# Are Finger Mullet edible???



## Finger_Mullet

We fished Saturday at Ft. Fisher with not much luck. 1 small blue all day. Wind blew hard out of the south all day. It was worth the trip however.

Luvs2fish, Bstarling, myself and Mrs Finger Mullet fished the majority of the day. Well, Mrs F_M decided to go home around lunch. She was the smart one. I think we all had a good time sitting on the beach chewing the fat. 

Anyway, Danny and myself was driving back off the beach when we noticed several people cleaning fish on the sound side before you ever get to the 1st crossover. (good bait catchign hole). I decided to drive up and see what they had caught. To my surprise they were cleaning finger mullet. Some the size of my index finger all the way up to about as long as my hand. None what I would call big cob mullet. 

The gentleman had scaled and headed each fish and removed the guts. They were packing them in coolers. They did not speak english very well but when I asked what they were going to do with them the lady said no English. I made a gesture of eating and she said yes.

Has anyone ever heard of people eating finger mullet? This is new to me. I knew some people ate the larger mullet but never heard of eating finger mullet.

They had coolers and coolers full of cleaned finger mullet.

Darin


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## Clyde

I don't know about the edible part, but there is a creel limit of mullett now, so they were probably breaking the law if they had "coolers & coolers full".


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## Redhorse

Kinda like eating sardines, or smelt I guess. Maybe we'll have to try it when I'm down there FM... . I'll have the traveling kitchen on my tailgate!


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## Finger_Mullet

*I will let the pickeled Finger Mullet*

pass right on by my plate. I have ate some weird things in my life but I have to draw the line at fried, grilled, baked, sushied, finger mullet.

I have though about trying the big cob mullet because the locals at CB tell me they are good. But I just can't eat the small ones.

Talking about a creel limit, it would take a few dozen to fill one person up. For a family of 4 you are talking about a cooler full. These things were 3 inches to 5-6 inches max. None were filleting size. They would have to make sardines out of them. Wonder what the creel limit is on finger mullet? I would like to know.

Maybe the bones get real soft after being fried. They may eat bones and all. Redhorse, get the grill fired up and you can sample various sizes of Finger Mullet and report your findings back to me. After all I really do like Mexican food. This may be the start of something new. 

Finger_Mullets fried finger mullets!!!

Darin


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## bstarling

*Fm*

I saw the crowd you were speaking of Darin. There is usually a group of people doing the same thing there. I had always thought they were catching larger fish though. I've eaten larger mullet fried and smoked and they are good. I'd bet the smaller ones would be milder but be a PITA to clean and eat. 

OBTW, The reel is going well so far. The standard insert is too short to work through the side of a squdder so I had to make a deluxe one like on my 525. Also the small mags may not be as good as the larger ones. I'll keep you posted.

Bill


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## Clyde

creel is 200/day.


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## Finger_Mullet

*Creel Size*

1 cooler held more than that. There were approx. 5 people including children. That would give them 1000 between them all. 

If all the coolers were full they had blasted the creel limit.

Bill, If it needs bigger mags just put them in it and I will pay you for the larger ones. I may put the smaller ones in the 525 mag. I will try it out in October. 

I stripped all the cajun red off the 525 mag. Could not take it anymore. The last cast for distance of the day sent the 3 oz to china. Wish it was still connected to my line. I hope it didn't hit anyone. Bill, keep a check on the paper to see if anyone died of blunt force trama from an unidentified triangle object around the Ft Fisher area. I am not sure where she went. 3 oz with no bait tosses a little different than the 8 plus bait I had been chunking all day. I guess the earlier fluff (lol) weakened my main line. 

Bill, Danny, Ryan, it was a pleasure as always. Wish he had caught more fish but that is the way it goes. 

Redhorse, looking forward to the last weekend in october. I think Bill and Danny are planning on coming as well on Saturday. We will have a blast even if the fish don't show up.

Darin


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## Redhorse

Same here FM...hopefully I can get the skunk off my back before I come down there... . Pretty much all I've been having this year is the "blast" part, cause the "fish" part has not been cooperating. 

Looks like I might head up to Michigan next week for three days, it's the beginning of the Salmon run up there. Maybe I can get the stink off before I bring it down to CB with me. If I get into them up there, I'll run one or two of them through my smoker and bring some with me to the beach... . 

Can't wait to meet all you guys. I should have my buddies Jay, Lee, and Mike with me unless somebody backs out at the last minute. I've got one back up guy (Tony), who might even be willing to cram himself into the truck regardless of how many people are already going... .


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## Fishing_Feud

*MMMMMM finger mullet*

 well maybe not


Yes i have a few finger mullet from my neighbors house she is flipinino

deep fried no batter with the eyes left in and head on..


