CAtfish with attitude!

[OUTLAW]

Made a short trip this am to Offats to run my motor and fished a little on the side. The live bait I had died but hung one good sand trout before it did. MOved to the reef at dawn, no arty bite at all. Hung a nice Gafftop on cut sant trout. Moved back between the reef and marsh, still with no arty bite. Did manage a keeper flatfish on cut bait also. Out of the water by 8:30, just as the tide was starting to move again.

[Larry G]

That's the first time I have seen a Gafftop. Pretty fish isn't he? Salt fishing is really Greek to me. Can you eat the Flatfish?

[OUTLAW]

The flatfish is a Flounder and thought by most salt fisherman to be the best tasting inshore fish. Most folks frown on the gafftop but I hear they are worth eating so I'll try some on the grill. I'm soaking in vinegrette right now. It has a very tough skin and when fileted there was a strong blood line next to the skin that I removed. They are also very slimmy and get slime hanging all on your line and anything else they touch.

[Larry G]

Thank you. I've eaten flounder and it is good. I don't know if I would want to try the fish with an 'Attitude' though. :roll:

[dwaynez]

Nice Catch,

Flounder are one of my favorite fish to eat.

[trombone13]

:D You will find the gafftop excellent tablefare-the equal of fresh water catfish in many opinions and surely fun to catch.
Bob

[OUTLAW]

Fun to catch and good table fare but I wouldn't compare it to fresh water kitties. It wasn't a strong fish and had a good texture but dem fresh water cats are hard to beat. I soaked it in vinegrette added some butter and a little tony's and wrapped in tin foil and placed on grill with only 2 of 3 burners on for about 20 min. It was good enough to keep when I catch more. 8)

[Larry G]

Outlaw, can you do Sand Bass or Hybrids the same way? I can't seem to get the grilling down. I do pretty good with the smoker but the gas grill tries my patients. I have 3 burners also. What temp.?

[OUTLAW]

Larry, yea you can do any fish or anything else for that matter this way. I just soaked them in the vinegrette for a couple hrs, layed them out on foil, seasoned a little more and wrapped it up (like we did when I was a boy scout). I turned all 3 burners on for a while it was around 400, When ready to cook I turned off 1 burner and set the foil on top of it, turned down the others just a little and I think it kept around 350-400 and just let it steam for about 20 min. I poured the vinegrette back over the fish and added a few pats of butter before I wrapped it up. The vinegrette didn't seem as overwhelming as italian dressing but also looked like if I'd have kept it in there, I'd have had sushi.
YOu can also microwave fish this way too. I use foodsaver bags, season the fish how I like, add some butter, seal and freeze. When ready to cook I thaw, poke a few holes in the bag and microwave for 4 min,(really!) If Ziplocs are microwave safe they would work too but I've never checked.
n-joy 8)

[Larry G]

Gottcha. I don't care for Sand Bass and Hybrids, especially the big ones, but they do smoke really well. I'm going to give this a try. I catch these big hybrids by accident while catfishing and of late I've turned them back. When I get in to them the next time I'll keep um. Thanks again.

[minner skinner]

well ive heard that you can put gafftops in the freezer for awhile to harden the slime which helps during cleaning. never tried it myself to see if it works. Those slimy fish sure can bend a trout pole. Ive fished a slick over the blue hole in offats that i thought was trout but turned out to be a huge school of gafftops.