When I was much younger, my father and brother almost exclusively target barred surf perch. Most of the time we kept our catch and prepared them by
"drying" the fish by salting the field dressed fish and allowing them to dry in a fish drying net. This causes all the moisture in the flesh to be removed causing the flesh to become more firm. Once the drying of the fish is complete, we would simply pan fry the fish or broil the fish in aluminum foil lemons and other seasonings.

They are no question good eating fish, but I wouldn't eat too many of them since they do forage on worms, shellfish and crabs (biomagnification).