Last week, my son Chase (age 5) and I went Trout fishing in the Indian River. Having not caught much all day, I was quickly approaching my limit with Chase. Anyone fishing with small kids knows that after 2-3 hrs they are done. To complicate matters I was trying to catch fish, which is another mistake. Just as we were about to leave we hooked a nice fish. At first I thought it was a Redfish but as we reeled it closer to the boat I noticed it was large Seatrout, the biggest I had ever seen much less caught. When I first hooked up I was going to let Chase net the fish but I quickly took over that job once I saw how big the trout was. Looking back, it was not my finest moment. The beautiful fish was 27 inches long and weighted right at 5 lbs. I asked Chase to hold the trout for a picture, he said no way!
Ok, now for the fried part of the story, I love to fry fish- I have a restaurant grade frier on my porch, so yes I’m serious. I had never fried seatrout so I did so research and found this recipe that turned out awesome. If you like heavy crunchy batter, this recipe will not disappoint and it will work great on any fish so please fry away.
Fried Trout Recipe
4 8-to-10 ounce speckled trout fillets (or bass, redfish, grouper, catfish, etc….)
3/4 cup finely crushed saltine crackers (21 crackers)
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon snipped parsley
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon pepper
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1 beaten egg
3 to 4 tablespoons shortening or cooking oil
Lemon slices, halved (optional)
Thaw fish, if frozen. In a shallow bowl, combine the crushed crackers, grated Parmesan cheese, and snipped parsley. In another shallow bowl, combine the flour and pepper. Place lemon juice and egg in separate bowls. Dip fish in lemon juice, then in flour mixture, then in egg, and finally in the cracker mixture.
In a 12-inch skillet heat shortening or cooking oil. Add fish in a single layer. Fry over medium heat for 5 to 7 minutes or till brown. Turn fish; fry for 5 to 7 minutes more or till fish flakes easily when tested with a fork. Drain on paper towels. Serve fish with lemon. Garnish with parsley, rosemary, and dill if desired.
Serves 4.
I got the recipe from, fishingworks.com, which a great resource for all things fishing.
enjoy Florida! Chad
Tags: chad crawford, fishing, florida, fried, how to do florida, indian river, seatrout
Yes, I love fish too…but what about the worms (white and black) found in almost every trout? I’m a florida transplant from new england. I’ve never seen fish infested with worms like this. I live in Stuart and fish the Indian river for thirty miles in each direction and I love catching trout. So, my sadness is in not being able to eat them. Here, again, is another account of trout eating with no mention of parasitic worms. Why? For me, this is the elephant in the room that doesn’t get acknowledged.
Is there any good science to inform about the dangers of eating these wormy fish? I’ve heard all the “opinions” pro and con, but I’ve not been able to get info based on science and research with specific do’s and don’ts. It seems to me that there is a serious potential health risk here. Some fish are just filled head-to-tail with worms and others have a few dotted here and there. But, of course, you can’t tell until you’ve cleaned the fish.
Thanks. CHH
Craig, Good point, I would never feed my family something I felt would harm them and have researched this topic and found no cases of humans being harmed by the parasitic worms found in seatrout. Me personally I ignore them and know that dropping them into 375 degree oil will kill anything living in the trouts flesh.
Here are the sites I found info on the subject. Thanks for the topic.
http://www.cfecf.com/Parasites.htm
http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/huntwild/wild/species/strout/