I was always told you can't eat them but they are fun to catch. Does anyone ever eat them?

The difference in a Bull Red can be as much as the top of the slot and 1 inch over. Probably not much difference in those fish.

they are good cut in small chunks and fried.

I think slot reds are best eating. I don't keep anything over about 30" for eating purposes.

They taste great. Pain in the butt to clean them, but they fry up just fine.

Get a good picture, put them back, and go catch a smaller keeper. much easier to clean and the pic goes good on the picture board. Just me though

Yea, you can eat them. Tough to clean and you end up with a really thick filet. You can butter-fly the filet to get a managable thickness. I've fried some done that way along with smaller reds and trout. No one complained, nor could tell the difference. Of course, a few beers goes along way to making all fish taste good. I usually end up keeping a bull or two every year because they are either a floater that was caught deep and inflated or gut hooked.

+ 1

I've eaten a lot of 30 inch fish, but never tried a 40.

in the 30 inch range they eat just fine,

I would vote to move the slot up a couple of inches in
texas , sometimes it is hard to catch a legal fish off
the beach.

MO

Tried a 42 incher but it seemed tough (coarse). Will always
release the bulls for now on and eat the slots.

few inches over the slot is ok...but be careful, lot of the BIG bull have worms...so do the big uglies. man those things are NASTY when u see them. make u lose yer appetite real quick...

Don't let anyone fool you, Red Fish are the best fish for eating. I compare them with Dolphin/ Mahi Mahi. The trick is to cut out all the red meat. I cut the center red line . and when cuting the meat away from the skin you will have the red v shaped slashes. use the knife the skim it off. the meat holds together nicely. I like the put butter in a pan and cook it with a little toni's on it.