Thresher Shark Questions

[maquinapescado]

Originally Posted by dmrides

. As a surfer, I always felt that if I don't mess with sharks, they won't mess with me.

Dito on that

[ratdog]

I hooked a few and kept one several years ago. They are an incredible amount of work, not worth the amount of work. Me personally, I would never do it again. I don't enjoy seeing the slaughtered ones landing on the beach, just doesn't do it for me, why I don't know. A couple of years ago I remember reading posts about the dead few being found off the side of the highway somewhere locally. There isn't much sport to it since basically alls you have to do is have the right gear and troll it over the canyon. I know, "opinions are like A-holes everyone has one and they all stink", me included.

[FullFlavorPike]

One good use for thresher meat, which has the added benefit of preserving it for a while:

Thresher in Escabeche

Trim two lbs thresher steak of all skin and membranes, divide into 4-6 pieces, lightly dredge in flour, fry in a pan with some smoking hot olive oil, set aside.

In a deep saute pan, sweat one medium onion and three carrots till both are tender. Add 5 cloves chopped garlic, 4-6 bay leaves, 1tsp hot paprika, 1tsp cumin, 1tsp red pepper flakes, salt and pepper. Briefly fry spices, deglaze pan with 1/2C vinegar. Add 1/4C dry sherry, 1/2C water, 1/3C extra virgin olive oil and bring to simmer.

Add thresher to escabeche and cook, covered and at a gentle simmer, till done; about fifteen minutes. Allow to cool and remove to covered container. Keep in the fridge at least 24 hours.

Consume with beer as part of a large, Spanish lunch.



All quantities are approximations of my slapdash cooking style. Your results may vary.

[Zed]

2. Is this a common local fish, or are they part of the spectacular fishing conditions we've been enjoying for the past few years?

IMO its a sign of coming back to normal. They were scarce here in that 75+F water.

Very common. They like greener water w lots of bait and are often on top active on the slack tide. Ive caught over 100 and killed 2 --both off Laguna. One was planned and the other was suicide. It ran straight down into the mud like a dart and died in 300+ft. Winched it up and it was muddy to the pecs. I just see them as time bandits now and avoid or bust them off asap.

Im on the side of too much work. No one plans ahead to take a 200# fish on a yak w enough ice to chill it. Then it takes all damn day (and a ton of ice and a cooler/box to hold it) to get a dressed thresher cold to fillet. Its a disservice IMO if you dont treat it right. Enjoy it if you do. But dont drive it in the bed of the truck for an hour then fillet it and expect good results.

I do wish I had vid of all the cool feeders and freejumpers over the years though. One of the best I remember was a med size one up on plane w its motor going full speed like those SE Asian long-shaft outboards. It went so long w its head up making whitewater. Psycho.

$0.04

[FullFlavorPike]

I just baked some New England style. Topped the steaks with a mixture of chopped shrimp, parsley, shallot, garlic, and ritz cracker crumbs. Splashed a little sherry in the baking pan, baked at 350 till done. Very good.