Thanh had sent me this picture of a mystery fish he had caught on the Big Island. Many of you may recognize it as the fish we call “broomfish” because of its wide broom-like tail but did you know its formal name is “scrawled filefish”? I guess the iridescent blue markings look like scrawls or random drawings.
Filefish are related to triggerfish, and this scrawled filefish is said to be very delicious. They call it “poor man’s mahimahi” because of the flaky white meat you’d see after you removed its tough skin. I actually blogged about this fish back in March, 2014, which may have been the last time I caught one of these strange looking fish.
Thanks for sending it in Thanh!
What a beautiful fish!
Beautiful markings, odd shape tho!
How does one know which fishes are edible and which fishes aren’t?
That’s a very good question Andrew. There are books and online resources but when you’re fishing and you catch something, how would you know the first time yeah? I guess it would be good to study the various reef fish, and when in doubt, let go a fish you’re not sure about. Soon enough you’ll know all the usual suspects.
Terrific tasting fish and cleaned the same way as mahi too! Havent had in a while. We used to night dive for those guys (maybe 4 times?) and they were delicious.
Erik,
You’re the first person I know well that has eaten them. Funny that there’s so many of the broom fish in some places, as if no one wants to eat ’em.
-scott
strange that where we used to dive for them there are not as many now? Tell me where they are and i’ll go get em! haha, easy to clean and delicious.
They’re that good huh? I used to always see ’em at a cliffy area and would try to avoid hooking them. I heard of guys throw netting for them on the reefy shallows.
What do you use for bait and what size hook?
Hi Bob,
Looks like ika or squid was used in the photo, and I’ve hooked them on squid and shrimp too. They have a fairly small mouth so a small hook with a half inch gap or less should suffice.
-scott