How to Clean Gafftopsail Catfish Quickly

[MathGeek]

Originally Posted by Cappy

Neva knew what ya call them but we called them sail cats and I ate a few over the years
I hate using that technique cause its so fateful of good fish flesh but I do use it when I have 10 or more fish cause its really fast and there is enough to let some waste. I soak them in mustard egg wash and fry. Also I leave the filet on the tail flip and take the skin off.

Yeah, like most fish cleaning, there is a trade off between speed and yield.

When it's hot and I'm tired and there are a mess of fish to clean, I gravitate toward speed.

And whatever the yield, it is greater for fish you keep than for fish you throw back. I really want to encourage folks to keep more gafftops, not only because they are as good as other catfish, but because gafftops are strong food competitors with redfish and specks, and also eat their share of age 0 specimens of redfish and specks (and mullet and croaker and menhaden).

For every 5 lb gafftop you keep, you leave enough forage to feed 5 lbs of redfish and specks.