If you haven’t visited P.J. Stoops at his “Total Catch Market” yet, this Saturday (April 2) will be an excellent day to stop by. Stoops sells unusual fish that are part of the fishing fleet’s “bycatch.” He told me that a grouper boat is due to come in just in time for the Saturday morning (9am to noon) market.
Grouper boats fish with long lines with hundred of baited hooks and they accidently harvest a lot of seldom-sold species. They also have huge holds, so its easy for the captains to keep much of the bycatch. PJ told me to come early and get some “queen snapper,” a fish nearly identical to onaga from Hawaii. The market is located in the retail space in front of Louisiana Foods, 4410 West 12th Street
Houston.
We got a beautiful snapper and some biganos last week. It was all really good!