A bit fishy and quite crunchy bones and all 

They asked if i liked it and i said its a bit fishy and its ok 

I USE THESE THINGS FOR BAIT 

i can still remeber those mullet burps


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## Ryan Y

*Eating the mullet*

Phew, That has got to be hard to stomach! I know people eat the roe, and the roe Mullet. Not me though....Well, I guess I have eaten UNI (SP?) which is sea urchin eggs...Whodathunkit?

Redhorse, and everone else. I should be around at the end of October in between trips to the secret spot up North. (cant say it on here to many people read this)


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## Drumdum

*I don't see why not...*

The bigguns and cobs are all I eat,but they be d*m good.. Matter of fact,I'd take a 2lb mullet fried up just right or grilled with parmison cheese and butter on top over most fish I've eaten.. 

Never tried fingers,but can't see why it wouldn't work.. I know Tres and "the boys" got about half in the tank one night and were eating fried fingers...


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## gshivar

*Where are the marine fisheries when you need them.*

Whatever they catch goes in the bucket, Short drum, trout - doesn't matter. Complaints have been made to marine fisheries but they do nothing. What a waste of finger mullet! Hate to sound like such a grouch; but, I have fussed at Americans about killing too many finger mullet. No finger mullet get big -- no more finger mullet. Enough B#tchin. good fishin - glenn


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## bstarling

*I agree*



gshivar said:


> Whatever they catch goes in the bucket, Short drum, trout - doesn't matter. Complaints have been made to marine fisheries but they do nothing. What a waste of finger mullet! Hate to sound like such a grouch; but, I have fussed at Americans about killing too many finger mullet. No finger mullet get big -- no more finger mullet. Enough B#tchin. good fishin - glenn


Fact is if you "kill em before they multiply" you soon won't have any. 

Glenn, what you catchin over Hutaff Island way?

Bill


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## Finger_Mullet

*Mullet*

Looks like mullet of any size woudl be extremely strong and oily. I have heard of a bunch of people eating them but I have always looked at them as bait not a meal.

Maybe I need to try one. Redhorse, you up to frying one up??

Darin


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## huckfinn38

*Eating Finger Mullet*

Can you imagine eating some of those creek finger mullet. Those are the ones you cut up for bait and as soon as you do the creek mud squirts out of them and has a nasty smell. Usually triggers a couple of gags from me. I think I would rather lick a skunks butt!


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## Ryan Y

*Hey Jeb*

Ryan here, those little ones from the marsh ponds are good in the winter with stew and potatoes!...The mud makes a sorta creamy gravy!


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## Redhorse

> _Maybe I need to try one. Redhorse, you up to frying one up??_


Mullet stew, fried mullet, mullet shish kabobs, mullets with portabella gravy, egg drop mullet, mullet in honey mustard sauce, ground mullet fish patties, mullet sushi, mullet and cheese omelets, kippered mullet, BB-Q'd mullet,...might even put some in a pipe and smoke'm  

 How would you like your mullet sir?


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## Drumdum

*Awe quit raggin on me fellers.*

 If'n ya ain't tried it don't knockit..  

Ryan ya bring some full grown 2lbers over to the house next time down,and I'll cook some specks and cook that mullet,you be da judge...


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## Finger_Mullet

*Specks vs Mullet???*

Are you saying mullet taste better than specs???

Seams like that is comparing chicken and possum. I know chicken is good but I will have to take your word on the possum. Cause I ain't trying it. Although I would try fried mullet. 

Darin


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## Redhorse

Here is a question for ya DD...is there a difference between a "Virginia Mullet" and a "Sea Mullet"? I have seen the two names used often, and suspected they were one and the same.

Also, when I lived down on the Gulf...you did *NOT* eat mullet down there, because the water gave them a bad taste. I do remember people talking about them being eaten along the eastern coast, and how tasty they were. We tried to eat one of those Gulf mullet once...(insert puking smilie here)...but it tasted *BAD*! We figured if they eat them over there, why cant you eat them down here...? Well, we found out .


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## Redhorse

Hey FM...I bet I could cook you up some possum and you'd think it was the best chicken ya ever ate! You just have to get over that image of a possum crawling out of the a$$ of a dead animal in the spring, after a long cold winter...

Racoon stew, armadillo sausage, aligator steaks, snake soup, etc... it all tastes good when prepared by someone who has a clue how to do it. I'd have to say that fried Muskrat is the *BEST* though. It's extremely lean, so Xtra care must be taken to keep from drying it out while cooking. Man it tastes gooooooood!


