Smoked Paddlefish

KermitTheEgg

Good morning.  We were lucky enough to very well snagging a few weeks ago and now I am ready to smoke some fish.  Has anyone on here smoked Paddlefish before, and if so, what's the secret?




Thanks in advance,

Matt

RRP

KermitTheEgg said:

Good morning.  We were lucky enough to very well snagging a few weeks ago and now I am ready to smoke some fish.  Has anyone on here smoked Paddlefish before, and if so, what's the secret?




Thanks in advance,

Matt

WOW - that is a haul and all about the same size. We used to catch them in MO. Where was this taken?

KermitTheEgg

Nailed it right on the head, those are Missouri fish.

Abter

There are several recipes for smoked paddlefish on line
http://www.worldfishingnetwork.com/recipes/post/smoked-paddlefish-recipe
http://www.theqjoint.com/forum/showthread.php?8800-Smoked-Spoonbill-AKA-Paddle-fish-spoonbill-catfish.


From what I've read any smoked catfish recipe will put you in the right ballpark for paddlefish (which aren't catfish)

The fatty and darker meat in paddlefish are not the best eating.  I suggest cutting those parts out, and avoiding in general all the meat below the dorsal line (i.e., all the belly meat).

There are a lot of other suggestions about how to treat paddlefish to improve the taste, but they are "what to do immediately after you catch one" methods.  Caught a few weeks ago, and hopefully cleaned and frozen soon there after, takes away the "do this immediately" suggestions.

RRP

KermitTheEgg said:

Nailed it right on the head, those are Missouri fish.

really? Where in MO? We caught them in the Missouri River near Booneville. As a kid those were river monsters to us!

KermitTheEgg

Abter said:

There are several recipes for smoked paddlefish on line
http://www.worldfishingnetwork.com/recipes/post/smoked-paddlefish-recipe
http://www.theqjoint.com/forum/showthread.php?8800-Smoked-Spoonbill-AKA-Paddle-fish-spoonbill-catfish.


From what I've read any smoked catfish recipe will put you in the right ballpark for paddlefish (which aren't catfish)

The fatty and darker meat in paddlefish are not the best eating.  I suggest cutting those parts out, and avoiding in general all the meat below the dorsal line (i.e., all the belly meat).

There are a lot of other suggestions about how to treat paddlefish to improve the taste, but they are "what to do immediately after you catch one" methods.  Caught a few weeks ago, and hopefully cleaned and frozen soon there after, takes away the "do this immediately" suggestions.

@Abter, Thank you for the message.  Sorry, I completely left all of that out.  The fish were cleaned properly, all red meat was removed and the meat was trimmed out and sealed via vacuum and placed in the freezer immediately after they were sealed.  I have roughly 7lbs of fish, (all I really wanted) all separated in 1lb vacu-sealed bags.  

Thank you very much for the recipes and I will try one of those this weekend.  Cheers.