Do Lady Fish really Taste Bad? Or is Google Just Sexist?

We wish we’d had more time to explore the gulf coast and pan handle. The vibe is decidedly more laid back than on the Atlantic side. I can’t recall one road rage incident since leaving the keys.

After risking a 7-11 breakfast of taquitos, we launched the VS Allie Cat from the Kingfish Boat Ramp, which was bustling despite Google’s insistence it was temporarily closed for repairs. We trolled up and down the Ana Maria Bridge and out to some small islands and supposed shipwrecks locations. We finally got some action on the Fish Finder in the deep water off School Key before it promptly died.

We soon reeled in a very indignant puffer fish, and then Ben landed a long silvery species we didn’t recognize. Google identified it as a ladyfish and not good eating, but Ben was not about to take Google’s word for it, or that of about half a dozen YouTubers who had taste-tested them, so we kept a couple for dinner.

After we returned from fishing, we found a glorious parking spot along the causeway between the island and mainland, where we watched the sunset and enjoyed a delicious dinner of mangrove snapper we’d brought from the Keys, which fortunately Ben had prepared as a backup in case the ladyfish proved inedible, which it did. Twenty years of professional cooking experience failed to elevate ladyfish to anything but unpalatable mush.

The next morning we headed northeast, toward our last, and one of our most anticipated, Florida destination: Ocala.