# Sheepshead



## johnbutte (Nov 28, 2018)

Spent the last few days at a bay house, did a lot of fishing under the lights and some daytime. Very little action from trout, but fortunately sheepshead were around in abundance. I know they are not a popularly sought fish, but they fight well and taste good. And when you have kids and need to get something on the line to keep their attention, its good to remember they are out there. A simple bottom rig with a piece of cut shrimp will get the job done. Small hooks are critical as they have small mouths and can be nibblers.

We ended up filleting 15 and had a great fish fry. Many more were released. The meat was firm and sweet. They are not as hard to fillet as some have claimed, but I do highly recommend an electric fillet knife.

I haven't posted on here here for a long time and forgot my login, so started a new account. Just wanted everyone to know about the sheepshead.


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## WillieT (Aug 25, 2010)

Nice report. Lov sheepshead. They are excellent table fare and can keep the kid occupied for hours. Good job.


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## Solodaddio (Mar 22, 2014)

Folks all around wine about it how difficult it is to filet. Equivalent body frame as a red snapper. Both are excellent table fair. Last year seen my first parasites in a couple flounder and thereâ€™s worms in everything else. Clean white meet in dem sheepies!


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## johnbutte (Nov 28, 2018)

Yep, the meat out of those sheep was clean and delicious. My 18 year old nephew claimed he didn't like fish until he tried these.


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## shadslinger (Aug 21, 2005)

Yep yâ€™all catch and eat them all!


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## Muddskipper (Dec 29, 2004)

Love me some sheeps......fillets are even better when you donâ€™t cut the green gut in them......
Restaurants call them bay snapper


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## texcajun (Feb 22, 2009)

I was amazed the first time I caught 'em. For such a big fish, there sure wasn't much meat on 'em. What they had was delicious, tho!


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## Ditto2 (Jul 19, 2016)

Sheepshead have saved the day several times when fishing with the kids. I did limit them on the number they could keep though. Definitely good eating.


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## Gofish2day (May 9, 2006)

Sheepshead, great fun to catch. Great to eat. A royal pain to clean. I throw em back unless I really need a fish fry.
2 years ago I want on a red fish charter out of Venice LA and caught limits of reds but also limits of big sheepshead. I threw the first back and the guide stated he will clean all I want. BINGO - I kept 2 limits of big big ones. Great eats!


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## ReedA1691 (Jan 29, 2018)

I realize most on this site probably don't eat fish cooked whole very often, but sheepshead is ideal for cooking whole. Scale and gut them, put them in an aluminum baking pan (disposable ones), put some flavoring on them and some root vegetables all around them, tent and seal the edges with foil and then either bake it or put it on the gas grille. Awesome eats.


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## ReedA1691 (Jan 29, 2018)

If you want to ry and win a division of the STAR tournament one year for the kids division, take your kid once a week to the SLP bridge pilings and drop peeled shrimp down the down-current side of the pilings and hold on. You can cull through dozens of fish and probably find an 8 lber most days. You'll need to be around 10 lbs to win, but that is the best place to catch them. Jetties are good too, but harder to get them in the net and frustrating for kids getting hung up in the rocks all the time.


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## Gofish2day (May 9, 2006)

I ate the whole fish many times as a kid. This was before anyone used an electric knife.
We also scaled them. Wrap in cheese cloth. Dunk in crab boil. Pick off the meat.
Imitation crab and people have been using this way for years.
Great on Salads too!
We fished the Lake Pontchartain bridge pilings (1-10) with little 2" wide crabs.
Huge huge sheephead back then.


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## Captain Marty (Jul 14, 2006)

*Poor Man's Crab*

One of my customers told me how the fix sheepshead so they taste like crab.

It is very simple. Take a sheepshead filet and cut out the dark meat. Then cut into strips and sprinkle with Zatarain's Crab Boil. Then steam the strips for about 15 minutes.

It taste just like crab meat. I have tried it and it does taste like crab meat.


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## loco4fishn (May 17, 2010)

Captain Marty said:


> One of my customers told me how the fix sheepshead so they taste like crab.
> 
> It is very simple. Take a sheepshead filet and cut out the dark meat. Then cut into strips and sprinkle with Zatarain's Crab Boil. Then steam the strips for about 15 minutes.
> 
> It taste just like crab meat. I have tried it and it does taste like crab meat.


Ya but, the sheepshead run is over for everyone but you.


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## Its Catchy (Apr 10, 2014)

loco4fishn said:


> Ya but, the sheepshead run is over for everyone but you.


