Calcasieu Pass 6/14

[MathGeek]

Hit the pass around 2:00 PM, clouds threatened, but T-storms kept their distance. Water looked like chocolate milk and tide was not moving at all when we got there. We anchored about 100 yards north of the end of the west jetty on the outside, and began letting down crab, shrimp, and finger mullet. We weren't there ten minutes when the fight began with the first bull drum.

There was a steady stream of really big gafftops with two more big drum until 5:00 PM when we called it a day. The sun had come out and the water looked a bit clearer. The tide was moving pretty fast when we got back into the channel. The new shimano reels with 30 lb power pro did a great job bringing in the bulls and the 10 or so 5 + lb gafftops: plenty of power, smooth drags, and great castability also. All the drum and most of the gafftops were caught on fresh crab, bought at JTs in LC, kept alive until use, popped the top shell off and broken in half before loading up on a Mustad 6/0 live bait hook. I love these hooks, much higher percentage of hook ups than the 6/0 offset eagle claws we had been using.

[Texas Tiger]

MG, thanks for the tip on the hooks...I've been thinking about using some crab on my next trip down in a couple of weeks, and wondering what hooks to use. I'll give the Mustads a try.

Best of Luck

[MathGeek]

If we want to jump through the hoops and get them weighed and do the paperwork, the bigger gafftops in the picture would be the 4th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th LA state record gafftopsail catfish.

Of course, the 6th-10th places are currently unoccupied.

[MathGeek]

Originally Posted by Texas Tiger

MG, thanks for the tip on the hooks...I've been thinking about using some crab on my next trip down in a couple of weeks, and wondering what hooks to use. I'll give the Mustads a try.

Best of Luck

We tried some longer shanked, non-offset Mustads last year and the results were a bit disappointing. We caught lots of fish, but had plenty of missed hook-ups. This year we wanted to increase our successful hook ups so we went to a shorted shanked offset hook. The Mustad part number is 92677 for the hook that is working so well. I think the offset 6/0 or 7/0 Eagle Claw is better than the non-offset Mustad.

Also, we always count to six when a fish starts to take out drag on a hook baited with crab before tightening the drag (start with the drag real loose) to give the drum, redfish, or gafftop time to get the hook fully into its mouth and crush the bait enough to get hooked. If it is a crab claw rather than a crab body on the hook, we count to ten. Once the count is reached, we do not set the hook, we only gradually tighten the drag and begin fighting the fish.

[ElectricChicken]

MG, Great catch man! Like I said- I like your style. When you cook those catfish and drum up please post on the Roux so we can all see how you prepare and eat these fish. I am very curious to try some but have heard all the negatives about the gafftop & drum. Todd

[MathGeek]

Originally Posted by ElectricChicken

MG, Great catch man! Like I said- I like your style. When you cook those catfish and drum up please post on the Roux so we can all see how you prepare and eat these fish. I am very curious to try some but have heard all the negatives about the gafftop & drum. Todd

The trick is in the cleaning more than the cooking. All the red, all the unsavory looking parts, all the hints of skin, all the hints of fatty deposits need to be cut out before freezing or cooking. I do the rough cleaning: cutting the fillets from between the scales and bones. Amy does the fine clean-up work, cutting the good meat from what I hand to her. She''s in the kitchen doing it now, I'll see if we can get a picture.

The picture shows what my children call "drum sticks." They love 'em fried. Gafftop can be cleaned up in a similar way, though the shape ends up different after all the bad parts are cut out. Fry 'em up and put 'em in a po-boy, or grill 'em, or anything you really like to do with fish. Yum.

[MathGeek]

I should add that gafftops are altogether a much better tasting fish than hardheads which are likely responsible for the reputation of marine catfish on the table. Hardheads are just plain fishy tasting and the only remedy is strong sauce: horseradish, Tobasco, mustard, etc. Gafftops actually have a positive flavor if properly cooled cleaned and trimmed.

Proper prep of gafftops begins by buying plenty of ice and making sure the fish get placed in the ice/water slurry at the bottom so the sloshing around motion removes the slime so that it cannot be transferred to the fillets on the cleaning table. This also cools the fish very quickly to prevent bacterial action. We do this not only with gafftops, but with all the fish we catch. Remember that if a fish is warm, bacterial action begins as soon as it dies, and the key to great table fare is very rapid cooling, and nothing cools fish faster than immediate submersing in ice water.

Once on the cleaning table, you must be sure not to puncture the gut. Keep all the knife action outside of the rib cage. I like to score the skin to outline the area that will get pulled off with the pliers. After pulling off the skin, the fillet gets removed directly from the back and working on the outside of the rib cage at all times. More careful trimming removes the bits of skin, red meat, and fatty portions.

[jchief]

We used to keep and cook gaftops all the time. Don't really know why I quit. We would fillet them all the way.

[Garfish]

Originally Posted by jchief

We used to keep and cook gaftops all the time. Don't really know why I quit. We would fillet them all the way.

Yea, i just fillet them off the skin. I don't skin em first. Just make sure to get the red meat cut off and it's pretty good. If it's a slow day, I'll keep a few. If I'm catching other desirable species then I'll release 'em.

That's looks like a fun day Math G. good job!

[Armand16]

that middle drum is bleeding like a stuck pig but the filets dont look bad at all