Salt Water Catfish, Any Good

**ackvil** · 02-27-2012, 01:33 PM

This weekend I went fishing and caught a number of edible fish (drum, spotted trout, silver trout, whiting, and spanish mackerel). I also caught two salt water cats that I threw back. One was quite heavy and put up a good fight on light tackle.

Does anyone know if these are good to eat? Do they taste like freshwater cats?

**BigFoot** · 02-27-2012, 03:25 PM

I was told they are disgusting. When I was in the Pensacola area for almost 6 months of work, I did a lot of fishing. I never saw anybody keep the catfish.

**miamimoe** · 02-27-2012, 04:54 PM

No, they are not good to eat. Next time you catch one, watch the spines, especially on the pectoral and dorsal fins. The ends are very sharp, and you can get a nasty puncture and infection from them.

**JeffM** · 02-27-2012, 05:13 PM

I asked the same question to some of my friends here in Louisiana and several of them that they were indeed quite good especially the gafftops or sailcats like you show in your picture. I had always "heard" that they were not any good. So I brought a couple home last year and filleted them. The resulting filet is smaller than you would think given the size of the fish. We fried them up and they were good, very similar to freshwater catfish. Do be careful of the fins. I prefer specks and grouper, reds and drums, are not bad either if blackened or cooked encased in salt, but give them a try. They are definitely better than smacs-spanish mackeral. You might be surprised.

**ackvil** · 02-27-2012, 07:58 PM

One of my favorites is the Spanish macks smoked and then either eaten that way or made into a fish spread. My wife has the recipe - it consists of salt, pepper, a tiny bit of garlic, onion, and mayo. Put on crackers and it is great.

Since moving to the west coast of Florida I have never eaten so much fish and wondered about the cats since I manage to get so many of them.