- Joined
- Mar 29, 2006
- Messages
- 1,466
Shark as a survival food? For sure. Small sharks feed in very shallow water. While fishing yesterday I saw no less than a dozen in water one to two feet deep. Some even hitting the shore. While illegal here now to spear or net them, in a survival situation they would be fairly easy to gig, or run into an improvised net. All sort of netting washes ashore, and you can use the inside strands of 550 cord to construct one also. Just about any dead animal you find on the beach can be used to chum them into coming close to the shore, and as bait. Guts and other parts of fish can be used as bait. I've caught 18 in the last two days on a break down 4 ft. rod with 10 lb. test. Of course you need a leader of some sorts. I can only keep one a day, so here he is. First thing I do is cut him from the throat down past the anus, remove the guts, and let him bleed out. I did this as soon as I caught him, and brought him back to the camp to clean. Gut them as soon as possible, it will help bleed the meat clean.
Today I am using my BRKT Kephart and trusty Skeletool.
Then I make slits behind the head, and on each side behind the gills. And remove the dorsal fin.
Then I make a slit along the back, the length of the fish. Grab the skin and pull. Just like the frogs and catfish, the skin will pull off in one piece.
Now some folks, especially with larger sharks, skip the skinning and go right to this part. Remove the head, cut down behind the gills. Then, cut across and through the the shark, creating nice steaks.
Anther way is to simply fillet the meat off the single "backbone."
Without a bunch of bones in sharks, there is a pretty nice bit of good meat. Here is what is between the head and tail. Notice the single length of vertebras.
Since I am going to cook "sharks bites", I cubed all of it into small cubes. I trim any dark meat. Some don't, but I find it give the meat a cleaner taste, and doesn't distract from the sweet flavor these little blacktips have.
I'll try to remember to post some preparing and cooking pics this time. I can't convey how delicious these things are. Fried, blackened, grilled, so many ways to prepare them.
One problem with cleaning all these fish, frogs and such in one place is it attracts other animals. This gator is coming up every time he sees me walk out on my dock to clean something, and has been the last couple of weeks.
I showed him my Kephart, and told him he was next, but it didn't seem to impress him.
Today I am using my BRKT Kephart and trusty Skeletool.
Then I make slits behind the head, and on each side behind the gills. And remove the dorsal fin.
Then I make a slit along the back, the length of the fish. Grab the skin and pull. Just like the frogs and catfish, the skin will pull off in one piece.
Now some folks, especially with larger sharks, skip the skinning and go right to this part. Remove the head, cut down behind the gills. Then, cut across and through the the shark, creating nice steaks.
Anther way is to simply fillet the meat off the single "backbone."
Without a bunch of bones in sharks, there is a pretty nice bit of good meat. Here is what is between the head and tail. Notice the single length of vertebras.
Since I am going to cook "sharks bites", I cubed all of it into small cubes. I trim any dark meat. Some don't, but I find it give the meat a cleaner taste, and doesn't distract from the sweet flavor these little blacktips have.
I'll try to remember to post some preparing and cooking pics this time. I can't convey how delicious these things are. Fried, blackened, grilled, so many ways to prepare them.
One problem with cleaning all these fish, frogs and such in one place is it attracts other animals. This gator is coming up every time he sees me walk out on my dock to clean something, and has been the last couple of weeks.
I showed him my Kephart, and told him he was next, but it didn't seem to impress him.
)
