​A few lucky Neptune's Delight members will enjoy surf smelt, caught using a small purse seine off of Crescent City. This is the kind of delicious, nutritious and sustainably harvested species, I really want people to experience, (like sardine, mackerel, night smelt and anchovy). These are small in size, affectionately referred to as “whitebait” and can be prepared like night smelt (fried and eaten whole).

Surf smelt are one of my absolute favorite little fishes, and we haven't seen them for about 5 years and now they're suddenly showing up. Captain Ken Bates F/V Ironic off the Humboldt Coast caught these with his purse seine. You can eat it whole like a small trout, or debone and then cook.

ORIGIN: Captain Ken Bates F/V Ironic off the Humboldt Coast

METHOD: Small purse seine

PREP: Be sure to wash and rinse them and then consider how to cook them. Here's a short video on how to clean these beauties in two easy steps: VIDEO, and a couple videos on frying and stuffing surf smelt too on the INFO PAGE

RECIPE: Fried fillets or stuffed surf smelt.

Read More