Sheepshead (freshwater drum) Taste Test - How to clean/cook -
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- Опубліковано 19 вер 2019
- Have you ever eaten a sheepshead? Freshwater drum? Whatever you call them, they have kind of a bad rap! Well, we cleaned them up and put them to the taste test. We cooked up 3 different batches and offered them to our next door neighbors but didn't tell them what kind of fish they were! Well, as you can see, they couldn't even tell and loved them?
COMMENT BELOW what your favorite recipe is for these fish! - Спорт
I live in Florida and our sheepshead are black and white stripe. I never knew there was a fresh water sheepshead (new item on my bucket list lol) great video!
I live in Ohio, Cleveland, ohio. The sheepshead here are called freshwater drum.
Been tossing those back all my life. Why? Because my father and grandfather always tossed them back. Now, I think I'll filet and fry some next time. Cool video!
I caught a nice one today. Now I wish I kept it.
I just saw this comment, I basically said the same thing in my comment. It’s so funny how early influences affect u
Yep. I've caught these in Lake Erie when I was younger (1960's). We always threw them back!
Freaking brilliant. I eat Sheepshead, Crab boil with garlic, lemon butter!
It truly is an experience watching Larry fillet the fish on his tailgate.
I just got some nice sheephead on the mississippi this last weekend. I smoke them and they turn out awesome. Another great way to cook them is to blacken them. Great in tacos
Awesome video Larry
A couple years ago I started eating the smaller sheephead I'd catch, I even go out of my way to get a few of those to eat. I think they are excellent
what about the big ones ?
I am 52 and both myself and everyone I fish with has always thrown these back. I spoke with a few guys several weeks ago and they both said freshwater drum taste fantastic. I decided to keep one, along with our limit of walleye, to test it out. I can tell you flat out that freshwater drum are a wonderful tasting fish - firm, white, mild. I am keeping everyone we catch from now on. Tasted as good as walleye or crappie. Caught in Minnesota from a cold clean water source.
I should add that drum taste better than white bass - I cooked a white bass filet along with the drum for comparison.
Just deep fried a big one last night . . . taste was as mild as walleye (side-by-side comparison at the time) but the texture of this one (probably 3+ pounds) was so dense - very chewy. I think maybe my oil didn't come back up to temp before I dropped them in. It left me feeling like these would be great for ceviche or crab cakes - love the fish boil ideal as well. Honestly had a hard time biting into the first sample - grew up think carp were crap and this crossed over into my psyche.
This gives me enough motivation to try some 👍
Thanks for sharing .
You should!! Thanks for watching!!
I just put about 1 inch chunks of sheephead into a yummy seafood chowder that I make. The pieces stayed nice and firm and were not fishy at all! We are now keeping all of our sheephead we catch!!
I LOVE SEAFOOD CHOWDER!!!
OMG!! know I have to try eating Sheephead,. My son already has, he kept some and ate them last year but I was a coward. Thanks Larry, great vidio
So much of this fish is wasted 😭. This fish does not have fishy taste at all, we chop the heads off, you can use them in fish soup to give it a better flavor we just remove the gills. Throw the guts but keep the whole fish, cut the whole fish into 3-4 inch sections, normally I throw back all the small mouth bass any catfish over 20lbs, these fish are so so abundant I throw the smaller ones because their too bony, bigger ones have almost no bones just the rib cage and spine. No weird floating bones or y bones like pike. Season the fish in spices we use a chicken rub you get at any grocery store it has lemon, garlic and spices. Set a pan with boiling hot oil, throw in some garlic, and onion into the oil to flavor it. Then fry the drum, hands down the best fresh water fish to eat. Bass are hard personally to catch here, a lot of small ones. I don’t catch many big ones so the ones I do catch I throw back. Catfish is okay, Walleye is also harder to catch here in Illinois. We get stocked trout and wild salmon in Lake Michigan in the fall that’s top tier but also a specialty fish you don’t always catch so that doesn’t count 😂. Drum is amazing!
would have liked to see a follow up reaction when you told them what they were eating
y'all crazy lol, BIG FISH TASTE GREAT!!!
Yum I'm gonna try one!
Think that's the calmest and relaxed I've ever seen LS on camera!!!
Maybe it was the sheepshead I ate!
@@LarrySmithOutdoors Could be!!! Even your hand shaking and shaky voice was much more less noticeable before you cleaned the sheepshead. Lol, maybe your meds kicked in before filming or Schafer wasn't around to make you nervous before you began cooking.
I tried some for the first time in my life, a couple of weeks ago
People quit saying that these are not good to eat
They are good eating, tight lines every one!!!
Good to know. I was wonderin how they are. I'm goin fishin tomarra at a place where I might catch some drum. I never caught one before n I hate to waste a good eatin opportunity. Lol
They are very delicious! More for us!!
