always fun to fillet these guys!

Hey guys, Noel from SC here, gotta love filleting the lings

My favorite. No scales and the skin is not too tough.

Don't forget all the meat in the collars, cheeks, and head 

Don't forget all the meat in the collars, cheeks, and head 

I've been eating the collars, but haven't really liked them. Some of the collar is good, but a lot of the meat near the fin is either stringy or dark and unpleasant tasting. The cheeks taste good, but they can be a little stringy as well. Any tips?

Then sideways post of pic makes it look like an macabre upside down wall mount. 

freaky.  I will fix it for you and leave the wall mount version up cause it's cool.

Bushy

I've been eating the collars, but haven't really liked them. Some of the collar is good, but a lot of the meat near the fin is either stringy or dark and unpleasant tasting. The cheeks taste good, but they can be a little stringy as well. Any tips?

Tons of recipes in the Recipe Forum. Here's a good example:
http://www.norcalkayakanglers.com/index.php?topic=825.0

For stringy meat, I'll lump ithe into a bowl and give it a quick pan fry with olive oil, lemon juice, and capers. If any meat has an overly strong fishy flavor, I'll toss it in soup or pasta sauce, etc. Other times, I'll just add some type of sauce... adobo, Thai sweet, or some other mixture.

A few posts recommend smoking whole fish... which looks awesome but I haven't tried yet.

Then sideways post of pic makes it look like an macabre upside down wall mount. 

freaky.  I will fix it for you and leave the wall mount version up cause it's cool.

Bushy

Haha! That's a good one.

I smoke the collars and they are awesome.
 Soak overnite in a brine of half brown sugar and half kosher salt.
Maybe a dash of liquid smoke
I use an elec. smoker with fruit wood for approx 2-3 hrs on med.
I found the fin meat to be the BEST!
Cream cheese and crackers.... mmm

Niaroche , I love those LONG fillets!