In the 70's we drove over to Sebastian from Orlando after one of the hurricanes. I took a spine in my right wrist behind my thumb. 7 years later I'm making the bed and something scrapes and yanks on the sheet. I see a little white tip coming out on the other side of my wrist. I tried to pull it out but no luck. Went to the Ortho and he said he'd take it out since the xray showed a "bone like" structure. So he's doing his thing and starts laughing. He asks me when the last time I tangled with a cat fish? I said 5 years or so at Sebastian. He showed me a 2" long spine from a catfish that had worked it's way through all those bones in my wrist and came out the other side. What a long strange trip that was!
Barbels... pronounced like marbles but with your nose plugged. Also: barbels are facial tissue extensions that are veritably coated with actual tastebuds... they serve 2 purposes for catfish: 1 they drastically increase the surface area that can be used for prey detection, and 2 they give a wider stereo field (the area within which right and left can be detected), so the separation between right and left is drastically increased. So they’re tasting the food before they even find it and the width of the barbels gives them the directional information they need to track a scent (aka a taste in the water) back to its source. 😉😎👍🏻
I caught three of these when I last visited my family in Florida. I've been catching them all my life and was always told to throw them away. Thank you for showing me how to cook them. I might just think to do that the next time I catch a sailcat!
Victor I like when you clean fish buddy. You take all the meat and not just the fillets. Nice job again. I love watching yours and Brooke's videos. Thanks for all yall share.
When we were kids, we used to come down to Florida from Michigan for spring break. We would fish in the intercoastal and catch a ton of these and our parents would cook them for us. When we told the locals that we were eating them, they thought we were crazy and said that they were the worst trash fish you could catch. We thought they were great.
If you called them 'catfish', they would have thought you were crazy because that refers to hard heads. But if you call them 'sailcat', most locals know that they are good. I tried to eat a hard head once to see why people said it was terrible. Well, it was terrible. One bite is all it took to convince me. Like eating toxic beef liver.
My fav way to cook sail cats is in an air fryer, dip in egg wash then in a mix of 1/3 old bay, 1/3 paprika and 1/3 Cajun seasoning and mix that with some panko flakes and then back in the egg wash and then back in the seasoning and panko then we put them in the air fryer at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 18 minutes and you have some crispy, zesty catfish nuggets that even the most northern northerner will find tasty
I was shaking a hard head to get it off the hook with pliers that were too short and got spined in the back of the hand and my hand tensed up pretty badly it was crazy I never believed they could do that
Viktor, just finished watching your segment about catch, clean and cook a sail cat. You mentioned the nasty hardhead saltwater cats and how much it hurts when stung by their pectoral fins. Back in 1994, at my in laws condo in St Pete, I was grilling steaks by the sea wall while our three young daughters were fishing. One of them pulled in a small hard head from the water just as my steaks flared up. I rushed to unhook the little PITA (pain n the a$$) and it flopped on its side when I was kicking it back in the water and I had the pec fin go right thru my Pumas sole. It really didn’t hurt TOO much, as the sole wiped the ‘poison’ off and thenI pulled the stub out and we went back to the 5th floor condo. It honestly wasn’t hurting but I followed the wife’s suggestion to call the front gate to get the number of the MD on call. Well, it was Sunday and no MD, but when the guard answered I informed him of my quandry. He coved the receiver and said to his partner loud enough for me to hear, and said some ‘A Hole’ tourist had stepped on catfish. Well, when he came back on the phone, I informed him that I was, indeed, the ‘A hole’ in question. He started apologizing and I started laughing and then he realized I was not one to yell at someone when they had told the truth. And I was the ‘A hole’ for kicking the hardhead. It actually did not ever hurt as much as the tetanus shop I got at St Pete General. And we laughed all the way back home in Central Ohio. We still laugh about it. Love your show. I’m now retired and having knee surgery this week so I can get around and fish with my grandkids in Florida. Keep up the good work and congratulation to you and Brook on your tying the knot (finally)🥴🎣👍🏼 As the old card game from the 60’s says - Go Fish Larry Carr
Love some gafftop. One of the best tasting fish IMO, just dealing with the sticky snot covering them is a huge pita. The pro's use a pressure washer to get it off btw. Also, while it is like catfish, it's also really good on it's own just cooked in butter and garlic, or however you'd use a mild white fish.
