# Eating hardhead catfish



## Abe (Jun 14, 2016)

I grew up throwing away hardhead catfish. Always figured them to be more annoying than anything. I see them everywhere. I have even tried using them as bait, even other fish turn their noses up. 

Anyway, my wife has a friend that is an older chinese lady. She said she would love if I kept a few for her next time we ran into some catfish. I figured no problem, not like I am targeting catfish but if I hit some, great. Next time I pulled a few in I clipped all the fins and gutted them and gave them to her.

She cooked them up and gave us some. They were actually really good. The way she made them you could actually even pass them off as snapper. I never would have believed it myself if I hadn't eaten it. Granted it was fried, but it was definately better than freshwater cat and better than some other species people consider edible. 

The next time I was at a different area, I caught a few and they smelled like raw sewage. I didn't even want to handle them it was so strong. I just cut them loose. I would not have dreamed trying to eat them. Same bay, just closer to the pass which I would think would be cleaner. They weren't.

What are your thoughts on hardhead catfish? Ever given them a shot at eating or just toss them?


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## ChileRelleno (Jul 7, 2012)

Tried one once, not impressed,

Now Sailcats are another story, comparable to pond raised Channel cat.
My kids will eat every one we catch and wish they had more.


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## jaster (Oct 7, 2007)

Agreed^^^^. We eat sail cats. But hard heads, nahhhh


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## goheel (Feb 3, 2011)

Might as well start learning to eat them now. In the future, that'll be the only fish you can keep


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## yukondog (Feb 12, 2013)

Tried them once did not care for them, sail cats all day.


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## welldoya (Oct 5, 2007)

Many years ago I was fishing at night off the old 2 lane Hathaway Bridge in Panama City. 
I was catching the heck out of hardheads. There was a guy from Georgia next to me and he wanted every one I caught. Said he was in the Lions club and they were going to have a fish fry when he got back. I don't know if he knew something I didn't or was just tourist-ignorant. I must've given him 40.


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## Jason (Oct 2, 2007)

goheel said:


> Might as well start learning to eat them now. In the future, that'll be the only fish you can keep


shhhhhhhh now they read this and they'll put a 1 fish limit on em!!!! THANKS ALOT!!!:001_huh::shifty::whistling:


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## Play'N Hooky Too (Sep 29, 2007)

My thoughts are that I would find another hobby before I would eat a hard head catfish. If you put enough seasoning on it and deep fried it I imagine one of my old Red Wing boots would taste "decent".


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## Abe (Jun 14, 2016)

goheel said:


> Might as well start learning to eat them now. In the future, that'll be the only fish you can keep


No kidding. Only one per vessel per day, between 18-20". Unless you have a commercial license, then you can fill coolers almost year-round. 

Seriously I was on the same boat as most of you as far as trashing them. I was hesitent to even try it when it was in front of me. I think one thing that made a difference I noticed was that there was no dark meat. The skin was removed and the darker meat that runs along the spine was removed. She only kept the whitest meat. It was fried but not too heavily seasoned, you could taste the fish and it really wasn't bad. I would take it over tilapia fillets from the supermarket any day, and definately over fresh water cat. I never would have believed it without trying it.

And I figured sail cats were a no brainer for most, I have always kept those.


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## fishnhuntguy (Feb 8, 2012)

You need a pretty big sail cat to get a fillet, I would assume the same thing with a hard head. Make sure you clip the fins if you put them in the ice chest. Or you could have an emergency on your boat.


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