Just bought my own boat this year and have been doing a lot of fishing in pools 11 and 12. I mainly target walleye and catfish but will go for stripers if I can find them. Seems like no matter what I’m fishing for, I catch a lot of sheephead. My question is…how are they to eat? Thanks for helping a rookie out.
Someone told me that they were decent deep fried. I don’t think I could eat one though.
My uncle used to call them poor man’s lobster. He said if you fillet them, slice thick fillets in two to keep them 1/4″ thick or so, dip them in hard boiling water breifly (10-15 sec.), then bread them and deep fry them they are delicious. I have not tried his recipe. My wife is not a fish eater, but loves sauger and an occasional walleye meal, so that is about all I keep, with the exception of an occasional, accidental Flathead Cat. If you try it, let us know how they taste!
Oh, like lots of fish, I’ve heard they are better out of cooler water, but I don’t think we’ll see any of that for some time!!!
Rookie, if you put them on ice right away they are not that bad. If you fillet them make sure you cut out the lateral line and any meat that is red in color. One of my coworkers eats them all the time and says their not that different from bluegills.
I have never ate one and probably never will, but my grandfather says if you cut out the red meat and deep fat fry them; they taste just like panfish.
Birdman and Keith are correct on the care of them. In this weather always put the fish you plan to keep on ice. Sheephead are good eating, mainly the loin. As a matter of fact the are related to the walleye and ring perch.
Stillapup has my secret recipe for sheepies…poor guy cant catch any now that he knows how to do em up…..lol
Used to know an old commercial fisherman on the Mississippi that told me a Sheephead was the best eating fish that he caught in his nets. He said the secret was to put the fish on ice immediately after catching them in order to keep the flesh firm. Kept a special cooler full of ice in his boat for that very purpose when ever he wanted to have a few meals for he and his wife.
Correction! James can vouch that I have indeed finally caught a couple sheepers but at the time the cooler was about out of ice and had a couple of those dang walleyes in it! So I figured I wouldn’t mess with a pretty solid consensus and put ’em back. I’ll get another one for certain and have plenty of ice for it too!
I would love to go out and catch some, but so dang hot here in KS that no way am I leaving the comfort of my AC and cold beer. Sure am jonesing to get out tho, but 99 degrees 80% humidity and heat index of 115……Im watching #24 dominate on espn classic and drinking beer….
Gordon Rocks!
Tomorrow in the world of WWF Nascar…..its #20 Tony Stewarts day to win……….Steve park second place……just my guess….hehe
Dang right Tony Stewart and Kevin Harvick are the bomb.
Ahem!…………Did I say who rocks? Tony’s good, but the other Indiana boy pulled her out today for win #56, 4th this season, 3rd at Indy! Been watchin’ “The Kid” since ’93 with high promise………………..with much better results than I get cheering for my beloved Vikings! Fun to pick someone before they’re a star and see if it’s possible to get tired of winning! :O) 3 years running, winner of the Brickyard goes on to the Winston title………………..I’m hoping it can go 4 years! That’d be way cool……………..4 championship titles and only 30 years old!!! No “gimmes”, but right now I’m SMILIN’! :O)
Boy it didn’t look like at all that he was going to finish in the top 25 but as the race went on the better he got thanks to one [censored] of a pit crew but boy did Tony look good until they made the stupid decission to take 4 tires on that last pit I was working and punching the cash register when I saw that but oh well that’s racing. Also STILLAPUP do you ever go up to Cedar Lake race track I go up quite a bit to the big shows and the regular events as well.
Got back from swimming in time to watch the last 40 laps and see the rainbow flame machine stroll to another victory..just love that guy…….my pics were off today..first time in a month….hehe
As much as I always thought it’d be cool to hit the local tracks, I’ve only made it to Menominee once. 15 years as a performing musician and finding time for family and friends on the “off” weekends really put a damper on local racing venues. I’ve been meaning to hit a Sunday night race at Elko……………….got a friend racing in that organization.
I cant believe you guys are using such RACEY language!!.. for shame!!! ‘sides…. lets talk fishing! I hear Cedar lake has been putting out eyes pretty regular this summer….. and I dont think they were talking about people at the race track losing their sight!
