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Some of you asked how do we clean them so I took a few photos today.

Nice. Very informative.

Ironically, that is exactly how I've cleaned all my sturgeon too!

Cut them down both sides of the spine.

All the way through to the tail.

Cut off the rib meat.
Cut off the skin and red meat and you got a 10 pound slab of tasty goodness.

DeadEye_Dan wrote:Nice. Very informative.

Ironically, that is exactly how I've cleaned all my sturgeon too!

Dick!:D

Ha ha - couldn't resist.

And you're telling me there's no bones in that?

assateague wrote:And you're telling me there's no bones in that?

None!

Cool, figured something that big and ugly would have more tricks. Just a simple fillet.

Flightstopper wrote:Cool, figured something that big and ugly would have more tricks. Just a simple fillet.

The only part that makes it difficult is the size of the fish. Its just awkward to deal with. I also forgot to mention you should knock the spines off the back and sides of the fish before you start cutting.

Bootlipkiller wrote:

Flightstopper wrote:Cool, figured something that big and ugly would have more tricks. Just a simple fillet.

The only part that makes it difficult is the size of the fish. Its just awkward to deal with. I also forgot to mention you should knock the spines off the back and sides of the fish before you start cutting.

Or save them so you can armor plate the front of your duck boat.

Sturgeon the other red meat

Is sturgeon always that dark of a pink color? Makes me wonder if the sturgeon I've seen for sale here is really sturgeon

jehler wrote:Is sturgeon always that dark of a pink color? Makes me wonder if the sturgeon I've seen for sale here is really sturgeon

That one was unusually dark. Normally as long as you bleed them they are yellowish white.

Bootlipkiller wrote:

jehler wrote:Is sturgeon always that dark of a pink color? Makes me wonder if the sturgeon I've seen for sale here is really sturgeon

That one was unusually dark. Normally as long as you bleed them they are yellowish white.

thats more the color I've seen here, what you described

That coloration of that fish my be caused from being in the ocean a couple years. Usually if that is the case, the fat is peach or pinkish also, not yellow or white. When they live outside for awhile their diet is comprised of a lot of shrimp.
Some guys take that color of fish and cut into chunks then throw in boiling water for a few minutes. Then they dip in drawn butter. It is refered to as "poor man's lobster" by the people that do it.
Another thing that causes that color sometimes is hanging it alive over the side of the boat all day. Most people around here don't kill and bleed the fish until they're done. The practice comes from people not marking their fish on the card immediately. They would catch a bigger fish and release the first fish. They call it upgrading and it is illegal but, plenty of people still do it. Alledgedly.

assateague wrote:And you're telling me there's no bones in that?

It's all cartilage, except the head is bone.

QH's Paw wrote:That coloration of that fish my be caused from being in the ocean a couple years. Usually if that is the case, the fat is peach or pinkish also, not yellow or white. When they live outside for awhile their diet is comprised of a lot of shrimp.
Some guys take that color of fish and cut into chunks then throw in boiling water for a few minutes. Then they dip in drawn butter. It is refered to as "poor man's lobster" by the people that do it.
Another thing that causes that color sometimes is hanging it alive over the side of the boat all day. Most people around here don't kill and bleed the fish until they're done. The practice comes from people not marking their fish on the card immediately. They would catch a bigger fish and release the first fish. They call it upgrading and it is illegal but, plenty of people still do it. Alledgedly.

Thanks for the info QH! We just assumed we didn't bleed it good enough. That fish was 53 inches so it was cut immediately. Not much room for an upgrade!;)

Bootlipkiller wrote:Thanks for the info QH! We just assumed we didn't bleed it good enough. That fish was 53 inches so it was cut immediately. Not much room for an upgrade!;)

Sometimes you'll catch one that has spent most of it's life in the ocean. You can get an idea of how much time of it's life was in ocean by their barbs. The barbs on the side and belly are usually worn down and not sharp if they have spent most of their life in the river. Conversely, the opposite is true if they were in the ocean most of their life. They all have pretty sharp barbs back by the tail, as I'm sure you already know by now.