Green Marlin.

[Drop Bear]

Ok so over in Fiji the markets are full of barracuda.

The locals love them saying they are sweet, delicious and when I asked if they are full of bones they looks strange at me and said. No just the same.

So why have they got such an appalling reputation as a table fish in Australia? What am I missing? A few months back I was privileged enough to go on a trip with @benno573 and we saw a monster at the side of the boat that had followed up one of the fish. It didn't really occur to me to catch it as it would be a long battle and then release the fish...

But now I'm hungry for the cuda!

[Junky]

I think it's more of a myth, however I have not personally eaten one. I have heard it's good chewing. 

The larger ones have been known to contain ciguatera so maybe that has a bit to do with it also.  

 

[Danny91]

Hey @Drop Bear I ate barracuda in Cuba quite a few years ago now, from what I remember, it's actually quite tasty! Although from memory yes it was quite boney! 

Hope this helps 

[Daryl McPhee]

I have eaten smaller ones in PNG. They were okay. I would avoid the larger ones due to the ciguatera risk. 

[Angus]

I have eaten them in Dubai and Thailand and enjoyed them each time. Thailand we had a whole cooked fish with yellow curry drizzled over it. In Dubai just typical floured and shallow fried.

[Andrew_P]

Probably due to the strong smell and slime when they are alive and the strong fishy taste (similar to, but far stronger than mackerel in my opinion). I have eaten them in Samoa floured, salted and fried with a sprinkle of MSG and Indonesia grilled over coals with a char siu style BBQ sauce - both delicious. In Indo they call them white marlin cos the Aussie tourists won't eat "barracuda" but will eat "marlin". Have caught a few in Oz and don't tend to let them onto the boat given their big peg-like teeth and risk of ciguatera. Usually have other more desirable eating species on board when you come across them too.

Here's a pic of a Samoan barracuda my brother caught. Great fight with lots of aerial antics and played up in the boat as expected. Yep the locals went crazy for it and cooked us up a feed once the mackerel and trout ran out.

[Drop Bear]

On 4/30/2017 at 5:02 PM, Andrew_P said:

Probably due to the strong smell and slime when they are alive and the strong fishy taste

I supose we are a fussy lot. Thanks for the tip and that is a cracker of a fish in the photo

[Tybo]

Poor mans spaniard apparently. I remember catching heaps up at Hinchinbrook as a kid, and them having a distinctive ammonia smell to them. We would pull our lures away from them most times and gave them the nickname 'stinkers'.

Though I got one in PNG Robbie, probably around the 60cm mark. Martin definitely didn't say no to it and gave me the thumbs up when I asked what they were like.

[Drop Bear]

On 5/7/2017 at 3:58 AM, Tybo said:

Martin definitely didn't say no to it and gave me the thumbs up when I asked what they were like.

Gonna have one for dinner tonignt! Ill let you all know

 

[Drop Bear]

um.... so I bought one at the markets two days ago. They sat gut in on ice for 2 days. 

I filleted one. White clean flesh. Nothing strange. no smell. no slime. It actually reminded me of a xxos whiting fillet...

Butter and oil. a bit of salt. finished with a grind of pepper...

Um... it was awesome. not the moistest fillet I have ever eaten but better than snapper in that respect. Not the fullest sweetest flavour i have ever had but really good. Soooo WTF we have this wrong. they are great to eat. Sure if they are xxos they prolly have the sig. but yummo