Flounder, Halibut, Sole, OH MY!!!!!!

[Newf]

East Coast "Turbot" is a firmer fish and can be fried, baked and boiled. (still much softer than other sole but firmed than the west coast stuff) Fish for boiling was first salted in heavy rock salt for a few days which firmed it up. Water was just heated to a simmer,,,not heavily boiled and it was a traditional meal for many of us on Ash Wednesday or Good Friday. I tried salting and boiling the "Turbot" out here and it was almost mush by the time the water was simmering. We caught lots of it on this coast commercially but because of the softness of the fish we would only target it on the last day of the 5 day trip. Also we only got 5 cents a pound versus 12 to 20 cents for other sole.

 

[bigdogeh]

I was told they taste a bit like glue (or was it glue tastes better...? lol,)

 

[Newf]

Would that be the glue sniffers that told you that?? LOL

 

[Fishin'Zinn]

Caught Turbot while fishing for hali lots - Gross fish would personally never want to eat that - Yuck!!!

 

[aheny]

Recently I was out fishing on the Island with a few charters and I have a few conversation starters for the forum due to these trips.

On my first day charter we caught a few flounder and the outfitter threw them back without asking us if we wanted to keep them, and he made the claim that they are trash fish. I have kept many over the years with other guides and when I have been fishing off shore myself and have always enjoyed the flavor. I would put them up there with rockfish or halibut, other than the fact that they produce way less meat. So what are your thoughts on Flounder and Sole?

My next conversation starter is in relation to outfitters abilities to fillet halibut. My guide this year absolutely butchered the first halibut, so I then stepped in and filleted the rest of the fish. When I'm paying big bucks to go out and catch fish to take home, I want all the meat I can get off the fish. It isn't too much to ask I think. So have many of you that go with outfitters seen guys that can't seem to fillet fish?

Here is a quick video that I hope helps those of you that do not know how to fillet flatfish. I hope it helps.

I'm curious about this trip with the flounder that you're referring to. I bring out all kinds of guests, and typically they follow my recommendations, but if they tell me something different that they want I usually do my best to accommodate them. Since communication is a two-way street I'm curious if you told him that you would like to keep flounder after he threw back the first one.
On two different occasions I've had guys on my boat that didn't communicate effectively, they would be quietly unhappy and judging rather than speaking, typically I could pry out of them what it was that they were interested in, but they definitely were not invited to return to my boat on a future trip.
Their are many great Sports men out there who love fishing, are fun to be around, and don't have any difficulty telling you what it is that they want.
for myself there's only one species which I do not target and I'm not willing to keep, that is dogfish. some people choose to Target dog fish and I'm assuming they're very clear about that up front, but for myself I see the immediate skinning and rinsing as a waste of salmon fishing time. I also don't list flounder as a targeted species although if somebody asks me I'm usually willing to keep them, so that the guest can do with it what they like.

 

[the11fisherman]

They commercially harvested 7 million lbs for---MINK Food--what does that tell you!! LOL

Never heard about this lol

 

[the11fisherman]

I'm curious about this trip with the flounder that you're referring to. I bring out all kinds of guests, and typically they follow my recommendations, but if they tell me something different that they want I usually do my best to accommodate them. Since communication is a two-way street I'm curious if you told him that you would like to keep flounder after he threw back the first one.
On two different occasions I've had guys on my boat that didn't communicate effectively, they would be quietly unhappy and judging rather than speaking, typically I could pry out of them what it was that they were interested in, but they definitely were not invited to return to my boat on a future trip.
Their are many great Sports men out there who love fishing, are fun to be around, and don't have any difficulty telling you what it is that they want.
for myself there's only one species which I do not target and I'm not willing to keep, that is dogfish. some people choose to Target dog fish and I'm assuming they're very clear about that up front, but for myself I see the immediate skinning and rinsing as a waste of salmon fishing time. I also don't list flounder as a targeted species although if somebody asks me I'm usually willing to keep them, so that the guest can do with it what they like.

He threw two in before I told him we wanted them. He then grudgingly let us keep a couple.

 

[aheny]

He threw two in before I told him we wanted them. He then grudgingly let us keep a couple.

Grudgingly... Sounds like somebody who should have retired a few years ago

 

[Last Chance]

Can't think of a reason for a guide not to let someone keep in season fish. I can "sort of" see not wanting to clean a big box of rockfish and such, but I never said "no" to a guest.. I have suggested "Consider what you can use", and "Remember, you have to get this all home", and "That's really small, not going to get a lot from it". In the end, when someone is paying me $100 bucks an hour to take them fishing, then I do what they say, so long as it is in the regulations and is at least somewhat ethical. And that includes advising against arrowtooth flounder (They disintigrate when you cook them).

 

[Karlo]

There's a really good website for identifying flatfish at https://wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/bottomfish/identification/flatfish/p_bilineatus.html . I'm with everyone who said that the arrowtooth flounder is crap wrapped in a fish skin, and starry flounders aren't much better, but if you get a butter sole, rock sole, or dover sole of suitable size, you have caught a delicacy.