We would catch lots of smallmouth, channel cats and sauger in the Mississippi River in Minneapolis as kids and kept some of them for cooking. An old guy would be down there fishing all the time and he only kept sheephead. He would walk back with a giant stringer full every time. He never said a word to us. That old guy knew they were good eating and we weren't paying attention.
Where I live, Sheepshead are a saltwater fish. We have something we call freshwater drum (some call them gaspergou) which are probably the same fish.
Correct. These are freshwater drum. We call them sheepshead but we don't have saltwater in the midwest so there's no confusion
A lot of people throw yellow bass back also and guess what? They're good too! Lots of fish taste great of cleaned and fixed properly! You're a pro at the fish cleaning!
You're correct yellow bass are actually awesome eating
Might have to try this. I haven't had a fish sandwich or fish & chips that truly tasted like fish in probably 30 years. It's all more like "fillet O' question mark" or "use yer imagination & chips" lately.
hahahahah true!
Grew up on the North Coast so close we could get FM 96 out of London. Which was good as Cleveland never got a decent replacement for 107.9. Always tossed back because that’s what we did, never kept a sheepshead because everyone knows it to be a trash fish. 20 years later I paid out the nose to enjoy sheepshead (marketed as freshwater drum on the menu) in San Diego. Freaking delicious!
Funny how as a kid I was taught early that drum(sheepshead) were horrible. On another channel a guy said his dad threw away all perch!!..... WHOA I thought but I guess I’m no different. I have to try em for myself. Just thinking of the hundreds I’ve thrown back
They're not bad eating at all
I’ve been eating Sheepshead for years. Very good - I just use the back straps& smaller fish. Taste, people like them as much as they like walleye.
Interesting!
I’ve been eating them all my life. They’re amazing blackened
Sounds delicious!!
I see blacked grilled drum tacos in my future.
Down here in East Texas we have them by the boatloads.
Perfect size
Those 16 inch sheepshead are some of the better fillets I’ve had.
Great tasting fish down here in the FL waters.
Awesome!
GREAT STUFF - Can you share what Electric Fillet Knife you use?
I LOVE eating freshwater drum!! A truly slandered fish.
It's so good!
I love them. Smoked, fried, baked, or steaked. Great with beer.
Right on!
Absolutely amazing. I completely gave up on figuring out how to get rid off the embalming fluid and melted tire taste. Thought it was impossible. Still a little afraid of the consequences of messing up. But if push comes to shove I'll pull this video up
Sounds good buddy!!
Hey Larry: Watch ya every Sunday morning at 7:30 on FS Wi, Keep up the good work! Been eating sheep head out of the upper Wolf river below the Shawano damn for years. You are absolutely correct about eating the smaller fish. I agree with you if intend to keep fish for eating, bleed them out and put them on ice right away. Did you ever cut the stone out of the head of the larger sheep Head? Educate your viewers, folks make jewelry out of them. See Ya PS. still do Sun Drop?
The heads make amazing blue catfish bait.
You are really good with that electric fillet knife also drum are one of my favorite fish to eat.
Thanks for watching!
Great video Man 👍 and people eat trout and Salmon n it don't get much more fishy than that
I had my first sheephead this past June. I caught a 27 incher at Lasalle Cooling Lake in Seneca, IL. I was curios. Small sheeps have very little backs traps on them so they are not worth cleaning. I got this big boy and cleaned it thoroughly. Got all red meat off, made strips out of it and then fried him up. There was no strong or fishy taste at all. Pleasantly surprised. If I do not have enough sport fish to fry I will definitely keep a couple goats for the frying pan in a pinch.
June in a cooling lake...all of this sounds🤭
@@wt2067 Sounds fishy right??? Yah it does. Several of the cooling lakes in North Eastern Illinois are managed by the state wildlife dept. They stock the lakes. Lasalle and Braidwood cooling lakes both actually have Blue Catfish in it too. A 70 pound blue was caught (and released) several years ago on Lasalle. There is a video of it on UA-cam. I actually caught catfish in 108 degree F water on Lasalle. Its crazy.
Good to see, Larry! So many fish get a bad rap. Some people are just not fish eaters. You can eat about any fish. You might have to smoke them!
I for sure agree with you! Not my favorite fish, but still great eating!
I soak all my fish in milk overnight. Takes all fishy taste away. Works great with white bass. I have had sheepshead mixed in with my fish fry. Never had a complaint.
Agree that big walleye,and bass get gamey the bigger they are…but perch and bluegill the biggest are the best eating
Yes I believe the smaller fish taste better too, plus the fishery benefits from letting the bigger ones go
Ding Ding...correct. At least in my opinion
I have always ate them. Just like white bass. Top 10 fish to eat for sure! No it's not Pike or walleye but it's better than catfish
Walleye are in the same family as yellow and white freshwater drum perch.