I concur. I surf fish, Pompanos, Whiting, Redfish and such here in NE Florida. Since trying these Sailcats, I'm starting to prefer them over everything else . No bones other than the rib cage in the fillets. White meat, mild. Absolutely delicious! We've fried them, battered them, and used in fish cakes, always great! Better than any freshwater cat I ever had before.
My grandfather back in the day would set out lines in Pensacola bay targeting nothing but sail cats and sell them at the local fish house - he said they would buy everyone…… another name for the sail cat is …. Sloop Rig -- I’ve caught countless numbers of Sloop Rigs on top water plugs ,, like the Zora spook and chug bug … anything noisy-- the best one was the Top Knocker - they loved it
I like the inside of Chris’s house he knows how to live with deer turkeys and ducks hanging on the wall I’d like to see landshark go hunting and do a catch and cook with either Chris lowe or deermeatfordinner either one of those videos would be really good and very fun to watch
So, I like your spin on traditional succotash. I’m used to the “okra corn tomato” recipe being that I’m from Georgia. But THIS I need to try. Not only does everything in the mixture taste delicious alone, it creates a nice color! Also, again GA.... Catfish is a regular occurrence for me 🤣🤣🤣🤣
Sylvester the cat (Bugs Bunny’s mate) used to always say “suffering succotash” now I know what he was talking about, it’s not a dish we have in Australia 🍺🍺🍺🇦🇺🇦🇺
Great video! I threw back 4 nice hardhead cats today & after watching you serve them up I'm sorry I did. I'm seriously going to try to filet & cook some catfish next time I get them!! Thanks!!
Uhh freshwater catfisher here. I fillet all my fish like this. Catfish, bass, crappie, drum, carp. Its quite a versatile technique when you figure it out, as you've shown on most fish you fillet.
In Tx my favorite inshore fish to eat are 1:Flounder 2: Speckled Trout 3:(Tie) Redfish/Sheepshead. I've never been offshore fishing but really want to catch and eat an Amberjack and a Yellowfin Tuna.
@@dildo_ass_baggins9186 I'm with you on inshore but I'll take the Trout over the Flounder. Amberjack is meh but I love it smoked and made into a dip. Favorite offshore has to be grouper in all it's variety's.
@@brandanbridges7510 How do u like to cook Kingfish? I only see ppl use them in smoked fish dip, but I know it's gotta be good cooked a different way..
@@jamescostello6529 Flounder is my favorite fish to eat. Baked in the oven with butter and lemon or stuffed. I've never tried offshore fish except for swordfish but would like to try all the different species hopefully one day. I know there's some really good tasting fish offshore from what I've heard
Love your show your family dinners are what America is about. Big fan of the family. I subscribe to Brooke as well. Brian and Fisher crack me up. BARBELS is what they are called so you were right buddy.
I just found this youtube. Kudos for doing a video on Sail Cats. I can't believe it took me so long to try eating these (Credit goes to "catfish and carp" channel). I prefer the Sailcats, but the hardheads are good too. My wife and I do them either blackened, or as cakes with tarter sauce (like crab cakes) over salad. Fried is good to. The meat is so white. The taste is awesome. I surmise that most people tossing them as trash fish, have never taken the time to prepare them. I no longer toss the Cats, unless they're just too small. To all the fishing snobs, your wrong, these are good!
We catch some good sized channel cats up here in Michigan. The cheeks out of them are awesome! Not sure if these would have had them but you should check next time.
Great video Vic, I've seen you cook saltwater catfish before and it looks delicious. Never have had it but I live 1 away from the Gulf of Mexico, but have always thrown them back. We have a history I been stabbed by one of their fins and need less to say it's a pain that will last for a day. Great video and keep them coming!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Recently caught one to keep and I didn't find a single worm in the fillets which is amazing luck, the yield on the one I kept was way more than usually and he was delicious.
