# Surf Beach access 5



## set_the_hook87 (Dec 6, 2010)

Fished from 7-11 this morning, water was dirty, was ruff...managed to catch 30 gafftop with some sandies mixed in...

Tons of bait in the water... Should be getting good soon


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## set_the_hook87 (Dec 6, 2010)

My pastor likes them, so we kept em for him


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## scm (Apr 27, 2006)

Those "gafftop" might not taste as good as a gafftop with long stringy fins.


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## Goose Lover (Jan 23, 2012)

Which are the Gafftop?


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## KevBow (Mar 18, 2011)

I see a couple gaftop but the rest are hardheads. Hope the pastor is hungry


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## crowmagnum (Feb 4, 2006)

Mmmmmmmm!Catfish pie!


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## fishingtwo (Feb 23, 2009)

Less slimmy


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## armyguy (Apr 28, 2009)

fried Gaftop is pretty good, i dont know about hardheads


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## agonzales1981 (Jun 12, 2008)

The surf has been on fire the past few weeks, the past couple days have been nasty though , should get good again tuesdayish.


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## fishingcacher (Mar 29, 2008)

I see some whiting.


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## Gfish (Aug 31, 2009)

ok, I gotta ask. What is the big difference between the Gaftop and the hardhead? And why is one tasty and the other not?


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## Mr. Saltwater (Oct 5, 2012)

http://www.2coolfishing.com/ttmbforum/showthread.php?t=229941


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## troutless (Feb 17, 2006)

Ok, guys you know that when you eat catfish in restaurant's most of the time they are Gafftop's .


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## GulfCoast1102 (Dec 30, 2013)

Gfish said:


> ok, I gotta ask. What is the big difference between the Gaftop and the hardhead? And why is one tasty and the other not?


I've eaten plenty of both, and there is nothing wrong with either one. They are slimy, and have a bad reputation. I'd bet money that the great majority of people who call em "trash fish" have never eaten one.

Slimy? Yep! Trash fish? Nope!


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## C-Man87 (Jun 25, 2014)

Gaftop i have eaten and its pretty good, however some time ago i did cut into a hardhead to see what it was like and the meat was yellow, did not end up eating it. Just didnt look right to me.


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## Goose Lover (Jan 23, 2012)

Squash and corn are yellow. They taste good and are good for you.

So what's the problem with a Hardhead that has yellow meat?


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## C-Man87 (Jun 25, 2014)

LOL i guess with enough butter and blackening seasoning, anything will taste good. guess i will have to give it a try. NNNNNNOOOOOOOOOTTTTTTTT!!!!!!!


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## Surf-N-It (Jul 9, 2009)

I definitely am not one of those junior game warden guys, but will just mention this for your own good. If those were Gaftop in the pic (I don't see any), I can see at least 6 that would not make the slot. Don't worry, the hardheads are all legal. Maybe brushing up on species before loading another cooler would be very beneficial and could save you a load. I won't mention the drum. Oops, just did.


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## FalseCast (May 7, 2009)

they will taste better if you hang em till their heads fall off


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## AndyThomas (May 26, 2012)

Looks like whiting and hardheads with a small drum mixed in. Thank you for culling out the catfish!


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## big john o (Aug 12, 2005)

Nice mess of fish


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## FalseCast (May 7, 2009)

big john o said:


> Nice mess of fish


 a mess indeed! But hey man, I bet you had a great time. Careful with those hardheads


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## slabseeker (Mar 11, 2006)

Hard head stew. my favorite recipe......throw in three hard heads a big pot of boiling water and a old rubber boot. when done...throw out the hard heads and eat the boot....just kidding...nice catch man.....lol


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## iamatt (Aug 28, 2012)

troutless said:


> Ok, guys you know that when you eat catfish in restaurant's most of the time they are Gafftop's .


Well I am seeing more places passing off SWAI as catfish. We went to a place in Galveston which, according to 'yelp' had 5 stars and best catfish in town, It has a wooden deck you need to climb to get to the restaurant. I will leave it at that. We ordered the catfish since this was their speciality and out of curiosity I asked the waiter what kind and where did they source it from. He goes back, asks manager then comes back to our table and says channel cat like, 'wild'. OK!

Catfish arrives and I can tell immediately after cutting into it with a fork this ain't catfish. Some **** called SWAI which is probably some garbage fish from Laos or Thailand that they used to use for fertilizer and have now started selling in the USA. Best catfish is the one you catch and cook at home! Always disappointed with catfish at restaurants.


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## oakforestmx (Feb 9, 2011)

Not the box dreams are made of, but a box nonetheless!


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## Yellow.mouth (May 10, 2013)

Correct on the swai. I left the restaurant business two years ago, and many prominent chains had already switched. Less than half the cost of channel cat, and many people cant tell the difference. Its a close enough relative that the restaurants have been given the okay to advertise it as catfish.


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## sandollar_sa (Jul 28, 2011)

iamatt, I can't tell where you are, but if you're in any kind of proximity to Corpus, Catfish Charlie's is highly unlikely to disappoint. Lunch is always better than dinner, imho.

DH is working in Webster till further notice & it seems like there's no catfish around here that's fit to eat. (How can that be?)
We're planning to go to Corpus in September just to eat if nothing else.


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## iamatt (Aug 28, 2012)

sandollar_sa said:


> iamatt, I can't tell where you are, but if you're in any kind of proximity to Corpus, Catfish Charlie's is highly unlikely to disappoint. Lunch is always better than dinner, imho.


I used to live in Corpus and met my wife there. I know Catfish Charlies, wife worked there when she was in her teens. =] We like it too.


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## Tarponator (Feb 4, 2011)

Nice report thanks for info!!


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