Appreciate the insight
Just out of curiosity why do y'all call freshwater drum sheepshead? I'm curious because there's a saltwater species called sheepshead and when you open it's mouth it has teeth like a sheep. I've never seen that in a freshwater drum in Louisiana. Are they different in other areas?
Keep the sheepies! I like them best on the grill because their muscle structure flakes a little differently then a walleye. Reminds me of an ocean fish like a mahi mahi.
Not bad at all!
My son and I kept our first a couple years ago out of the Maumee in Ohio (very plentiful). Put them on ice right away and filleted at home. Pan fried and did a "poor mans lobster" boil - will have to try deep fried. Awesome. Firm, not flaky and extremely mild flavor. Best kept secret in the Great Lakes. rEminds me of redfish (which it turns out is also a Drum)
@@ckatheman - It's a regular shore lunch on the banks of the Sandusky in the spring.
Smoking is next on the agenda.
I catch sheepshead every time I go fishing, I may try eat them next time
Sheepshead is really good they're meat is sweet and firm
Need to get one of the bigger girls from Lake Michigan. The laker Sheepies eat mussels & crustaceans off the rocks & piers, not zoned in on baitfish like inland fish.
Chunked & poached in salt water they eat almost like lobster.
damn I wonder if the Erie ones taste like that?
So what kind of breading did they like the most. I live in Alaska and they don't sell Fryin' magic there. I have to order it or buy it when I'm in MN and then bring it back up. I usually buy a dozen and use them for a few years. Just finished my last box and am headed to MN in a few days... My dad told me they were junk fish. I talked to a Mexican guy a few year back while fishing on the river and he said they were Great! He wanted everyone I caught and I obliged thinking go for it I won;t eat them. Meat reminded me of.a giant sunfish or crappie when he filleted them.
Anytime of breading should work
@@LarrySmithOutdoors I was just wondering, because they both seemed to like one more than the others.
They are good as grilled fish sandwiches, blackened fish filets, faux clam strips, and chowder.
Or as someone previously stated poor man's lobster because their flesh resembles a saltwater fish.
Or even boil in cajun seafood seasoning for faux crab meat.
Who’s got the dump truck at 4:07 😍 amazing
?????
Goh dayum Wisconsin ite if I ever seened one ay
What gave it away 😅
Sheepshead are just like blue gill love em deep fried
They're way better than people give credit for!
Nothing wrong with eating sheeps! I keep them all time on pool 8.
They didn't even know just like everyone else I cook for and tell them the same thing!!! Once u tell them u should see there faces!!!bahaahahahha
No kidding! This worked out well!
@@LarrySmithOutdoorsworks like a charm. Everytime
they make good catfish bait
I did the same thing except they new what it was. They said it was better then whitebass
When I was like 5 yrs old I remember being brought along on a fishing trip early evening. It was a freshwater river (Phoenix NY region) in upstate NY,it was probably late 60's so I must have been 5. I remember a fish called either a sheephead or a ling being caught and shit going on since it allegedly had a vicious and allegedly venomous bite. I remember the line being cut and the fish being stabbed to kill it. I wonder even now WTF was that all about. Granted some fish are biters but as far as I know bo venomous fish live in Central NY. Maybe they were trying to say the barbs on the fins were nasty but I really doubt they are venomous.
ling cod, not poisonous but they do have teeth that can mess you up but they are saltwater fish, sheepshead from ocean are also different then these, they have human like teeth and not poisonous either but can also live in freshwater near the ocean. these are freshwater drum. and they call them sheepshead. but different from the ocean ones. all are good eating though.
@@bankfishingislife5484 I remember it was a pretty good sized fish but the dumb asses had to go and stab it then act like he was a hero. Thanks fur saving me from a tasty fish dinner stupid ass.
You must be from MN
Wisconsin!! 😁😁
I’m need that skin seared with onion and peppers 🫑 over rice 😊
making me hungry over here hahaha
My favorite way to cook them is ground them up, make them into fireballs, either fry them on a stick or boil it and slice them into a soup.
Great tip! Soup sounds amazing!!
Mmm
Tray to do poor man lobster, freshwater drums are the best fish for it in my opinion...but that just me.
You catch them sheephead I never tried sheephead are they good
They're delicious!! 🤤 😋
My guy, great video, however it’s silly to not want fish to taste like fish.
I tried my first this summer out of lake michigan this year and wow all I can say is instead of Sheepshead, they should have named it tasty fish, they'd be extinct by now. The biggest factor is the size, there is so much meat so trim them well of the red fat. Flour and Panko with Cajun spices in fried in olive oil... oh man!!!
