Fried Snook Baits?

Remembering way back when I was knee high to a grasshopper, thin skinny and found myself surrounded by a group of 22nd Rangers out for some fun and games playing in the mud and paddies. One took notice that many of the coastal anglers with their seines and nets caught a variety of fishes to include what we might just call Snook bait; greenies, thread herring, whitebait and such. Now I am not much into rice with fish heads or head soup but when it comes to bait fish, I guess it is not much less different from fried smelt on this side of the ocean.  The consuming of sardines, herring, greenies or whitebaits, like smelt is considered very healthy according to the American Heart Association. This is because these small fishes are less oily than the big boys as in cooked grouper or snook and they contain a higher dosage in heart-healthy Omega-3 fatty acids.

The only hard part, which is not really hard but is very time consuming is the cleaning of your catch, as there are so many and so small. Cleaning small sardines and thread herrings are as simple as grasping the head and body with the fish in an upright position, and pulling downward on the head. The head and entrails come away together, and the body is ready for rinsing. On the other hand, there are those glass minnows that are of the anchovy family and as such are of no cleaning at all just a smaller mesh netting in of their catching. The see-through glass minnows (bay Anchovies) have very fine scales and bones, and can be salted, breaded in flour and deep-fried whole until they're crispy, much as French fries in using as a side dish or quick snack like in Holland when I was a kid, pomes frits.  As for the threads, soak or marinate them for half an hour or so in salted lime juice, shake, dredge fry and serve on the side with your favorite piece of meat for a true ‘Surf n Turf’ meal. “Hot or cold, fried Snook Baits on a saltine cracker on the side or as a meal are easy to get and a real opener when asked what is for dinner and you reply; bait.”