Sheepshead good to eat?

[mduncan62]

I've never looked close enough to see teeth, but I may start keeping them to take the stone out of the head. If I could make something nice for the wife out of it, that'd be ok. I wouldn't think of eating them though, reminds me of carp. I have never tried carp, and probably never will, so sheephead's fall into the same group. I don't even eat much catfish.

Crappie baked, broiled, fried, grilled, and any other method would do just fine for me. I need to find that gumbo recipe and try it. I've wanted to try it, but lost track of it.

[smoothlures]

Sheepshead are a very good eating fish. Killing them just to take the stone out of the head seems kinda wasteful to me, especially for a very tasty fish.

[NIMROD]

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.

Your proably talking about freshwater Sheepheads (drum) .I believe they are refering to saltwater Sheephead which are different fish. We used to cut the stones (ear bones out of Drum) too.:D
Sheepheads are sometimes mixed up as some northerners call freshwater drum by this name . The people in Louisana call the freshwater drum by gasper goo. They are low on the list of food fish. You can fillet the freshwater drum and cut into shrimp sized pieces. Boil in shrimp boil and dip in cocktail sauce. We call it poor boy's shrimp in Arkansas.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freshwater_drum

http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/huntwild...es/sheepshead/

[Outlaw1&2]

Real good eatin on the grill ,soaked with zesty Italian salad dressing.

[Flyrod Man]

Yes, I was referring to freshwater sheepshead which are found in some of our inland lakes.

[crappielimits]

Yes, I was referring to freshwater sheepshead which are found in some of our inland lakes.

Those are Black Drum! Sheepshead have big BUBBA looking teeth! Yankees call freshwater drum a sheepshead.

[shadow]

Here are the 2 of them and a fresh water drum.

First the sheepshead.
http://www.rodnreel.com/gulffish/gul...view&FishID=61


Next the black drum
http://www.rodnreel.com/gulffish/gul...view&FishID=32


And here is the fresh water drum (Gaspergou)
http://www.webiocosm.com/webiocosmzo...thedrumreg.JPG

[SUNDROP]

Sheepshead get their name from the mouth full of teeth that looks just like a sheeps. Tasty critters if fixed right. Hard to catch and hard to clean but yummy!

[lifestudent55]

Nimrod, I'll have to try that. We're constantly catching freshwater drum here in southern Illinois. I made a pot of etoufee (not sure of the spelling) out of em last year. You're right, they're not the same as saltwater sheepshead. They can still be good eating though, just not as good as some other fish.

[LSUredneck]

What's this talk about sheepshead being trash fish. Living in New Orleans myself, I never go out intending to target sheeps, but when I catch em, the go in the cooler. Some of the whitest and best tasting meat around. They are great fried or thrown on the grill. The other good use is the mock crab meat. Great mock crab cakes. When you learn the little tricks to clean them, you too will keep everyone you catch.