What is in the name?????

[Mahigeer]

For a while I have noticed that many people miss-pronounce and or miss-spell the name of a popular fish.

Below is a chart that is guilty of this mistake.
I have seen it in a travel book for Baja.
A fishing magazine too was guilty of this mistake.
I have even seen it in a publication by government in California to teach kids.
I have heard otherwise expert fisherman commit the same mistake.
Including a sales person for a famous commercial seafood wholesaler.

Part of the reason could be the fact that Sheepshead Bay is a famous place on the east coast.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheepshead_Bay,_Brooklyn


It has become such a pet peeves that I carry a laminated picture in my wallet with the information about the sheephead.


1-California-Pacific Costal Identification chart.

2-Wrong name as appears on the chart.

3-Sheepshead (with S), also known as Porgy. It is not found in Pacific ocean.

4-Discription. The word was spaced on purpose to highlight the letter S.

5-sheephead (without S).

6-Discription.

I was also attacked on line by an angler who wrote, “I can call it whatever I want”.
He was not smart enough to understand that one cannot call a fish by what they want.
Thus, he was ignored.



On a happier not below is my personal best caught in Baja.

7-My personal best. 15+ lbs.

Many people consider bonito a trash fish. This is a dish made by one of the officers of Stocked On Fishing
while fishing at Cedros Island.
Although one cannot taste from picture, the looks is one way to show the quality of the dish.

8-Bonito sashimi. Yam, yam.

END OF THE RANT

 

[SC McCarty]

Hi Mahigeer,

Nice sheephead (it was really tempting to add an s here). I have read very different opinions about the taste of sheephead. Some write they taste like lobster, others that they are unpalatable. Since you catch both lobster and sheephead, what is your opinion of them as eating fish, and how do you prepare them?

Steve

 

[Mahigeer]

I think sheephead is poor man's lobster.

Since I do not cook, I will leave that to others to chime in.

It is a white meat and there must be many ways to cook. I had it lightly cooked in olive oil.

I think after catch handling of any fish makes it great or not.

 

[Ken Jones]

I've caught a lot of sheephead and cooked and eaten many of them. This is what I said in my updated writing on the fish —

Food Value: Legal-size fish have good-sized fillets that are white in color, mild-flavored and soft textured; the texture becomes increasingly coarse and watery with age. Can be cooked whole, fried, or steamed. Sometimes boiled and flaked for use as a lobster substitute in salads and other recipes. Head sometimes used as stock for fish chowder.

They're good, not great.

 

[Makairaa]

Hi Mahigeer,

Nice sheephead (it was really tempting to add an s here). I have read very different opinions about the taste of sheephead. Some write they taste like lobster, others that they are unpalatable. Since you catch both lobster and sheephead, what is your opinion of them as eating fish, and how do you prepare them?

Steve

Sheephead is one of my favorites for ceviche.

 

[Makairaa]

I think sheephead is poor man's lobster.

Since I do not cook, I will leave that to others to chime in.

It is a white meat and there must be many ways to cook. I had it lightly cooked in olive oil.

I think after catch handling of any fish makes it great or not.

The after catch handling is definitely what makes fish great or not. There are quite a few fish such as bonito, mackerel, and barracuda that if taken care of are great. If not, well that is why they have a bad reputation with some people.

 

[Mahigeer]

Sheephead is one of my favorites for ceviche.

I read that on another fishing website.

 

[Mahigeer]

The after catch handling is definitely what makes fish great or not. There are quite a few fish such as bonito, mackerel, and barracuda that if taken care of are great. If not, well that is why they have a bad reputation with some people.

Fish ninja is an expert in preparing his catch of the fish you mentioned.

I lost my "ike Jime" kit at the Mole after a strong wind throw it in the water too far to be hooked or landed with a net.
I rarely used it, and it is a bit pricy.

 

[Ken Jones]

It's all explained in PFIC, 2nd Ed. Chapter 5, titled Cleaning and Cooking The Fish.

 

[EgoNonBaptizo]

If it's any comfort, there's like 5 other fish called "sheephead" or "sheepshead", including another sheepshead porgy (Calamus penna), sheepshead drum (Aplodinotus grunniens), sheepshead pupfish (Cyprinodon variegatus), and then of course the other Bodianus wrasses closely related to our sheephead, Galápagos sheephead (B. darwini), and the Asian sheepshead wrasse (I don't know why this one is different) (B. reticulatus).

I was also attacked on line by an angler who wrote, “I can call it whatever I want”.
He was not smart enough to understand that one cannot call a fish by what they want.
Thus, he was ignored.

This sort of bs is a big part of why I dislike common names and a good example of the death of scientific literacy online.

 

[Mahigeer]

Good to know.

Thanks.

 

[fish-ninja]

I think sheephead is poor man's lobster.
Since I do not cook, I will leave that to others to chime in.
It is a white meat and there must be many ways to cook. I had it lightly cooked in olive oil.
I think after catch handling of any fish makes it great or not.

I think it is a nice white meat fish with a good texture and mild taste. I like to cook them as a whole fish in a sort of Chinese style. After cleaning and scaling it, put it in a roasting plate with sliced ginger, scallion, and soysauce+liquor-of-your-choice. Cover them by aluminum sheet. Bake them a while. Heat up sesami oil scorching hot then pour it on the fish. When cooked right, they will melt in mouth.

 

[fish-ninja]

Fish ninja is an expert in preparing his catch of the fish you mentioned.
I lost my "ike Jime" kit at the Mole after a strong wind throw it in the water too far to be hooked or landed with a net.
I rarely used it, and it is a bit pricy.

I too rarely use Ike Jime these days. Trick to keep them good is three-fold: quick euthanizing, bleeding, and cooling. All are to avoid super quick bacteria infestation living in their bloods, melting these fish away in like 30 mins under the summer heat. The best is to bleed them in iced clean ocean water.

 

[Mahigeer]

All good information.

Thanks.