Relative virgin to fishing the salt. Going to Trinity bay next weekend and our main target is trout and hopefully reds, but my son tells me the Sheepshead are biting good. Would this be a fish I would want to put on ice to bring back home? Cooking tips appreciated.

Fillet them and fry, blacken, &/or bake them. Great white flaky meat. The skin and scales are tough as nails on a filet knife. Make sure to pick out the small pin bones (from the ribs) in your fillets after you clean them.

sheepshead r good eatin

They taste good but you get a surprisingly small amount of meat for the size of the fish. I normally don't keep them unless they're pretty big. Fun to catch though, and they have some crazy looking teeth.

What David said. Also, most mexican places that say they are serving red snapper are serving you sheepshead! If you can't see skin, dont pay more than 10!!!!!

They will call it Black Snapper in the Markets.

I will be in Port Aransas late March fishing in the surf. Would i have an opprotunity to catch sheepshead form the beach at that time?

Scott, I think if you are targeting sheepshead, find some rocky areas(jetties), pillings, even sea walls. Those spots should provide better action.

A lot of restaurants in Louisiana replace crab meat with sheepshead. If you wrap it in cheesecloth and drop it in crab boil, you can't tell the difference.

My father in law loves them, but of course I clean them. Good eating, but like was said above, you dont get much meat for the size fish you catch. Get you a good elctric fillet nife and you will get your money's worth. On big ones I have threatend to use a chain saw. Thats one tough fish. I have seen them still alive and kick after five hours in the cooler.

Used to cook them this way all the time. And yes it really does taste like crab meat.

they put up a nice little fight, very good eating. Baked or fried.