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## Finger_Mullet

*BBQ *****

We have 2 big Pig Pickin's each year for your church. A few years back a church member that happens to be a lawyer said he wanted to try ****. 

Well that night we made a run to the store to get some drinks. On the way back we noticed there were 2 ***** laying in the road dead that was not there when we went by the first time. We picked them up. Took tham back to church and skinned and gutted both. I could not handle the round worms that crawled out of the guts.
I have skinned hundreds of deer with no problems but the worms in that **** got to me. I didn't think I coudl eat it. 

After cleaning and seasoning them we wrapped them in tin foil along with some pig fat that we caught from the dripping hams. The next morning we opened them up and they were actually tasty. The bones were picked clean. 

Darin


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## Redhorse

I run a trapline for fur during the winter...so I typically get all the **** a person could want. I have so much Deer, goose, rabbit, pheasant, etc...in the freezer however, that it's hard to get excited about racoon. I do eat the muskrats though _Ohhh _man are they good!


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## MBsandflea

During the fall mullet run while kingfishing we usually keep a net or two of the 1 to 2lbers to fry up. Just scale, fillet to the tail and skin. Bread them and fry up with the flounder, spanish, king and whiting. In my opinion they are better tasting than bluefish, which I refuse to eat. So of the old timers who pretty much fish to eat do the scale, gut and head technique and cook them whole in a stew with vegetables. 

In response to the sea mullet/virginia mullet question, I've always understood a "virginia mullet" to be what most people south of Virginia and upper NC call a whiting. Different places, different names. Reminds me of fishing one time in NC with a guy from down here, we went the majority of the day pointing out menhaden to each other without anyone realizing we were referring to "pogeys" just because most of them were younger and had never fished anywhere other than where they lived and didn't know there was another name for them.


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## Redhorse

So let me get this straight...a sea mullet, and a whiting are two different fish then...right? But a Virginia mullet is just another name for a whiting.

I had the same problem when I fished the mouth of the Rappahannock for the first time. Guys kept talking about "Rock Fish" and I'm like "Rock Bass" and they said "no Rock Fish". Then I caught a small striper off the docks and they said "that's a Rock Fish" ... . I guess that's why they made us learn the scientific names for taxonomical purposes in fish and wildlife mngt. We never learned any saltwater species in my ichthyology class though...just fishes of Ohio.


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## Drumdum

Finger_Mullet said:


> Are you saying mullet taste better than specs???
> 
> Seams like that is comparing chicken and possum. I know chicken is good but I will have to take your word on the possum. Cause I ain't trying it. Although I would try fried mullet.
> 
> Darin


 FM,honestly,I think I could fry them side by side,and you'd either say one's as good as the other,or like the mullet better,I know I do.. I draw the line at possum,done seen what they eat...   

Redhorse not familiar with Gulfcoast mullet,but ya get a good clean one from here,and it be tasty.. Va mullet,seamullet,roundhead,whiting,all the same feesh...


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## Redhorse

Thanks DD...after seeing all those names used interchangeably on here, that's what I was assuming. Was gonna get the book out if you hadn't cleared it up for me!



> Redhorse not familiar with Gulfcoast mullet,but ya get a good clean one from here,and it be tasty


I would liken that to the common carp. In Europe carp are a targeted sport/food species. Take them out of their original environment and put them in the US (thanks alot to our govnt for that one by the way)...and they taste like CRAP instead of carp. Water is different + diet is different = taste is different!


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## Fishman

Edible for feeesh only not for me.


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## surfchunker

*I eat 'em*

I was on the beach this summer and one guy I was fishing with preferred them over flounder, I don't like spot much, All that black crap comes out of them when ya fillet them, Now mullet nice firm snow white meat, fillet them just like anything else ...... Blues are the worst ..... Strong Oily, Yuck ..... Blues=Bait ........


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## Finger_Mullet

*Mullet*

I think you are referring to sea mullet or whiting. We are talking about the finger mullet bait and the jumping mullet. The ones they sell at the bait stores for bait.

F_M


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## Redhorse

I had so many contradictory oppinions on blues...that I finally just ate one. Caught it, filleted it, and fried in in my cast iron skillet with some butter. I was eating it within 20 min. of beaching it. That thing was *TASTY*... ...gave my wife a bite and she tried to take the rest from me. I said "go get your own, the fishin pole is right out there"! It was a little 14" one, so might be the little ones are better, plus fried it up quick, no bagging it or freezing it. So then my next trip down, I brought a bunch of them home on ice. Never froze them...soon as I got home, I put them into a brine overnight and smoked them. I dried them out a _little_ too much... but they were not bad.


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