Cabezon Limit Ukee

[BigBadBrad]

Heard some rumours they were thinking of upping the Cabezon limit from 8 to 10? These are my favourite eating fish and was hoping to bring a few more home this season. Purchased a new steel bonker for these cement heads as they did a number on my equipment last year.

Cheers,

BBB

 

[RiverBoy]

really?! i ate one bite and never again. i can’t get them off my hook fast enough. is there a secret in preparation?

 

[spring fever]

really?! i ate one bite and never again. i can’t get them off my hook fast enough. is there a secret in preparation?

Too each their own-I think they are fine-don't like cleaning them although it is just the same as a rockfish. Course-a bit chewy very white- but in chowder and fish curry-it's an asset.

 

[redram99]

We only kept one, just to try it out. I regret only keeping one! We just fried in brown butter like halibut. Very course but tasty.
They would be amazing in chowder or a curry dish.

 

[Brian Reiber]

I was going to post the exact same thing as Riverboy and then the chowder suggestion came up. I can see how they would be great there. I've always felt a bit bad killing them as they look really cool and old. Also I don't find they yield a lot of meat for their size. I love seafood chowder though. Maybe I will keep one next time.

 

[Saveth]

They're terrible, don't keep it. Give me your coordinates so I can avoid that area.

Joking aside, they don't yield much meat, but the meat is very good. I was converted last year when I had a little too much to drink and cooking a cabezon was a good idea at the time.

 

[BigBadBrad]

Yes I find them to be excellent eating. Super fun twitching small banjo minnows in shallow water for them.

 

[Karlo]

Cabezon meat is very dense and fine-grained, almost like a coastal blacktail venison backstrap in its texture and consistency. If you just whack a cabezon filet into a hot pan and hope for the best, you're likely to end up disappointed, because it toughens up, and you don't really want it rare in the center.

We like to cut the filets across the grain into medallions, then saute the medallions in brown butter. I'm usually slightly happier to see a nice-sized cabezon come over the gunwale than I am to see a lingcod, and I'm always really happy to see a 10-15-pound lingcod.

 

[adanac]

cabezon is fantastic , great texture and taste like the crabs they eat. i think where most people go wrong with cabezon are that they end up keeping great sculpin and red irish lords , seen this many times at the cleaning table

 

[Fishin]

Well darn, I’ve always been told their terrible eating and threw back a couple of hogs on a recent trip, got a great size ling to make up for it but will keep one the next time I catch one for the table.

 

[doug78]

I couldn't believe how big they got...I just found one while slinging lings and it a tank.

 

[Tieoneon]

Watch out for worms when they get big!