Any of you guys ever keep or clean these things? Any good? Do any of you keep triggerfish? I tried to clean a trigger. The skin is just too dang tuff for me. I butchered it trying to get it filleted. Won't try that again. I've seen the Capt. John coming in with big catches of the Spadefish. Seems like alot of wasted time that should of been used to catch Snapper. Thanks. Brad.

just gut them and add whatever spices you need to it and throw it on a grill.. the skin will kinda crisp off the meat.. the meat is delicious (angelfish and triggers). ive had the pleasure of eating them straight oout the water.. gotta grill on the boat as soon as it was caught killed cooked and eatern.. mmmmm

o and those angelfish can be very fun to catch on light tackle.

trigger is ok, but you need an electric knife... angel fish... well.... they say some people will eat anything.

Triggers are some of the best eating fish in the gulf and are easy to clean. Follow this procedure the next time . I never used an electic knife but would probably be better.Hold the fish by the tail, head away from you and fins vertical. Hold the knife horizontal and cut just under the top and bottom fins to the head. at the head end of the cut insert the knife point UNDER the skin and cut from the flesh side UP thru the skin around behind the gills to the belly cut. At this time you can hold the skin at the head and pull the skin off both sides with your fingers. This will expose the meat that can be very easily filleted off. Try if a few times and it is very fast when you get the hang of it. Good eating. Dont care much for anglefih.

the fish that swim around the boat near the surface when you're offshore are generally never worth keeping. spadefish, triggers and angel...i just dont even bother with them. the good stuff is on the bottom

I agree with bigbill, triggers are great eating!!! We take light tackle just to catch them on slow days. When you can only keep four snapper and you are fishing for your entire family triggers help to keep the freezer full. Triggers fry up great and are almost as good as snapper (if you are having a fish fry and you dont want to use up all of your snapper then just throw in some triggerfish most people wont know the difference). My favorite thing to do with trigger fish is make ceviche (you put the fish in lemon juice and it cooks the fish). Getting through the skin at first is difficult but the filets come off the skin easily. Once I get the filets of the skin I flip the filet over and feel for a line of bones, cut a thin line around the bones on both sides of the bone line and throw that piece of meat away. Then you turn the filet back over and cut the ribs out like a snapper. If done correctly you now have a v shaped type filet that is almost as good as snapper.

As for spade fish; ive never eaten or cleaned them so im no help there.

Triggers are about as good as it gets. I know some deckhands that keep them when the people on the boat don't want them or think that they are any good. Filet them backwards starting from the tail and you will eliminate your problems. Spadefish are good to eat too. If you fry them, its as good as anything else.

Rob

yup yup.. triggers are good eatin, dont even need much flavorin. only down side bout triggers is when theres bunch of them around, cant really get into the kings for some reason.. not sure why.

Just be sure to be careful once you get the trigger fish in the boat. We were on a party boat last September (2004) and a few triggers were caught (including my wife and I boating a couple). One "former" deckhand that was along for the ride was trying to help get some fish unhooked and he made the mistake of getting his index finger too close to the fishes mouth. SNAP!! That trigger clamped down on the tip of his finger and almost tore it off. It really mangled his finger tip (he eventually just tore off the piece of finger tip that was hanging on by skin). Talk about painful and bleeding a lot. After my wife caught a snapper, it spit up a small crab. We put it in front of the trigger fish I caught and that rascal clamped down on it like a vice. You could hear the crab shell cracking and crunching like you were squeezing it with pliers. Those things have some serious jaw power and good teeth. By the way, they use their teeth to crack open barnicles as well if that's any indicator of how strong they are. AND, triggers are delicious too!

anytime I read reports of how many spadefish were caught I know how tough the fishing was. seems if nothing else is biting they will put you on spadefish. Guess after a couple tuna trips I am spoiled...
~~ i bet spadefish would make some good bait for a hungry Amberjack.

A/J S wont hit Angeles!

With the limits on everything else so low, spadefish, triggerfish, and dolphins can save a trip. You go out on the smaller private charters, a dozen people or less, and if the captain knows his business, you can be limited out on snapper at the first stop in 45 minutes or less. It is nice to have other stuff to get to pull on your line. As for eating qualities, that is up to the individual, personnally, I like the taste of FRESH salt water fish, even big hardheads. Spades and triggers on lighter tackle are a lot of fun.

you actually eat hardheads CHCII? how do you prepare them? i always catch a million of 'em on squid, but i throw 'em back. I didn't think they were worth it.

If you can get ahold of them 14 inches long or bigger, we just skin them and rinse them like channel cat and I guess we have just had good luck, because if cooked while fairly fresh they are not bad. But that is just mine and Lora's opinion.

thx...i'll try and catch a hardhead (boy, that sounds weird) this next time.