However, it is most often caught while fishing for walleye, bass or panfish and because sheepshead are much bigger than sought after game fish, it breaks fishing lines and ruin light tackle used for catching the more highly regarded walleye, bass and panfish.
Which leads to some anglers clubbing them over the head or otherwise disabling the fish in hopes it will die when tossed back into the water. I've often wondered: if more people ate these fish would that be a better way to control the population? Especially if a demand for sheepshead rose to the level of tilapia which were virtually unheard of as a tablefare until recently.
Of course the only way to know if the fish is edible was to check the fish consumption advisories and actually eat the fish. About the only place sheepshead show up on the consumption advisory outside of the general guidelines established by the DNR, is in the Fox River from the De Pere dam to the mouth of the bay one meal a month for fish less than 19 inches, once every two months inches and do not eat over 23 inches and in the southern portion of the bay of Green Bay once meal a month all sizes.
I'm under my own personal consumption advisory when it comes to the Fox River from the De Pere dam to the bay: I don't eat any fish from those waters. I was surprised the walleye have the same consumption advisory as the sheepshead in the southern portion of Green Bay. So, with the knowledge that eating these fish isn't going to immediately cause cancer or otherwise send me to the emergency room, the next step was to try it.
The day after I made my decision to catch and eat a sheepshead, I saw Smokey's posted on its Facebook page that it will be holding a Sheeps Head Bonanza a fishing contest this Saturday.
I figured anyone willing to start up a sheepshead tournament that didn't involve cards, nickles, dimes and quarters, could connect me with someone who eats these fish. Tilky said he knew someone who smoked and pickled sheepshead and that he could arrange to have one caught and cleaned for pan frying. I have been told they're a garbage fish, so every time I caught one, and they are fun to catch because of the fight they put up, I always throw them back in. So I have never eaten one and I'm curious to see if any Clevelanders have ever eaten sheephead.
And if they did are they any good? I'm asking you the people of Cleveland. Have you ever eaten a sheepshead? If you have, how did you cook it? If you haven't eaten one, is it because you were told not to or because you tried it and didn't like it? Off-flavored drum from the mouth of the Grand River had been feeding heavily on alewife. Guidelines for eating drum have not been published for many west Michigan water bodies due to lack of sampling, but do not automatically assume that freshwater drum are less wholesome than other large gamefish.
As with any species, smaller individuals are generally safer to eat and taste better. With a little ingenuity you might find that the early-summer drum bite can provide some good meals in addition to fast fishing action!
This article was published by Michigan State University Extension. Freshwater drum are fun to catch, but can you eat them? Not bony, but not meaty either Freshwater drum can be filleted in the same way as any other fish. Variable flavor Drum fillets are not bony and the firm texture can be an asset if prepared correctly, but one bad-tasting bite is enough to make most fish-eaters swear off a species for life.
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