Jacksmelt happening now

Jacksmelt have worms. Let's just lead with that and get it out of the way. If you take the time to fillet your fish, you will find 3 or more coiled, creepy red or pink parasitic worms in the flesh. Pick them out with the tip of your knife and get on with your life. Every fish you catch in the bay and most of the fish you catch in the ocean will have one or two of these. There's just more of them in jacksmelt. The cool part is that this fish is WAYYYY lower in mercury and other chemicals than any other fish you'll catch around here. All that nice halibut and striper we're after? Riskier to eat, but the risk is invisible, doesn't have immediate symptoms, and doesn't move of its own accord.

I went to Point Isabel on Sunday with lures and bait, and ended up sitting near a van dude who had some bites already on shrimp. Shark, perch, and smelt. I brought anchovy and herring, which were defrosting, so I used those on a hi-lo with a 1/0 hook and another smaller, maybe sz 2. I must have found the school because I caught three jacksmelt in a row, one and then a double hookup. Friends - these are fun fish to catch! They are a kind of silverside (related to flying fish) and have a surprising amount of fight for their size. You can tell you have one on because of the tight little head shakes.

Look how pretty they are! Jacksmelt are loaded with blueish holographic accents, both outside and inside. There's something really cool happening in the top of their heads, and a bright neon blue line going along their spine when you open them up.

I'm guessing these were 10-12 inches long and made the perfect size fillets for oven fried fish for two people.

Here's an easy recipe, it's a normal 3-step breading Wash the fillets and pat dry with a paper towel

Mix a lot of salt, pepper, and garlic powder into wheat or rice flour. Coat the fish in the flour mixture.

Beat an egg or two with a big spoonful of dijon mustard. Dip the fillet in the egg mixture and let the excess drip off.

Mix A LOT of parmesan cheese into panko. Like nearly a third of the total volume. Press this mixture onto your eggy fish.

You could deep or shallow fry them at this point. If you do that, lay them on a plate in the fridge for at least half an hour. This helps set the breading so it doesn't fall off in the fryer. I prefer to do them in the oven. Use a pastry brush to coat both sides in oil (I use avocado oil), then bake at 400F for 10ish minutes, flipping halfway through. If there's an incoming tide in the early AM or around lunch time, hit me up and we can try an hour or so anywhere along emeryville/berkeley/albany shoreline.