i was trying my luck at some shrimp for dinner at the limehouse landing and i saw three pup sized catfish wash up. all in the same ramp. i have not seen them otherwise. did somebody catch and kill them only to dump them at the dock? is anyone catching them? i was going to call dnr to report it but i had a little too much refreshment while shrimping to try to talk to the MAN. got sbout a dozen good sized shrimp, and a headache later.
catch a shrimp, drink a beer!
gafftops are now protected (possession prohibited) because of what is presumed to have been a virus a few years back that wiped them out along with the hardhead cats. i’ve seen two gafftops this year, both in good shape. if that sort of thing happened to redfish, there’d be riots… not too many people are complaining about the lack of catfish.
i knew that possession was prohibited thats what bothered me. i know its not a fancy redfish but i assume DNR knows what they are doing. limits are in place for the preservation of the overall ecology of our area. to catch them just to dump them is wrong. thanks barbawang for the correction too. gafftops :). and i caught about 2 shrimp per beer. good luck to the baiters this weekend!
no correction necessary- i’ve heard them called at least 6 different things.
think their full common name is gafftopsail catfish!
I call them sail cats. I wonder if someone may have cast netted them and the net killed them, but they had to throw them back. How long were they?
- I’d rather be a free man in my grave than living as a puppet or a slave.
they were about 8 to 10 inches. healthy looking fat little fish. id have to say they were caught somehow and killed. that is my expert opinion.and im no expert. i take my limits to feed the family and its very rare to catch a limit of anything for me. i wish the weekend warriors would read the regs and understand we all love these fish and want it to all to be 100 years from now. this may be naive on my part but if we all dont follow the rules whats the point?
Gaffs are very tasty.I have not caught one in 10 years.
Stonoman