[deerhunter4]

Thanks for the photo's brother that is just awesome...I never knew about them before this...They look almost just like a typical Channel Cat:crazy:

As promised, here are a few photos of Hardhead and Gafftopsail catfish.

The first is 3 Hardheads laying alongside a larger Gafftopsail. These are about average size for both species here.

The middle photo is a closeup of the barbels on the chin of a hardhead. They have 4 plus the 2 on the corners.

The bottom photo is of the hardhead and gaff chins, showing the difference in barbels. The gaff has 2 plus the long 2 on the corners.

The beer is there for perspective, but I can assure my bros it did not go to waste.

 

[rswell2]

Thanks for the info. I didn't realize people ate them. We were catching these left and right a few years ago in Gulf Shores. On of the 'locals' at the ramp said we should toss them back because they weren't good to eat.

 

[montgomery#1]

them cats look awesome id love to catch some they look like good fighters.

 

[Jerry60k]

Iused to live in Brevard county Florida and fished the Indian and Banana Rivers down in Eau Gallie and Pineda I have caught lots of sailcats.

I was also told by everyone that the hardheads were no good to eat everyone would throw them back.You could catch 100s of hardheads a day down theres and many sailcats of the smaller range.

I seem to remember some larger catfish we used to catch around 10-11 lbs maybe I am mistaken.I have some photos of a few nice sails I caught maybe I will try to post em up later today.

Also Sailcats are awesome when blackened and when soaked in milk overnight then fried in butter & beer with some fresh shrimp.a tocuh of pepper and salt for flavor

 

[JERMSQUIRM]

cool. cant wait to do this article for ya. im starving.:big_smile:

 

[catfishjon]

Last weekend I caught some nice gafftop out of Port Aranas on cut piggy perch. They also love a small piece of eel, which is so tough that it will last all day. April will be a better month for these fish. They are good to eat and give a good fight. They can be found and caught almost every time you go out and there is very little pressure put on these fish. We use the alum. fish grabbers to take them out of the net and remove the hook. They are then put in the ice chest. We use the fish grabbers to take them out and hold them while we clean them with an electric knife. That way we do not get the slime on us. Good fishing, Catfishjon

 

[JERMSQUIRM]

i cant wait. im getting a batch via mail. im doing an article for the salt water section and the library. im cooking some along with reg channel from here. ill be sampleing as well as an un suspectin test fella. he will get a bit of fried baked and grilled fish of gafstop hard head and channel. and will be giving a response on each of taste texture ect... without knowing what fish is what. should be an intresting little deal.