Although old Mr. Gafftop may not be the best tasting fish in the sea ( Sorry Charlie ). And on a scale of one to ten his fighting skills may rank some where around a four. Sir Sail does have two, ( what I think ), redeemable qualities. The first is, he gets my vote for one of the coolest looking fish you will probably ever catch. The only chance of seeing a cooler type of saltwater species you must be armed with a scuba tank rather than a fishing rod. The second is they are on the G.C.C.A hit list for game fish worth a fishing boat. That quality alone is worth the effort to get profisant at learning how to land one of these aliens of the deep. Then throw in the fact that their meat is not all that bad tasting for the old fry daddy! And Gafftop may not be all that bad to find tugging on the end of your line! Some times desperate times calls for desperate measures. I mean we can't always come home with the old fish box overflowing with trout and red can we!! If that were the case it wouldn't be classified as a sport right!!
Unfortunately gafftop prove to be a little more difficult to find than the standard hardhead. Both species are known to inhabit the same general territories. I guess unlike the hardhead, gafftop get throw back less frequently. And there breeding habits must not rival rabbits like hardheads do. So in stalking this prey, alot of patience will go a long way. Sifting through the hundreds of worthless hardhead to have a chance at a few decent gaffs is not one of my favorite way to spend a day of fishing. But one mans trash is another mans treasure. On occasion you may pick up a loner while serious fishing over a drum or red hole near the jetties. And for the most part these fish will tend to be on the larger side of scale. But for the most part out among the surf along the beach line is will you'll find the majority of this type of gulf coast inhabitants.
Best bait to use when trying to hang one of these odd ball catfish is generally in the same catagories if trying to hook any typical bottom feeder. Fresh cut bait works well. As does squid, dead shrimp, or glass minnows. Unlike their cousins, Gafftop are a little more fineky when it come to the type of bait selection they will consider dinning on any perticular day. So you may have to try some various combinations before coming up with the correct offering. I will usually try the smorgasborg approach and bait several hooks with different baits until I find what the are preferring that day. Once you've located a school set up a get ready for some heated action. On the right tackle these can put up a descent fight.
So this summer when the trout in your area in the tournament are all in the 10+ pound range and things are getting close to the end. Remember catching a grand daddy of this oddly looking species of the water world just may be your last remaining chance at winning one of those prized boats. And if you find yourself one of the fortunate ones as the proud owner of one of the prize boats. Then Mr. Gafftop will surely be moving up on at least one of Texas fishermen most popular fishing list!!! Never know stranger things have happened. And be sure to check out those cool fins, they get my vote for best accessory for a game fish species on the Texas coast!!!! And the runner up is the dog fish, but that's another story!