Marine area 7 spots?

NICE FISH!....throw them on the BBQ till the meat flakes off the bone...eat like fresh halibut, little lemon, little pepper and close your eyes   

So tell us, how have they cooked up for you?

Pretty well.  They are delicate, white and flaky when cooked.  Very similar to cod.  I covered the fillets with panko breadcrumbs and then baked them...DELICIOUS.  Last time I ate greenling I just pan-fried it with butter and lemon and that was good too.  Next time I'm gonna try BBQing per HBH's suggestion.

Headed out to Clark Island and fished around the "sisters" rocks yesterday and it was fantastic!  It's *relatively* accessible from Bellingham.  Took the Lummi ferry and launched at Legoe Bay.  If you time the ferry right you can be at Legoe in a little less than an hour.  It's about 3 miles across to the rocks from there, so it's a bit of a haul but worth it (this is where having the mirage drive comes in super handy).   I'm thinking this will be a great spot for lings when they are in season.

Next time I go out there, I'm going to try heading down to Lummi Rocks.  By my estimation it's about 3.6mi from Legoe.

wow you are adventurous!...i have done clark but i got there by boat...the north end of clark has a great reef to fish from also....major shipping channel (rosario) between lummi and clark so be careful...how long did it take to paddle across? did you launch at legoe or the county park on the west beach?

Launched at Legoe because I thought it would put me slightly closer, but it probably doesn't make much of a difference.  Took about 45 minutes to get across, but I was pedaling (mirage drive) rather than paddling.  Yeah, I looked both ways before crossing.  Not much boat traffic Saturday.  I'll try the N end sometime - thanks for the tip.

marine area 7 reflections...

Last week I tried fishing for flatties (specifically), at post point and also birch bay.  Caught fish at both locations, but birch bay was definitely more productive, especially around point whitehorn.  Also, caught several crabs on my line.  From what I can tell, crabbing is open in birch bay, and if I had a crabbing license I suppose I could have kept them.

Anyway, from what I can tell flatties do not show up on the fish finder (a question I've pondered for a while).  I caught them at depths ranging from 10 to 60 feet, but I heard they go much deeper as well, though both places lack deep water so I couldn't test this.  They went for herring, but I got more crabs than fish on herring. most productively flatties were caught on Berkely Gulp Saltwater shrimp on a 1/4 oz leadhead jig.  I tried both larger and smaller curly tails without success.  Seems they'll just nibble on the tails and never get to the hook.

Caught both rock sole and starry flounder.  Kept a few of each, and boy, they sure don't yield much meat.  Haven't tasted them yet, they're in the freezer.  Found that the starry flounder was the best fighting fish, very fun to catch.  But smells AWFUL when alive, and even worse when being filleted.  And their meat doesn't look so good.  Has anyone ever eaten one? They seem impossible to kill...that, or they spasm for hours and hours after being clubbed.  Sole seems to have the best looking meat (white), but I think you'd have to catch alot of them to make a meal.

thought I'd share my learnings!

Kept a few of each, and boy, they sure don't yield much meat.  Haven't tasted them yet, they're in the freezer.  Found that the starry flounder was the best fighting fish, very fun to catch.  But smells AWFUL when alive, and even worse when being filleted.  And their meat doesn't look so good.  Has anyone ever eaten one? They seem impossible to kill...that, or they spasm for hours and hours after being clubbed.  Sole seems to have the best looking meat (white), but I think you'd have to catch alot of them to make a meal.

Thanks for the notes. Yeah flatfish of all kinds just hate to die! Really, they spasm for a long time. You can imagine why it's mandatory to hogtie a halibut on the yak. And yeah small flatfish don't come up with too much meat in the end. You do need to catch a bunch. Cooking them up whole is a good way to get all the meat. As to the starry, I don't remember them stinkin' it up.

Z

I caught two starry flounders and they were both super stinky.  But, maybe they hadn't showered in a while.  Anyway, when you cook a flatfish whole, do you need to gut it first?  Seems like a hard fish to gut.  The info I've found about filleting them seems to indicate you just cut around the guts as best you can.

I caught two starry flounders and they were both super stinky.  But, maybe they hadn't showered in a while.  Anyway, when you cook a flatfish whole, do you need to gut it first?  Seems like a hard fish to gut.  The info I've found about filleting them seems to indicate you just cut around the guts as best you can.

Yep. They're super easy to gut. Insert the knife in the belly and make a slit along it's length. Pull the guts out and you're done.

Here's a thread with a bunch of san dab recipes. http://www.bigfishtackle.com/forum/Fish_and_Game_Recipes_C65/Fish_Recipes_F116/gforum.cgi?post=175806;forum_view=forum_view_expandable;page=last
I believe they're the same as what we catch but different regional name.

Z

Awesome - I'll give it a shot!  Thanks man.

i see you found the BB state park boat launch this is my fav place to launch...i usually just cut the head and guts off and BBQ whole...crabbing is NOT open unless you have a commercial license...lots of pots out there though eh?

Do you guys bleed the fish after clubbing them?  I was talking with Eli at Dave's and he says he bleeds 'em immediately and they taste alot better.  I can see a number of issues with the logistics of this on a kayak.  If you do it on the kayak you've got a bloody mess, if you do it in the water seems like you could potentially draw seals and sea lions closer to the kayak. I've heard two stories menacing sea lions from folks on this board - I'd like to avoid that if possible.  However, I'm all for better tasting fish.

If you do bleed them, do you bleed ALL fish or just certain types (like salmon)?

Do you guys bleed the fish after clubbing them?  I was talking with Eli at Dave's and he says he bleeds 'em immediately and they taste alot better.  I can see a number of issues with the logistics of this on a kayak.  If you do it on the kayak you've got a bloody mess, if you do it in the water seems like you could potentially draw seals and sea lions closer to the kayak. I've heard two stories menacing sea lions from folks on this board - I'd like to avoid that if possible.

I just plug up the scupper holes first and bleed em' into the yak

i would bleed them asap so they taste better

What is this, some kind of vulgar joke?