# Anyone eat sail cats?????



## jaster

Although this will hold no candle in the wind to the killer gfrilled cobia I am posting behind.... I wonder if anyone has eatin the gafftopsail cats? I was sick of catching and throwing back what seemed like the same cats lastnight, so I googled and found edible beside the listing,hmmm....... Well I will let ya'll know how it turns out, heck anything battered and fried in vegetable oil has got to be good right, I mean Larry the cable guy fried spinich last week?


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## tld15uga

Ive heard they're actually pretty good, but I've never tried them myself. Anxious to hear what others have to say..


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## Captain Gator

They are super.... fillet them.... one of my favorite ways is to fillet them and cut the fillet into finger size... mix 2 tablespoons of Lemon Pepper, I tablespoon of garlic salt, 1 tablespoon of Creole of cajun seasoning... 1 cup of corn meal... Mix all those together for a batter...2 cups of buttermilk... 1 egg beaten in the milk... dip the fillets in the milk and egg...or soak them in the milk and egg and then dip them in the corn meal and seasons.... fry in peanut oil... it doesn't have a muddy taste like freshwater catfish..it is white and wonderful... a very light tasting fish... let me know what you think... Captain Gator...


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## sig226

my chief in 1969 when i was in navy at nas would take every one i caught said they were super


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## jdhkingfisher

i eat em. just cut the blood line out and keep the slime off it and its awesome


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## PAWGhunter

I've tried, not too bad I guess...but I don't like eating fish.


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## captken

*Good for me.*

I fillet them just like a Grouper then cut the skin off. Remove any red meat. Cut into fingers. The meat is firmer than most other fish. It makes superior chowder.

Make sure the fish is dead and very cold. Hit the fish with high pressure water to wash off darn near all of the slime. I usually wipe the fish with newspaper after blasting with water.

They freeze well and, to my taste, they are a heck of a lot better than Trout. Larger Sailcats have an occasional worm.

I almost never use bait and don't catch a lot of them but the ones I catch are 3-4#. They take top water plugs or about any other lure. I seldom keep Trout but I'll keep a nice Gafftop any time I catch one.

They are definitely an unde rutilized species and very plentiful with no size, bag limit or closed season. I hope Crabtree isn't reading this.


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## Nitzey

Well, my opinion is that on a scale of 1 to 10 they are a 4 or 5. Believe it or not, several people tell me the other salt water cat fish, hard heads, are better. Never tried them myself although the other night that is all we caught.


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## jaster

Well got em cleaned, dang ribs are hard as a rock, after the first one I just followed the rib line to the dorsil and cut it back from there. I have researched it before long ago, and I remember reading filet it off the skin not peel it like freshwater cats. The meat is supprisingly white, the hard head I kept was a little yellowish, I decided to feed it to his land locked cousins. But the sails and white trout are soaking in the cold pool of water and lemon juice for the next 20 or so hours, will report back tomorrow after I fry em up.

Oh and for those wondering the smallest was 4+ and the biggest was 7+ accordding to my 10yr old berkly manual scale. They ate my shark baits so you can imagine they were pretty hefty. Two of them had eggs strange looking ones too!!


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## Jason

Sails are a "predatory" fish meaning they eat alot of live prey not bottom suckers eating mud. They have white meat, but a 5 lb sail will only yield small filets...Other then slimming up your cooler, they are very good fried up!!!!


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## jim t

I've tried a saltwater hard head catfish before at a party fried by badazzchef. Fishy and mushy, edible though.

Not "yuck", but I wouldn't eat it again.

I left the bloodline in a Blackfin tuna before and fried it up... Same thing, the blood line is VERY fishy. Edible, but I wouldn't eat it again on purpose.

Jim


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## jaster

Idk Jason, I just weighed the meat for shits and giggles and four cats yeilded me almost four pounds of filets, plenty for the diet I am on, lol yeah right. But ther Is alot of meat there, filets are around 9-11 " long and after cutting blood line I get one side about 11" X 2" X 3/4" thick or so and then the bottom of the filet so they look good. But had I have known I could of had plenty more.


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## eym_sirius

Sail cats are great eating! Like everyone says - Make sure that you cut out the dark line - All of it! Nice white meat.

On the other hand, I tried a hardhead catfish. I filleted it and fried it. It's one of the only fish I've ever tried that was terrible fried! 

Eventually, I want to try everything. Pinfish taste kind of like bream, and there's not a whole lot of difference between a hardtail and a bluefish, IMO.

