Catfish and Gaftop

[mjh]

Ok I have caught catfish in Freshwater and they are great to eat. My question is are the catfish and or gaftop worth eating in saltwater. I have caught several catfish on the west end but just not sure if good eating?
Michael

[FP10]

Hardheads no. I have heard of some people eating gafftop, but I would not be able to get past the slime.

On a side note Coe, Chip and 007 have been know to have hardhead fish fries!!!

[reelmacoy]

Gaffs are good to eat

[reeltime]

Hardheads no. I have heard of some people eating gafftop, but I would not be able to get past the slime.

On a side note Coe, Chip and 007 have been know to have hardhead fish fries!!!

LOL FP10..........gafftops are just salty cats....good eats if cleaned right.

[fuzzy]

I got a buddy that has catfish frys with gafftop.

[mjh]

What just clean them like a catfish as in skinning?

[wlgorman]

take them to a powerwasher on the way home, then yeah, clean them just like a cat. Or filet.

[Explorer21]

NO THANKS!!! Neighor eats gafftops all the time and really likes them, but I am with Jeremy, can't get away from the slime.

[JT]

if you ever ate a catfish poboy at the old averys in sea isle...odds are you ate a hardhead.

[mjh]

Ok I get the point. I have not had any yet. I think I have made a good choice.

[Race1Mopar]

My dad didn't let his friend bring a nice gaff in the baot once so it got left on a stringer outside the boat. Took off and 1/2 mile later... ohhh gaff on stringer. No more slime! Guess that's one way to de-slime hahaha

Gafftop have really good white meat. There tasty but you do have to de-slime, one way or another, then strip the skin off. If you do decide to do it you want to strip the skin from head to tail, not the other way around. If you strip from tail to head you'll lose half your meat. Meat tastes better without the skin.

[Deke]

They are good. In the 80's we would take an extra cooler on the boat in San Antonio bay for the gafftop. We would catch huge tops on speck rigs under a popping cork or shrimp tails. We learned to take them to the car wash and spray them down. Then just go fillet them like a trout. Nice firm white meat.