RCR06 said:
I always find it interesting to hear what people think are good eating fish or not. Shark has a reputation among those that don't know as not tasting very good, same with bull reds. I've had both and think they're good, but it's hard to overcome some of those reputations that people pass around. Many without ever trying it themselves.
It's not so much that bulls are bad just that they're not as good as slot reds.
Plus, while it's legal there's typically a conservation-minded ethos about C&R with bulls since they're your breeder fish as reds don't become sexually mature until they're about 28-30" in size.
Similarly, smaller black drum (a/k/a "puppy drum") under say 10# or so are delicious table fare. Much over that they tend to get really wormy and nasty.
Sheepshead are a PITA to clean but they're delicious.
If you really want to fill an ice chest with delicious fish I would highly recommend hitting the jetties with small chunks of raw squid (it's tough & rubbery which helps cut down on bait thieves) and target sheepies and/or mangrove snapper. You can keep 5 sheepshead per day over 15" and there's no size or bag limits on mangrove snapper which, IMHO, eat as good as red snapper.