With catfish I found if u treat them kinda like a shark with two bleeding points cut from the inside of the gills out through the bottom where the to gills meet to basically cut his jugular And expose his heart to maximize the loss of blood. also cut the guts out. And there was hardly and blood in my fillets even tho my sailfin cat was about 3 lbs. Love the channel been subscribed for over a year and a huge fan. Thought id just give a friendly tip 😎
I’ve had em a few miles north of Sebastian hit too waters 5 lbers And destroy finger mullet free lining trolling docks in the am blowing up on my bait good ole sail cats
You ever see the crucifix fish things they have in tourist traps and gift shops around here? They are a bone in sail cats. Looks like a crucifix. And if you shake it they rattle.
Looks like my fridge lol. Busch, hot sauce, ranch, and couple different types of BBQ sauce. I've always heard these cats weren't worth keeping. I'll try it out next time.
Boy this video brought back memories. Here in Brevard county, keep and my friends use to go and catch hard heads and sail cats. They both are good eating. Your meal looked very enticing.
I love catfish! Well the sailcat...not hardheads...if you bleed it and prep it like Victor did...you guys will be shocked how good it is...surprising i actually enjoy it more than snapper and flounder.
Didnt have a good enough grip and the Blacktip whipped his head around and grazed its teeth on my hand. It wasnt that deep and kept bleeding for 1½hrs (longer than my usual 10 Mins)
Sail cat is the only saltwater cat I will eat. Interesting fact, they have pearls in their eye sockets and when you dry out the skull the have a crucifix in the skull cavity.
Finally broke down and tried hardheads again. I also did some bluefish right along side... I did bleed them.. pretty good. Definitely not a redfish.. but good.
In South Africa we call them barble trash fish always dumped. Was fishing along West Coast catching them cast for cast. I was fishing with and elderly gentleman, happy with out catch. When dropping him at home he said he was going to fry some for Us. Not wanting to be rude I did not say anything. Well until my first mouthful never again to dump them. Today we also sun dry or smoke them or make biltong ( jerky) Trash, fish no more but sort out fish.
I don't know about sailcatfish over Mahi but I will say I have had it a few times and we always fry it with a dredge in egg and some kind of batter usually along with hush puppies and slaw. Def not my favorite fish but it's damn good and they will bite when nothing else will so you can ALWAYS load up on them no matter what conditions. We will call them a poor man's trout or red😎👍👍🇺🇸🇺🇸
Okay the first mistake you made was to fillet the catfish before you peel the skin off. Running the blade blade through that slime then the flesh ruins the flavor. Hang the catfish on a hook then cut around the head then peel the skin off with skinners. It will come off in one piece
So what’s the best way to pick that up? Lipping it? I don’t wanna get stuck so I just jiggle my hook til they fall off and then slide me back in the surf
Sail Cat is very good to eat. To me, they're just as good as redfish. If you're going to keep and eat them, I recommend clipping their dorsal and pectoral fins off as soon as you catch them. That way there's no way you're going to get stuck by them because it hurts pretty bad, and if they go deep into you it's hard to pull them out because they have little barbs all the way down the backside of those spines that are kinda like fish hook barbs, they go in easy but the barb keeps it from coming back out.
Yes Calvin their fans are just like a stingray's they have inverted bony plates on them to wear if you pull them out it's more painful pulling it out then when it goes in
Great video! I sub to another fishing channel and don't get half of the information that I do from you and Brooke,yes I've subscribed with her as well, You answered Catfish questions that I have been asking the other channel with no reply before I asked..you two keep the videos coming and I'll keep watching..
I remember one day my grandpas friend had caught one and tried to knock it out and the barb went right through his foot.. and then I had caught a mud cat and it was my first time catching a catfish and it stuck me in the hand and that b**** hurts so bad lol 😂 lesson learned!
