Sheepshead good to eat?

[OKSTATEjiggy]

sacalait, no we threw him back. He was a monster! Got some pics in my phone though. I would post em but I don't have internet on my phone. He sure gave my Dad a fight! But all those fish were hard fighting. In fact, they were the hardest fighting fish I've ever caught. The sheepshead were pretty tough, the black drum were real tough, and the reds were bruisers. Apparently we had an exceptionally killer day, but I would not have known the difference as this was my first time in the salt. And we fished with a guide, BTW.

[jlaughlin72]

For those that aren't familiar with them, here is a couple pics of the one we caught last summer. First on is a close-up of the teeth, then the fish.

[NIMROD]

Caught some in Louisana a few years ago. We filleted those Sheepheads and fried like Crappie, they were great.

[hunt4crappie]

Reds are best cooked on the halfshell (filet and leave skin and scales on and place skin side on grill and scoop out meat once cooked).

Around Savannah the sheepshead are cooked the same way. Sprinkle some of your favorite seasoning on the meat before cooking. Lemon pepper or cajun seasoning are two that come to mind.

[crappie adik]

we consider a trash fish, bout the only good thing i know to do with them is put fillets in cheese clothe and boil we use meat as crab meat for dips and gumbo ,kind like artificial crab meat but better.

[Boudreauxsbaits]

Those sheephead are called bay snappers. If you ever see "Black Fish" in a restaurant for sale...IT'S SHEEPHEAD!!! Bake filets until cooked thru. I hope you guys didn't keep any bull reds in the state of florida as that is a BIG TIME NO NO as they have a slot limit down there. Reds are best cooked on the halfshell (filet and leave skin and scales on and place skin side on grill and scoop out meat once cooked).

I agree Sac-a-lait. Grilled on the half shell basted with butter, old bays, and crushed garlic.

[sac-a-lait]

bay snapper aka sheepshead are great table fare. When they get above 5 pounds we call them donkeys. The one in the pic kinda has the donkey look...I have found the bones are SUPER STRONG and the meat is restaurant quality when you consider what you are really gettin at the restaurant (frozen cod or roughy, mostly frozen fish) For the price he's a great eater but that RED FISH blackend is HARD TO BEAT!!! Served that way in the finest restaurants in New Orleans.

[Minus 1]

He's got more teeth than I've got , and better lookin' too:p

[KCBALLER]

nasty lookin thing, my what large teeth you have !!!!!! lol

[Flyrod Man]

Our sheepshead are considered trash fish altho when I was a kid we cut off the heads and soaked them in lye and would remove the "stones" and sell them to jewelers. I can't remember what jewelers did with them but it always made a little pocket change. A small (4 oz) jar of "stones" back in the 50's would bring around 4-5 dollars.