won't be eaten in a day or two and go to waste, unless the book can also cover how to preserve the catch so that it can be eaten over a week or two.
Maybe there is no such book, maybe advice from cruisers who have been there and done that.
So far I have been talking to the flying fish that land on my deck at night and die and I tell them how much I appreciate them feeding me. After the appreciation ceremony I slice them and eat them with a little lemon juice. Yumm.
Thank you in advance.

Here is an ebook that is very good and is about exactly what you are asking.

https://www.sailboat-cruising.com/se...t-fishing.html

[Rorzech]

What does Zapped mean ? Trots ? flue ? head ache ? Death ? What ?

[Suijin]

Originally Posted by Ahmet Erkan

I need recommendation for a book that can teach me how to catch small to medium size fish by towing the right kind of jig while single handed ocean cruising. No need to catch a huge fish that won't be eaten in a day or two and go to waste, unless the book can also cover how to preserve the catch so that it can be eaten over a week or two.
Maybe there is no such book, maybe advice from cruisers who have been there and done that.
So far I have been talking to the flying fish that land on my deck at night and die and I tell them how much I appreciate them feeding me. After the appreciation ceremony I slice them and eat them with a little lemon juice. Yumm.
Thank you in advance.

Your best bet is to fish for Dorado (aka Mahi Mahi or dolphin fish). The same sites will also attract a variety of other surface dwelling fish like tuna and albacore species.

Dorado are notoriously undiscriminating. If it’s @ 6” long and flashy, they’ll hit it. I’ve made lures out of everything from tinfoil to old mylar balloons that have worked. Just google dorado lure and look at some pictures and you’ll see what I mean.

Easiest rig is a Cuban yo-yo hand reel although retrieving the line can be a chore. But there is no reel to corrode and no rod to break. Let out line, cleat it off, and then lead it about six feet forward and clip it to something. The fish will hit the lure and turn with it, pull it from the clip, then the boat will set the hook a moment later. Get fancy and tie an empty beer can to the line at the clip and it rattling down the deck will Larry you to a hit.