# Dad gum gaftop



## championbrett23 (Jun 11, 2013)

Read surf/swell report all week and got more pumped as this morning grew closer. Got a couple dozen croaker went to Quintana as the swell report said 0'-1' got there and they were knee. There was a moderate amount of seaweed again no big deal. chunk a croaker under a chatter weight into the second gut under some working birds get whacked, ripped some drag and was thinking a donk. Quickly realize how slow hes moving get him up and reveals a dad gum gaftop. Tried everything, moved with birds tried first gut tried croaker under a popping cork EVERYTHING!!!! Even moved to the jetty. End of the day 21 gatfop 3-8 lbs not one single trout, red, nothing only thing we caught was dad gum gaftop. Hey beats a day in the oil field.


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## SHARKTEETH (Aug 7, 2005)

Star tournament?


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## Sharkhunter (May 22, 2004)

8# cat will place in the star right now I thing.


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## WRsteveX (Sep 6, 2012)

Yep


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## SurfRunner (May 22, 2004)

I caught 7 or 8 gafftops on my surf rod on the 61st street pier in Galveston yesterday. They were a nuisance. There usually seems to be some reds with the gafftop though. 

Thanks for the report!


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## troutless (Feb 17, 2006)

Surf Runner, were you night fishing?


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## SurfRunner (May 22, 2004)

troutless said:


> Surf Runner, were you night fishing?


No Sir...I was there from 7AM to 12PM.


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## batmaninja (Jul 15, 2010)

I beat the Boliver surf with everything in the box and only managed a few large gafftops on chicken boys. Had a few pick ups on a dead bait rod but no feesh. Lots of mullets in the water.


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## Major29 (Jun 19, 2011)

Same thing yesterday at Bolivar. Caught a bunch of gafftops, but no trout 

Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk 2


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## troutless (Feb 17, 2006)

Do any of you eat the slimmer's ?


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## fishingcacher (Mar 29, 2008)

I catch them but I give them away and other people eat them


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## WRsteveX (Sep 6, 2012)

I hear they're decent eating. But you'd have a hard time getting me to clean one. I usually try to get them off the hook with just pliers without ever touching them boogery boogers.


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## HoustonKid (Dec 29, 2005)

I caught about 10 today in the surf. I don't mind them because the pull good but they do keep you from catching other fish.


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## Sportfishing29 (May 20, 2013)

I usually catch a lot of gafftop in the jetties. They're good eating, but you just have to know how to cook or fry them.


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## Timemachine (Nov 25, 2008)

troutless said:


> Do any of you eat the slimmer's ?


I'm a *******....of course we eat Gaftop!!


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## bayourat (Jan 7, 2005)

8lb gaftop would be a boat......


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## SaltwaterTom (Jun 23, 2013)

troutless said:


> Do any of you eat the slimmer's ?


Heck, yeah!!! Lop their heads and fins off and gut 'em as soon as you catch them and ice the carcass. Fillet, then fillet away the skin and soak the boneless skinless meat in a ziplock bag with milk for 2-3 days. The milk will turn pink as it draws the blood out. It's the best fish I have ever fried.


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## bigfost (Oct 11, 2004)

SaltwaterTom said:


> Fillet, then fillet away the skin and soak the boneless skinless meat in a ziplock bag with milk for 2-3 days. The milk will turn pink as it draws the blood out.


I have never understood why people eat fish you have to marinade to make edible. However, gafftops are not one of those. When you fillet them, simply cut out the prominent blood line, that's where the very strong taste is. What you have left is pure white meat.

The same is true of any fish that has a blood line in it.

One more tip for cleaning. When you get ready to clean them, spray them with the highest pressure water you can get out of your hose end sprayer. You should be able to get 90 to 100% of the slime off of them. That makes handling them while you fillet them a lot easier.

On appropriate tackle, I've always enjoyed catching gafftops. They are very aggressive fish, and hard fighters. But, they can certainly be pests when you're targeting larger fish. On the plus side, sharks, and bull reds to a lesser extent, love a nice juicy chunk of gafftop. Try them for bait, you might be surprised with what happens.


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## pg542 (Oct 9, 2006)

I've never been able to understand how a 20 inch "mr. whiskers" can get slime 8feet up your leader/line. lol....You know it's happened to you too.


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## iwanashark (Jul 13, 2009)

Snot shark... hate them!


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## That Robbie Guy (Aug 11, 2009)

... sounds like a good day and a great reason to fry!


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## puckkeeper28 (May 7, 2012)

Same thing on the beach at SLP. tried lots of baits and just got Gafftops and 2 whiting.


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