Corpusfishing.com

[follr]

Yesterday we caught a lot of whiting and croaker in packery channel. Most of them where in the 8" range. What length does it become decent meat vs work to clean the whiting?

Also I read about people can't wait for croaker runs. Is croacker good to eat too? how do you tell the difference between whiting and croaker, besides the obvious croaking sound? At 8" they both look about the same.

[robul]

8" croaker eh.. I was catching them last year in packery about that size or bigger.. I guess a few did survive the croaker soakin seasons..

Many people say croaker are very good to eat.. I havnt personally eaten though.

They are the same family of fish as the trout / red drum / black drum..

Croaker, Atlantic
Micropogonias undulatus
Family: Drums (Sciaenidae)

[OsoJo]

croaker are VERY good to eat, not as good as trout but they have more taste than drum...

[mrwhitefolx]

I'm originally from North Carolina and grew up catching and eating croaker, I know that when I transferred here it blew my mind to find out that people use them for bait and don't eat them very often. We generally would fry them, but they are also very tasty baked or broiled. They usually don't get big enough to be worth the effort of filleting them, so just scale them and remove the guts and head and enjoy.

[FINS]

Depends on how you want to cook them. You can scale an 8in and fry it whole. Since theres no size limit or bag limit its not hard to get a meal out of any size. For filletting i say 10 ATLEAST if we are desperate. 12 if not. As for knowing the difference. I believe the hand book has picture?? Not sure. If not perhaps google for pics

[Big Ed]

My taste says that croaker are better than trout (firmer meat) and about equal with redfish. Delicious fried in a nice cornmeal and flour coating. We ate them all the time back in the late 60's early 70's when I lived in CC. During the "golden croaker" run you could catch all the eating sized (up to about 3#'s) you wanted quite easily. Don't think you could catch more than one or 2 that size now if you fished a week for them.
_________________
Big Ed
San Antonio

"A word to the wise ain't necessary. It's the stupid ones who need advice.", Bill Cosby

[omaka]

I recently fished Packery Channel and caught a good bunch of Croakers at various sizes. Got some real bragging size ones too, found a honey hole and it's for only me to know, hehehe.

I agree that Croakers are definately better eating than Speckled Trout. S-Trout dry out too easy. Actually, Sand Trout, and Whiting are better eating. Speckled Trout dry out too easy.

[chuck]

12+ on whiting
Got an 18"er and it was awesome

[follr]

Here is a drawn picture of whiting.



I also saw in another post talking about the purple marbling on the top and back of the whiting.

I caught one that was a heavy thing. I thought it was a black drum so I released it. Was nice 13" fat fish too.

Thanks for all the info. The are both so similar looking out on the water. If both are good for the table I guess it really doesn't matter. As with a lot of fish you just gotta get them bigger!

Doesn't help that I'm color blind.

[chazthefisherman]

I keep and eat Whiting 12" and over. I've caught Croaker but haven't eaten any yet but I think I'll try them now.

[mastergunner]

If a whiting is big enough for my wife to filite we keep it. We both think whiting to be the best fried saltwater fish because it is very white, flaky and mild in taste.
_________________
Mastergunner, supporter of hardheads for state fish of Texas

[FishingFool46TilliDie]

Well, first of all I consider both to be good eating...Whitings more than croaker, but mainly being they seem to have less rib bones and produce a better filet...Just my 2 cents...

And as far as filet size... For me it depends more on quanity, more than size...Being I usually filet all my fish, and then save the fishbacks for frying...Now if I were to catch say, 20 or more croakers or whitings 8"-10"..I might just save half of the fishbacks, or the ones with a little more meat of the back...If 10 or less, I'll save all fishbacks...
I can usually have know problem telling the differece between whitings, just by experiece, but usually a whiting will be 5x or more in length, verses it's height...A croaker usaully will be 3x or more in length, verses it height...Basically like the difference between White-Bass and Stripers, if you ever freshwater fish for those...

I won a trophy and a 1 year free-pass in 1985 on the SLP Pier, for catching a 15" 1.75 lb Golden Croaker... Not sure about records back then, but was more than happy with the free-pass...

I usually just catch my own finger mullet or pin-fish(Piggy perch) for live bait for Specks...Have never used croaker that much for live bait, myself...Even though my best record Speck of 28", was actually caught on a croaker...
But definitely like cutting up smaller 4"-8" croakers or whitings for cut bait...What I do is just quick scale-em and cut 1/2" to 1" strips vertically, then filet them from head down to tail...Then wrap strip around treble-hook, with skin-side out...Now if I'm catching, mostly smaller croakers and/or whitings...Or just smaller bites, and losing bait... I'll cut strips in 3 pieces or squares, and tip each hook of treble seperately with meat-side out...

Never been fishing at the Packery channel, but from pics I've seen of it...Looks like they have it setup real well...And hope to be giving it a try soon.

!!Tight Lines!!
!!And Good Fishing and Fun To All!!

[ccbobber]

welcome to the board. come on down and see/fish packery for yourself.
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ccbobber

[FishingFool46TilliDie]