That was hilarious!


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## Rockfish2 (Sep 1, 2017)

Captain Marty said:


> One of my customers told me how the fix sheepshead so they taste like crab.
> 
> It is very simple. Take a sheepshead filet and cut out the dark meat. Then cut into strips and sprinkle with Zatarain's Crab Boil. Then steam the strips for about 15 minutes.
> 
> It taste just like crab meat. I have tried it and it does taste like crab meat.


I find it tastes just like flounder.


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## Trouthappy (Jun 12, 2008)

Years ago we got invited to a dinner banquet at a Chinese restaurant near downtown Houston. They put a whole, sweet and sour pink sauce sheepshead on every table, as an appetizer. Not very big, maybe two pounders. 

Anyway I'd rather eat fried sheepshead, than fried trout. Sheepshead almost entirely eat shellfish, that's why they taste good.


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## DA REEL DADDY (Jun 7, 2005)

Keeping the kids occupied, what about us grown men?!:biggrin:


I love catching and eating sheephead.


Good job putting the kids on them and teaching as well too.



thanks for the post.


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## johnbutte (Nov 28, 2018)

I've heard that too about sheepshead diet, tasting better because of shellfish diet. Anyway, they make a great meal. The rig to catch is super simple too. A one ounce bell sinker, small split shot a foot up the line, and small circle hook or treble hook.


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## RedXCross (Aug 7, 2005)

Just like chicken of the sea



Trouthappy said:


> Years ago we got invited to a dinner banquet at a Chinese restaurant near downtown Houston. They put a whole, sweet and sour pink sauce sheepshead on every table, as an appetizer. Not very big, maybe two pounders.
> 
> Anyway I'd rather eat fried sheepshead, than fried trout. Sheepshead almost entirely eat shellfish, that's why they taste good.


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## Cut n Shoot (Dec 11, 2015)

40 years ago ,we fished the South Galveston jetty wearing golf shoes for traction. There was a family of Vietnamese that carried jugs full of hermit crabs, cane poles and they absolutely slaughtered the convicts. They'd put them in oyster sacks.I started keeping them and they are great table fare.


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## CHARLIE (Jun 2, 2004)

Yall probably eat amberjack too !! LOL


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## shadslinger (Aug 21, 2005)

CHARLIE said:


> Yall probably eat amberjack too !! LOL


Donâ€™t poke at em! Iâ€™m hoping sheepie fishing gets popular enough to sheepshead populations damage lol!

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## habanerojooz (Dec 4, 2006)

Iâ€™ve always released all of my sheepies. I laugh at their ugly grill and toss them back. All this talk about how good they are has me curious. I can relate that they must taste good due their shellfish diet. The next one goes in the box. 


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## Fishin' Soldier (Dec 25, 2007)

habanerojooz said:


> Iâ€™ve always released all of my sheepies. I laugh at their ugly grill and toss them back. All this talk about how good they are has me curious. I can relate that they must taste good due their shellfish diet. The next one goes in the box.
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Scale, Score, Season, and grill it whole. You're welcome! :biggrin:


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## karstopo (Jun 29, 2009)

habanerojooz said:


> Iâ€™ve always released all of my sheepies. I laugh at their ugly grill and toss them back. All this talk about how good they are has me curious. I can relate that they must taste good due their shellfish diet. The next one goes in the box.
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk




















Who are you calling ugly? Iâ€™ve been letting them go, maybe that will change, yâ€™all making them sound too good not to eat.


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## johnbutte (Nov 28, 2018)

I should have taken a picture of the fillets. They cooked up beautifully.


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## shadslinger (Aug 21, 2005)

One time, I had a catch of fish from Sabine Pass that was a real mixture of species.
We had some keeper reds, some nice trout, a few flounder and black drum.
We even kept the sheepies that day. Some BIG ones, we had fished over an oyster reef.
The same spot all day.
I cleaned my fish and fried some that night. 

I fried some of it all and let Susan taste it in small pieces as I went.

I fried some trout, and gave some to my wife, mm good trout she said.
The same with red fish. Nearly drooled over the flounder.
I think we both bit into the sheepies at the same time and was disgusting!
My wife said, don't bother keeping any of those anymore.
I had eaten them before, and they were very good like all the other have said. 

I'm not sure if it was just those sheepies or what, but pardner all it takes is one nasty tasting sheepie to throw off eating them forever. LOL!
They are hard fighting scraping fish and fun to catch though. y'all eat em up.


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