The family and I just got back from a little vacation down in Corpus Christi. Of course there is no way I'm going that far to be by that much water without wetting a hook. Friday morning Abby and I went out on the Phase II Express bay fishing party boat right there in CC Bay. We had a good trip, caught some fish and even saw a bunch of porpoises working around the shrimp boats during the boat ride. We caught a variety of fish including 13 sand trout, 2 whiting, 2 croaker and several nice gaftop cats for the table along with some others that made bait. There were also about a dozen bonnet head and spinner sharks caught on the boat as well. Unfortunately we weren't able to hook up with one on this trip. Here's a picture of Abby and one of her gaftops. She landed this one on a Team Catfish 3/4 Ton rod, 5/0 double action circle hook and a nice chunk of cut croaker.

Very nice Abby!! Those offshore guides better look out! Welcome home and glad you and the family had a good trip Bobby..

Bobby: I've always heard that saltwater cats weren't worth eating. Is that not the case?

its the hardheads that people dont eat much of grapevine, the gaftops are supposed to be pretty good.. I learned that the hard way when my buddy and I caught a mess of hardheads and had a cooler full, when someone told us how slimey and nasty they were..They asked us if we were planning on cleaning them at the car wash (to get rid of all the slime, lol) Gaftops are supposed to be the better eating ones.
Thanks for sharing Bobby! I cant wait to do some fishing on the coast!

Sounds like a blast!

Gaftops are pretty darn good table fare. Just got to get past the SLIME. The meat is about the whitest meat you will see from a fish. Catch a mess of them 7-10# up and fillet them up and deep fry'em!!!!! Don't fool with the Hardheads myself, but I will throw a nice Gafftop in the cooler in a minute.


Rob

fun!

The gaftops are decent eating. Are there better fish in the sea? Yes, but these took the bait and made it onto the stringer. The hard heads are not supposed to be very good, but I've never tried them though. Abby caught one hard head that weighed about 2 lbs. She nearly opened up a can of "6-year old" on the deck hand when he threw it back.

If you're down in Corpus take a trip out with these guys. It's only $30 for adults and $25 for kiddos for a 3-1/2 hour trip. They provide tackle and bait (dead shrimp and cut bait when it's caught), but I suggest bringing your own gear. Those that brought their own did better than most that used the boat's stuff.

glad you had a good trip

If you cut the tail off and let him bleed out he is better table fair. As for the slime if you sprinkle salt on him it will get rid of the slime

Had one heck of a fish fry last night! We pollished off all of the sand trout, the whiting, a mangrove snapper and one of the gaftop. Time to hit some freshwater this weekend.

Nice Gafftop!

Glad that y'all got into the fish. Did y'all ever hit Port A?

We drove out to Port A on Sunday morning, but didn't do any fishing out there. Hit the beach for a bit with the kiddos, ate lunch then waited 45 minutes for the ferry to Aransas Pass to complete the loop back to Corpus.

OOHHH man I hate that Sunday wait for the ferry.