# Ribbon Fish



## zztopsail

I was fishing at Springmaid Pier in Myrtle Beach SC and there were two guys using long rods to jig for Spanish Mackerel. As my wife and I talked to these guys one of them had a hit and brought up a long silvery fish about 3 ft long that he just used his rod to flip over the rail to the middle of the pier. At which point this little Korean guy, jumped all over it and put it in his cooler. The guys that were jigging said they had been doing that all afternoon when they caught one.

Later that evening, I saw the Korean guy at one of the cleaning stations and he had a bucket full of these things and he was gutting them, whacking off their heads and cutting them into 3-4 inch long steaks.

They called it a ribbon fish but from I read, a true ribbon fish is only found in deep waters and these were something called Cutlas Fish.

What's the scoop on these things,,,do people really eat them or are they just used for bait?


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## Charlie2

Ribbon, or Cutlass Fish, are a delicacy among the Asians.

I've used them cut up for bait.

They also use them whole off shore for baits. C2


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## BubbaHoTep

I've heard them called both Ribbonfish and Cutlassfish. They can be a nuisance when you're going after Spanish. I got several of them in June down at Springmaid while jigging for Spanish as well. I've used them for bait, but I've never eaten them. I wonder if folks pickle them like eels or cook them up???


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## SmoothLures

They're technically called an Atlantic cutlass fish but everyone calls them ribbonfish. They're a great whole bait trolled offshore for kings. Never tried to eat them, don't imagine you'd get hardly any meat off them, they're so thin...


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## BentHook

Down in Fla. the week leading to a kingfish tournament you'll pay $5 for a hook caught ribbonfish that has been salted down and $3.50 for one caught in a net.If you use them for kings off a pier you better get them on a hook quick or they'll die.
The asians love them and just throw them in the pot with everything else.They are very boney but if stewed long enough the bones become rubbery.
Cut into little pieces they make great bait for catching more ribbonfish.
They catch them at Cape Canveral at night right next to the cruise ships and can get 300 in a few hours.Not bad for three hours work. $$$$$


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## oldsalt737

*1 question?*

Why are hook caught worth more than net caught.


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## BentHook

The net will take some of the shinny scales off.
The pro's will have a big cooler mixed with ice-saltwater,canning salt and sometimes baking soda and just dump the ribbons right in when caught.They are never even touched.
If you really want to make money,catch bluerunners in south Fla. before a touranament and get $100-$120 a dozen.


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## bluefish1928

they taste similar to spanish mackerel but don't have ahs much meat. They are not super bony but seem that way because they are flat and long in profile.


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## citation

Some people use them for king mackrel bait, that is all i have heard of them being used as.


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## cducer

some people will eat anything and everything they catch or given. I have seen people fill their buckets with oyster crackers... I dont believe I have ever been that hungry.


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## Tracker16

cducer said:


> some people will eat anything and everything they catch or given. I have seen people fill their buckets with oyster crackers... I dont believe I have ever been that hungry.


Man you gotta be seriously hungry to eat something as ugly as an oyster cracker 

<a href="http://www.123icons.com"target="_blank"><img src="http://www.123icons.com/freeicons/15320.gif" border="0" alt="Myspace Icons" /></a>


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## dirtyhandslopez

Tracker16 said:


> Man you gotta be seriously hungry to eat something as ugly as an oyster cracker
> 
> <a href="http://www.123icons.com"target="_blank"><img src="http://www.123icons.com/freeicons/15320.gif" border="0" alt="Myspace Icons" /></a>



Not absolutely. Think about it for a minute.
There's something that's as ugly as a horse a$$, but will draw a man further than gunpowder will blow him- as I was told by my Father


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## DougVNg

*ugly fish*



Tracker16 said:


> Man you gotta be seriously hungry to eat something as ugly as an oyster cracker
> 
> <a href="http://www.123icons.com"target="_blank"><img src="http://www.123icons.com/freeicons/15320.gif" border="0" alt="Myspace Icons" /></a>


I might be wrong please correct me,but i've seen similar fish displayed in fish market in Brussel Belgium and seafood restaurant in Venice Italy.My brother said they are very good eating and pretty expensive.I think the meat is white


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## bluefish1928

DougVNg said:


> I might be wrong please correct me,but i've seen similar fish displayed in fish market in Brussel Belgium and seafood restaurant in Venice Italy.My brother said they are very good eating and pretty expensive.I think the meat is white


Seriously, with a lot of foods, it all about culture/traditions.
If you are not used to eating something, it is likely you will never bother to try it.

Honestly, I think ribbon fish tastes better than half the usual list of best tasting saltwater fish.

I never understood the white flesh craze either. To me, it is about the texture of the flesh not the color nor popularity.
Another fish that I find tasty and no one else bothers with is the lizard fish. Eel is also very tasty.
Now with pinfish and ladyfish, those two are just bait because I dont like the texture plus pinfish are sometimes bitter tasting.


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## wdbrand

At a local fleamarket in Roanoke Va., I stopped in on a thru trip and the local Asian seafood vendor set up there had fat alberts at a big price. Told him they were trash fish. Said good fish. Wanted more. Also had anything he could get with scales or skin on it. To each their own.


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