YUMMMMMMMMMM!!!!
Are sheephead the same as fresh water drum or gaspergou?
Yes
In every drum is like 20lb, never caught a small one
fry them just like that , make a tarter sauce with real mayo,relish ,garlic, onion powder. dill and pepper. so good.
Thanks for the tip!
Nothing wrong with steelhead. It's great fish. Good as bass..not as good as bluegill though. Gills r the best.
Soak in water with baking soda and salt...fish oil is near flavorless. What you are actually tasting when something taste overly fishy is an acid compound that baking soda neutralizes. The salt acts as a catalyst and help the baking soda to break down the acid.
Great tip Jonathan
I like large mouth bass i know some dont like it.
Those are tiny i caught a huge one n ate it it was like cheap fish sticks
So what did your neighbors think of what they eat after you told her they were sheephead?
I don't think they've found out yet!
I feel bad for your stomach man sheephead are nasty regardless but still fun to catch. Also everytime I catch a drum/sheephead it has like a tumor or something on its side or belly idk what it is and i kinda dont want to.
What's so bad about fresh fish oils?
It's more about preference
Is that what yall call sheephead where you from?
Yes. What do you guys call sheephead?
@@LarrySmithOutdoors the actual sheepshead, Archosargus probatocephalus
@@SecularSoutherner504 these are freshwater sheephead.
Ya who wants a fish that taste like fish, lol.
Those fish are delicious if you clean them, dehead them, stuff them with butter and lemon, wrap them in foil and bury them in the coals of your fire. Then keep on fishing while they are cooking !!!!!!
Thanks for the tip
Na thx
the majority of early europeans ate a lot of carp and sheepshead.. i wonder what changed through the years that they dont eat them anymore ??
I just think personal preference
Salt water drum is normal down South, so why not fresh water drum in the North. Did you go back to your friends next door and tell them what they had to eat? Not your friends anymore? 😂
was told they were trash fish when i was 18years old and a newbe to lake erie
Same but in all honesty, they don't deserve the disrespect. There good fighters and don't taste too bad when cook properly
@@LarrySmithOutdoors yes, im a meat hunter/fisherman, ill be trying them out co's you catch a lot on lake Erie
I have heard them called poor man shrimp. If you just chop them up in chunks and butter garlic they aren't bad at all. They are really a bland tasting fish not fishy at all and the meat is firm.
Sounds Delicious! We'll have to try that out!
Nothing wrong with a dumb drum!!!! Tasty when no good fish are around!!!
Dude that chick is pretty freaking hot bro
You guys are sissies up there in the North
I don't care for freshwater fish, I don't like the fishy taste, I prefer cod, ha dock or redfish. How do drums or sheepshead taste
Sheep head are salt water fish with human like teeth. Never heard a fresh water drum called a sheep head
This is probably the most nasty fish I have ever tried to eat other than a choupique (grindle, bowfin). Yes, I did cut out the bloodline. When I catch one I throw it back.
Once you figure out ther good eating you’ll be kicking yourself for letting so many go!!!
I agree!
what did your neighbors do to you. evil revenge plot. larry you are evil master mind. this sounds like phils idea. he is the evil genious.
No offense but sheepshead and freshwater drum are NOT the same thing. Sheepshead are a SALTWATER species with distinct black vertical bars on their sides and heavy protruding teeth used to scrape barnacles which are a major part of their diet. Again, no offense.
I lived 5 minutes from lake Erie my whole life and everyone calls them sheep head. Didn't know they were really called water drum till I was 20
you're picking nits ... ask the millions of people who catch them throughput the country what they think of think of when you say sheephead, the freshwater drum is gonna be your answer, a good percentage of them don't even know there's a saltwater version ... I'm not sure that the "sheephead" moniker for saltwater is anything more than a nickname, same as the fresh water version ...
Yes, it’s just regional dialect dude like pop and soda. It’s just what us clevelanders and northeast Ohioans call them....a pastime from older folk, not that serious
what to do with the teeth?
Gasper Goo* No such thing as freshwater sheepshead. That is saltwater.
Same family - Freshwater Drum (Saltwater - Convict, Redfish, etc...)
This is the second yankee I’ve seen cooks these 🤣.....I’m starting to think y’all just have weird taste buds...are drum really that good?
I don’t mean any offense to anyone lol
Yes there are! and all good, thank you for checking out the video
Lol I’m starting to believe, I’ve done plenty of research too many ppl are giving the thumbs up
dude you wasteing a lot of fish meat there learn how too fill lay guy
Thanks for the insight
haddock is the nastiest fish i ever tasted, grass carp even tastes better than haddock, but drum i never ate, and what's the point of eating fish if it don't taste like fish, yall throw away too much meat ... disliked