Stillapup, what did you do with my receipe for Planked Sheephead? Maybe you can find where you buried it and post it here……
Don’t make me come over there and tie your shoe laces together! If you can talk football, WEEEEEEE can talk a little VROOOOOM! VROOOOOM!! I mean, it’s on a sheephead thread!……………..gotta spice it up with something! LOL! :O)
Here it is!!!
Sheepers are very good “planked”!
planked Sheepshead;
Scale, gut, and gill the fish. Place on a 1/2 inch cedar plank that has been sprayed with Pam.
Put the planked fish in a baking dish so as to catch the drippings.
Sprinkle with Lemon Pepper and a pinch of salt (both sides and inside).
Use a butter knife to spread a thin coat Miracle Whip over the entire outside of the fish.
Sprinkle with Paprica over top.
Bake at 400 degrees in a pre heated oven for 40 min.
Remove from oven and squeeze lemon over top while still hot.
Slide the fish off the plank into the garbage can and eat the board.
It will taste better than the Sheepshead!
Just kidding there, I ate a zillion of them when growing up in Texas where they are called Drum.
Hoggie Hoggard
oh… I thought maybe cedar raceway was part of the recipe…. take the fillets.. lay them on the ground in front of the car…. then VROOOOM…. you SOME em….. yummmm!!!
Marinate some sheepie filets in some a that thar 76 racin fuel, smoke em for two hrs, using the used Goodyear rubber and serve em pipin hot on some sheet metal found on corner 3. Nah…planked sounds better…..
LOL….. no wonder the PUP was wondering if I finally lost what little mind I have!!…
so you SOME em huh? funny way to smell errr I mean SPELL….
SMOKE!……
the heat must have fried my brain cell!!
O.K., I can’t read this yibberish any more, heat, yibberish,heat,…..I’m goin’ to fry what’s left of my skin and brain….maybe the fish don’t know how hot it is….think I’ll catch any? 115 heat index….84degree dew point…no problem right?! Wish me luck…NOW I know I’m addicted!
DRINK LOTS OF WATER BEEEEEFORE YOU GO!!!! Then be sure to take added liquids with you to keep your fluid level up. No salty snacks……………pack a good samich and some fruit for nutrients……………it’s important! And keep your liquids cool, but not COLD. You can shock your system with too cold of beverages and foods. Think safety first! :O) I’m going on a muskie chase tomorrow……………you know, when it’s supposed to be worse! Good luck to you!
ohhhh they seem to know…. that the weather is miserable anyway…. and sometimes when its at its worst they are biting their best…… thought prior to this year Ive not had much luck with Eyes during the day during this weather…. but at night… well, now thats different…… night can be a whole new ball game…. and with the moon having been full it would have been just the right time to be out hitting them…. this is when you will get the BIG ones… usually you dont get lots at night… but they are frequently very NICE…….
sorry to be writing gibberish for you all to read!…. must have been the heat…… even the keyboard feels hot…. and I dont have AC….. so…. guess I get crazy!
Hey RiverEyes, don’t be sorry for the gibberish, it’s what makes this site so FUN besides being informative!
StillaKid, I drank plenty of water, ate some apples, drank more water. I had plenty of time for the fluid replacement… got skunked for the first time since the flood. I stayed out until 10:30…hooked a PIG of some sort on a sand bar right below my favorite wing dam, but got a little excited and horsed too much for the shallow water. Whatever it was, it has my Phelps floater, my leech, and a few of my tears! I gotta think it was a catfish….would not want to think I let another 10+ lb.er go! Oh, I did get a few sheepies, but I don’t count them as a catch…more of a pass time when I could be catching nothing!
What’s so bad about sheepshead? They are a very clean fish, and very edible. I’ve eaten them, they aren’t bad at all. They seem to lack the flavor that cats and panfish have but you can add your favorite spices or flavor enhancers.
People have so many preconcieved notions about unfamiliar fish species, it’s absurd. I know of many people who eat carp, bullheads, etc. I would put smoked carp on par with any fish, yes even the beloved walleye. don’t knock it till’ you try it. ignorance is not a good thing. I demand equal rights for all freshwater fish!
I can agree on the bullheads………………very tasty when done right!
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