I give sail cats a 7.5 out of 10. Where it loses points is in having to cut out so much dark meat so that you about have to do it in fingers. Filleting is the way to go, but there's more pointage lost because of all of the slime. A good tug on the line and worthy of the frying pan.


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## hogdogs

Iwanted to get one of the "crucifix bones" out for someone and I was literally tired of catching them while drifting bait in the indian river.

http://www.lafishmag.com/CrucifixFish.html

I was almost to the point of keeping them for the $.05 per lb bait meat market. 

I put it in a pot to boil and it wretched my stomach (and everyone else within "nose shot") so bad I don't think I could knowingly try a bite... Heck... None of my dogs would touch it when I was done... NONE!!! It is proably real good when fried but I think it stinks worse than a 5 day dead hog skull when boiled.

Brent


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## HisName

had them often as a child , not sure which ones , just salt water cats.
they didnt taste good but eleviated hunger pains when roasted whole over a hobo fire.
the trick is to cut them deep at the base of the tail and let them bleed themselves out while still alive .


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## outdoorkid

That snot thick slime is enough for me not to try them. I have heard they are pretty tasty though.


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## Catchin Hell

Jason,

They are DELICIOUS!!! I wish I could say the same for hard heads, but I can't stand them. My son loves hard heads and he can have em...


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## jaster

^^^ Thanks buddy, how ya been? I could'nt talk the kids into waiting on me to fry em up tonight, ribeye took presidence, and gas bottle was low! So they got a fresh bath and back into a new bathtub of water. tomorow is the day!


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## Fishermon

is this a sail cat? ...


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## Jason

Fishermon said:


> is this a sail cat? ...


That looks like the critter.....long fins....:thumbup:


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## hogdogs

I had caught over 500#s per day in a 14 hour day of drifting 5-6 lines from a 12' skiff in the indian river. Makes for a long day of catch and release.

Brent


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## Catchin Hell

Hey, where's your update on that fine cuisine... btw, I'll be up in your neck of the woods this afternoon if you want to come over and fish a while...


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## jaster

Sorry I missed the invite Tarver, dang, gotta get the boys over there to catch a few. O.K. and the vertict is???????????????????????????


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## jaster

Not to shabby. I would not necisarilly target the little critters, but I will not be throwing any over 5lbs back that is for certain!


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## Ultralite

jim t said:


> I've tried a saltwater hard head catfish before at a party fried by badazzchef. Fishy and mushy, edible though.
> 
> Not "yuck", but I wouldn't eat it again.
> 
> I left the bloodline in a Blackfin tuna before and fried it up... Same thing, the blood line is VERY fishy. Edible, but I wouldn't eat it again on purpose.
> 
> Jim


i was there jim and jamielu tried to get me to taste it (hardhead)...not this guy! :no:...ate gafftop years ago and it was okay...usually release them though...


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## 20simmons sea skiff

my cheif when i was in navy took every one i caught, i thought that they were bad, but others told me different.


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## grumendboat

We have cooked them a few ways and small chunks fried is the only way we found works. All the other ways turned out like rubber. The belly area is a good size chunk of meat most people miss. I put them in trash bag in cooler then use the bag for guts when cleaning.


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## BullyARed

Hey, they are GOM (Gulf of Mexico) trout. They are delicious!


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## Mudigger

I take them and cut them into steaks and make Courtbouillon. Taste almost as good as using freshwater yellow catfish.


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## turksgonefishin

*Sailcat*

Went out Sat morning caught 8 and deep fried yum yum yum.


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## jaster

Old thread, but yea, I dont release any more that are over 2 lbs or so!


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## Charlie2

*Gaff Topsail Catfish*

There's a Creek where I was raised where they would congregate to spawn.

You could catch them on anything. We deliberately fished for them because with 8 hungry kids; anything helped! 

An ice pick through the head to hold it down; a small cut, then pull the skin off with a pair of pliers. We would filet one side and leave the other one on the backbone. Lots of meat on the backbone.

Dip in buttermilk then dust with corn meal and deep fry! You can eat around the bloodline!

To this day; I won't throw a BIG! one back. C2


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## jaster

Whew, you brave if you eat a peeled sail cat! I filet mime off the skin and get rid of that1/4" thick bloody nasty tasting goo! Then i dip in buttermilk and season and fry, lol


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## Chaos

*Sail Cats*

I like'em! Fried crispy!


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## Captain Gator

Outstanding... cut them up into fingers after I clean them... big ones I fillet...


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## Captain Gator

Be blessed and enjoy life. Outstanding!!!


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