So if bull Red Drum are bad eating why do we get tag for one each year?

Anyone on here know how to cook them properly? Do people keep them to mount etc? From research most just release them correct?

Most release them. Yes
You get the tag and if you use it then you can get a second tag anywhere you buy licenses.
I don’t think they are bad eating, I prepare them the same way as their slot sized buddies.
Blackened my favorite
But my wife is from Cajuns so we eat anything

If redfish get over 40” the table quality really goes down. The fillets get a gooey feel. They are still edible. I release the ones I catch over 30 inches most of the time.

The bigger any fish gets, the worse the meat tends to be. Black drum are a great example of that. Small ones are great eating, but just looking at a big ugly would you think that is going to taste as good? Nah. Best to let the big mommas go, they are the ones that keep fish populations up. Eat the little fish.

Not sure why there's a tag, other than some people want to keep them. I think most people who keep them generally keep the ones that are just over the slot (I generally don't keep over about 32").

I'd much rather catch a mess of whiting and eat the ones I didn't use for bait I suppose it's easier to filet one giant fish rather than three dozen small ones.

I kept a 44 inch red once. Cleaning it was like gutting a deer. The meat absolutely did not taste good. It's nice having a tag in case you accidentally kill a slightly oversized one.

I eat bull Redfish all the time and we can keep one per day. The meat is similar to the slot sized fish but the mistake some people make is to cook them on the half shell. Bull Redfish should be cooked directly on the grill as the filet is too thick to cook half shell style. No difference in flavor but the texture is closer to larger fish of course due to the size. Black drum would be the same but due to changes in diet they tend to get worms as they get over 15 pounds. Redfish in Louisiana don’t get worms in my experience however as anyone who catches trout here can tell that speckle trout are full of worms. It’s all down to preference except the worms haha most would say no to eating worms. Just my 2 cents

Bigger fish = older fish. And the quality of meat from any animal goes down as it gets old. This holds true across the board, IMO. Fish, deer, pigs, cows, chickens... you eat what is young and tender. The old stuff gets processed into dog food.

Court-bouillon

Thanks for the valuable info.

Does anyone know about worms in reds or trout in Texas area? Doesn't sound appealing.

Just like Black Drum maybe. The reason why a TAG was given,was to enable an angler to break the State Record. The Black Drum HAD TO BE 52" or longer to tag. The slot is still 14-30".

My favorite way Ranger but acid reflux gets me😕

Reds can get worms too just not as often as black drum. I've found worms in black drum that were 22" long. When they get over 25" many black drum will have worms. Personally I haven't found many reds with worms. Where I mostly fish for reds I do catch reds 28"-29" but rarely over 30. Those aren't bad eating. I did keep at 36" once and the meat was really strong. I won't keep a red over 30".