I asked this in the salt water section, but figured I'd get good answers here as well. If you had to make a forced ranking, what are your preferred species of inshore fish to eat out of Texas water? Anything I'm likely to catch this is complete garbage? I have a buddy who bought a place on the bay down here in Houston and I'm looking forward to some salt water fishing, but know very little about the preferred species for consumption.

I like Reds the most, followed by Specs. The Sand Trout are not bad if its all you catch.

Top three...

Redfish
Speckled Trout
Flounder

My list.

Flounder
Speckled Trout
Redfish
Pompano if you get lucky

Whiting isn't bad either if you like to fish with bait.

Does size matter for these species in terms of making great table fare?

Flounder

I find no difference in Spec sizes. On the Reds, the texture gets a little courser on the big ones, but I like that. They taste great.

Flounder
Mangrove Snapper
Snook-Even though I’ve only kept one to eat, the meat is decadent.

Offshore-Wahoo or Tilefish

Freshwater: Trout>Blue gill>walleye>crappie>hybrid striped bass (sand bass)>barely keeper reds>striper>bass>catfish.

Saltwater inshore: Flounder>snapper>salt water trout>barely keeper reds Never tried snook.

Flounder and blackened reds

Flounder, Speckled trout, Red Fish. I started to list it Flounder, Flounder, and Flounder because they are way better than the other two.

Mangrove snapper
Whiting
Flounder

Someone on the salt water thread mentioned Black Drum. Are they any good?

The small ones, puppy drum, are dang fine eating.