Thread: I'm Now A Crappie Jig Fisherman

Originally Posted by BON TEMPS

WELCOME FROM THE DEEP SOUTH LOUISIANA COAST!!!

Having fried some dry aged Sacalait slabs yesterday and a few pounds of gulf shrimp for my 7 and 4 year old granddaughters I was not surprised when they requested seconds of the fish Paw Paw!! The shrimp were delicious but fried dry aged Sacalait is like that potato chip commercial. Bet you can’t eat just ONE!!

Bon Temps!!

Good Morning Bon Temps, Ms Joyce asks how you dry aged dem Sacalait...she never hears of dat. Thank you.

ROJO is the expert in dry aging Sacalait. He did a thread on dry aging on this blog I think.

ROJO do you mind pointing Mrs Joyce in the right direction.

it basically means putting your ice cold fresh filets in on open container spread out in a cold refrigerator for a few days. Tilt the open container so that excess water accumulates in the lower corner on the container where it can easily be drained. I usually dry mine for 3 to 4 days and I flip them over once a day. After a couple days there is no more water accumulating but the aging process continues for up to a week I think.
The dry aging helps not only the cooking process but makes a tastier fish.

Rojo will need to add what fish this works for. Since we only eat Sacalait here I didn’t bother with trying to remember which fish he said this does and does not work with.

Bon Temps!!

Thank you so very much. I let her know, and she thanked you as well. She also pointed out, it is much like she does with the pork loin chops, (boneless), I cut to make Tasso. She calls it her seasoning meat, prior to smoking the pork.

Can't go wrong with House Autry and black pepper. I see your fillets are kind of dark. You might want to try bleeding your fish next time. I started cutting their gills about 2 years ago and it makes the fillets even whiter and taste better in my opinion. Also, less mess during filleting.

I've read on here a lot of people say they ice their catch down until the next day to make easier to fillet, that's what Ive been doing and probably accounts for the darker color. Still tasted great to me. No doubt bleeding helpsbut I doubt I ever bleed panfish. I'm looking to keep crappies in the 9" to 11" range but if all I could catch are bigguns I might would bleed those

Got to the pond today and there was a ton of leaves and pine straw on the surface with no wind so not the easiest fishing but still managed to catch a nice eater on the Gulp 2.5 " minnow. These gulp baits are great but not near as durable as the power minnows. Ill add that these gulp minnows had been open a couple years so theyll still work after the 9 month expiration date. I did spray some gulp minnow spray into the bag

I like experimenting with baits and want to try this atomic tube/gulp 1" minnow combo, I'll let y'all know how it does. I cant get these pics straight to save my life, sorry guys. I test my baits in my aquarium and right now I'm fascinated with the tubes jigs inserted, the way they sit and swim in the water is very minnow like. They can be cast, vertical jigged and put under a float. I've seen people say they tear easily and prefer the solid bodies so I'll have to see how that goes

This should work too, to mimic the atomic teasers which are $5 for a 3 pack. You can get a jar of the gulp alive fry for $6 and use like a little stinger tail. You can slide a nibble on before the fry if desired