sheephead - good to eat

[saltysully]

I catch a lot of sheephead at big lake, but never keep any. Are they good to eat? If so, how do you clean em and cook em?

[LPfishnTIM]

to clean them I take a knife and slide it down the side of the spine and cut down to the tail, don't try to cut threw the ribs, I usually don't use an electric knife on them either it will burn one up. eat them fresh there not bad, some people boil the meat in crab boil, taste like imitation crab meat. or fry up with some lemon juice on it.

[Pat Babaz]

They are real good to eat, you just don't get alot of meat off them if you filet them because they have a big rib cage that is hard to cut around(for me anyway). Maybe somebody else on here knows a trick on how to clean em. You can also gut and scrape them, then boil em' in a pot, pull the meat off and use it like a imitation crab meat. Most people don't keep them mainly b/c they are kind of a pain to clean.

[booyagasha]

good eating, but hard to clean, when we have fish like this, we just cook the fish whole, and pick from it

[LPfishnTIM]

I knew I wasn't the only trash fishin redneck on this site!

[Bluechip]

I had a guy show me how to clean them. He lays them flat and cuts from the head to the tail right down the middle of the fish then cuts from the top of fish down to his cut down the middle.
Pretty piece of meat just like cutting the backstrap on a deer.

[Ray]

Better than Specks, harder to clean.
Not a lot of them in Big Lake.
Rigs right offshore have more then the lake.
White firm meat. Good eatin.

[Bluechip]

I agree Ray, I have fed them to many people that just bragged on them. I told them it was redfish and specs lol...

[Ray]

I don't tell till after they eat them. They say they will definitely eat them again.

[speck-chaser]

Ive seen a guy use electric knife on em before. He started at the tail and worked his way up to the ribcage,then just came up and over and bypassed the ribcage all together. Prolly dont get all the meat,but a nice easy piece without the fight.

[Frank Buck]

I love them, in fact if i can target them and get on a consistant bite, I will load the boat...There are difficulties in cleaning them, but once you get your own method, they are not bad at all...I usually make mock crab meat or mock crab patties out of them....They are great eating....Most people would just rather the ease of cleaning specs, but seeing as how I am usually on the losing end of a spec trip....Love catching them....I nevered fooled with them until an older fisherperson showed me a thing or too, I actually get excited to catch them now....

[duckfreak]

Originally Posted by LPfishnTIM

I knew I wasn't the only trash fishin redneck on this site!

Might have ya bet on the trash fish..... I was told by an old timer one time that Gafftop were good,so one day we were catching nothing but gafftop so kept a few of the medium ones and tell you what as long as you cut out the blood line, that is some of the best catfish I ever ate, meat is really white.

[Montauk17]

I have only caught maybe 5 in my life....they eat good though,used a electric knife to clean em.

[meaux fishing]

I only keep really big ones and clean from the tail forward

[RaginCagin]

Originally Posted by speck-chaser

Ive seen a guy use electric knife on em before. He started at the tail and worked his way up to the ribcage,then just came up and over and bypassed the ribcage all together. Prolly dont get all the meat,but a nice easy piece without the fight.

exactly how i have always done it. i dont throw them back and its not hard to clean them using this method.

[saltysully]

Originally Posted by LPfishnTIM

I knew I wasn't the only trash fishin redneck on this site!

You got that right!

["W"]

April Fools????????

[saltysully]

Originally Posted by duckfreak

Might have ya bet on the trash fish..... I was told by an old timer one time that Gafftop were good,so one day we were catching nothing but gafftop so kept a few of the medium ones and tell you what as long as you cut out the blood line, that is some of the best catfish I ever ate, meat is really white.

Actually thats the other fish I catch a lot of and they ARE quite tasty..

[Austin(boatman's son)]

Originally Posted by "W"

April Fools????????

[FISHMEATSAUCE]

dont see why anyone would eat a gaftop but whatever floats ya boat! lol