Fishing in Aransas Pass for gafftops, a saltwater catfish

Without a doubt the big three fish in our Texas Bays are redfish, speckled trout and flounder. That could be expanded to the big four with the addition of black drum. Black drum years ago held a lowly place on the scale but now have been elevated to a place near the redfish. But what if you are having a difficult time catching the big four? Is your coastal trip a bust? Let me tell you how to salvage your trip. Go catch some gafftops.

On a recent trip to Aransas Pass my son, Terry, wife, Beth, and I put in a good morning on the Aransas Channel, the Lydia Ann Channel, Big Slough and Corpus Christi Bayou. We had boated about 20 trout. Five were keepers. Plus I caught a nice flounder. But we still had time remaining on the morning.

“Want to go catch some gafftops?” I asked.

“Let’s go,” replied Terry.

During the last year I had taught Terry where and how to catch gafftops. Gafftops, sometimes called sail cats, because of the tall dorsal fin, are saltwater catfish. Do not confuse them with hardhead catfish. Hardheads are the scourge of the sea. They have sharp, barbed fins and if you get stuck by one your whole arm can grow numb. They have no value for angling or eating.

But the gafftop is a different story. He is a uniform steel-blue color on the top with silver sides. Except for the long gaff dorsal he would remind you of a freshwater blue cat.

Three years ago my son Tim’s mother-in-law, Lisa Moore, had her 60th birthday and wanted to go fishing for her gift. My brother, Wayne took her, and my grandson, Timothy in his boat. I took her son, Tom and his wife, Sandy, and their two young boys in my boat. My son, Tim took his wife, Elisabeth, and his daughter Demaris, in my old boat. We knew these novices could never cast lures like we always do. So we drifted with cut bait on the bottom for gafftops. Action was hot and heavy. All three boats were catching fish. My granddaughter, Demaris, who is a good fisherman, was not catching any. Being so competitive, her attitude got bad. Tim told her to get her attitude right and God would bless her. She did and He did. She was soon doing battle like the rest of us, with big gaffs. With three boats we were putting big numbers in the ice boxes.

Gafftops, like all catfish, are powerful fighters. A three-pound gaff is a tough battle on light or medium tackle. Hook into a 4- to 5- pounder and you will think you have hooked a whale.

The drawback about gafftops is not their fins. They are not sharp and barbed like hardheads. But they are terribly slimy. Even before you boat one you can see slim coming up the line. It’s a thick, sticky slim. I hate it. It gets all over the boat and really messes with your clothes. But if you ice them well the slim diminishes.

Wayne and I filleted the catfish for Lisa’s birthday group and they fried them at the guest condo in Port Aransas. Tim has eaten lots of trout and redfish since he grew up in my home. He said that the gafftop were as good as any trout he had ever eaten. I was skeptical. I had never kept or tasted a gafftop in all my years of fishing.

A few months ago Terry took several novices gafftop fishing. He ate some of the fillets and said they were great. I was still skeptical. 

So now Terry, Beth and I were drifting for gaffs. Action was immediate. I hooked the first one. It was about a two pounder. I tossed it on ice. Then Beth hooked a big one. After several runs and bull dog pulling she put a four pounder in the box. Terry followed suit.

Then we saw some birds working bait a few hundred yards to the west. Terry motored us into the birds. Gafftops were the fish that was driving the bait to the surface. Almost as soon as the cut bait reached the bottom you had a fish hooked.

Beth said, “I’m whipped. I don’t want to catch another one.”

But as I was taking the slimy fish off her hook, my rod, which was in the holder, bent over to the water.

“Please catch that one,” I said. “I’ll have this one off the hook in a minute.”

Finally, I asked Terry how many of these slimy cats did he want to fillet. We quit.

For supper we ate fried flounder and gafftop. I had to admit that the gafftops were good.

If you want to catch a boat load of these good-eating catfish, give me a call. I can tell you where and how.