Official 2013 AOTY thread.....

I'm going to expose my ignorance, but hopefully I'm not the only one with this same question... What are the telltale differences between a sculpin and a cabezon?

My personal WAG classification has been: it's small = sculpin, big enough to eat = probably a cabezon. I've personally never kept either, although I've read that cabezon is great to eat. Sculpin; I dunno, I haven't read anything about eating them.

Cabezon are the largest of the sculpins.  Never eaten any sculpins besides cabezon myself, but I've heard they all taste similar.

Cabezon is good, but I'd put it behind both rock fish and especially ling cod.  It's tougher than both of those.  Still pretty mild flavored.  However it is a great choice for deep frying applications.  It holds together really well, and the flavor/texture of deep fried fish isn't as important as baked/grilled fish.

Most sculpin I've caught have been in the 10-12 inch range and have some red to them. Cabbies are usually 18-25, darker with brown, black and white mixed in. I wouldn't both killing any in the 20 inch or less range, they're a pain to clean and you don't get a lot of meat off them. They do taste pretty good though!

Cabbies:






Irish Lord Sculpin

Cabbies are awesome to eat.  How can a fish who's primary diet is crabs not be super tasty. I only keep the bigger ones so you get enough meat to make it worth killing them. I ate a big  Red Irish Lord (sculpin) last year but won't again as the meat to fillet effort wasn't worth it.  For me Lings and Cabs are ranked almost equally but for different reasons.  Of the rockfish Quillback and China's are my favorites (good texture and flavor). Yellow eyes and Canary are real tasty but a no no to keep.   Blacks are great for fish and chips and curries but are on the mild side of things for a lot of dishes.

Cabbies are awesome to eat.  How can a fish who's primary diet is crabs not be super tasty. I only keep the bigger ones so you get enough meat to make it worth killing them. I ate a big  Red Irish Lord (sculpin) last year but won't again as the meat to fillet effort wasn't worth it.  For me Lings and Cabs are ranked almost equally but for different reasons.  Of the rockfish Quillback and China's are my favorites (good texture and flavor). Yellow eyes and Canary are real tasty but a no no to keep.   Blacks are great for fish and chips and curries but are on the mild side of things for a lot of dishes.

Anywhere in kayak range that you know of that yellow tail rock fish can be caught?  Heard of some spots, but way too far off shore to be reasonable in a yak.

Cabbies are awesome to eat.  How can a fish who's primary diet is crabs not be super tasty. I only keep the bigger ones so you get enough meat to make it worth killing them. I ate a big  Red Irish Lord (sculpin) last year but won't again as the meat to fillet effort wasn't worth it.  For me Lings and Cabs are ranked almost equally but for different reasons.  Of the rockfish Quillback and China's are my favorites (good texture and flavor). Yellow eyes and Canary are real tasty but a no no to keep.   Blacks are great for fish and chips and curries but are on the mild side of things for a lot of dishes.

Anywhere in kayak range that you know of that yellow tail rock fish can be caught?  Heard of some spots, but way too far off shore to be reasonable in a yak.

The ones I've caught have been much farther offshore out of a powerboat.  They might be targetable within kayak distances but locating them (mid water schools) and the paddle involved would be a serious downside.  They are tasty but not that tasty . 

Rockfish is for frying, Lingcod is for baking and grilling, cabezon is for sharing 

Rockfish is for frying, Lingcod is for baking and grilling, cabezon is for sharing 

Well, I'm always willing to share in the cabezon. 

Thanks for sharing yours out at Hobuck!  BTW, what did you and Linglady think of the ling cheeks?

BTW, what did you and Linglady think of the ling cheeks?

Someone thawed a bag of 'rockfish' and fried it up.  I explained to her that rockfish isn't green/blue.  I'm now in charge of the fish freezer removal oversight committee.

BTW, what did you and Linglady think of the ling cheeks?

Someone thawed a bag of 'rockfish' and fried it up.  I explained to her that rockfish isn't green/blue.  I'm now in charge of the fish freezer removal oversight committee.

D'oh!

Cabbies are awesome to eat.  How can a fish who's primary diet is crabs not be super tasty. I only keep the bigger ones so you get enough meat to make it worth killing them. I ate a big  Red Irish Lord (sculpin) last year but won't again as the meat to fillet effort wasn't worth it.  For me Lings and Cabs are ranked almost equally but for different reasons.

I've yet to try cab but have eaten buffalo and great sculpins a few times (and agree with those who say they're not worth the effort clean unless quite big.) I've found the flesh a bit on the bland (different than mild though I'm not quite able to articulate that difference) side. Do folks find cab to be the same or better?

I've had Red Irish lord (a sculpin) before. It had swallowed a hook and was bleeding out so I gave it a try, I agree bland. Kind of mushy too, especially compared to Cabezon which is much firmer.

The only problem with Cabs is so much of their body weight is in those super thick bones and that huge head. The body weight to meat ratio is pretty bad. 

The only problem with Cabs is so much of their body weight is in those super thick bones and that huge head.

Cabeza = head en español

Pelagic is right, primary diet of crab, but they like tako too! (pic is over a decade old, I wouldn't butcher a creature that badly now, I was just curious what that giant lump in its gut was.)

Rockfish is for frying, Lingcod is for baking and grilling, cabezon is for sharing 

Wow, Lee, that took me back to my Fort Knox Days and the posters and full page ads for George Dickel;

http://www.dickel.com/en-row/faq.aspx

Can you tell me about the "Dickel's for Drinkin'" poster series?

The production of the posters was in reaction to the overwhelming requests generated by ads in various national magazines in 1982. The first ad depicted a gentleman wearing a cowboy hat in an old fashioned bathtub with the caption, "Water's for Washin', Dickel's for Drinkin' ". Four additional posters followed:
"Water's for Fishin' " - January 1983
"Dickel's for Givin' " - Christmas 1983
"Water's for Floatin' " - May 1984
"Water's for Sprinklin' " - July 1984

Great conversation starters even now.

Allen,
Would it be super difficult to add the ability to post comments on the AOTY picture entries? I was looking at Fungunnin's Lingzilla and got the idea that it would be pretty cool to be able to have comment capabilities for each post on the AOTY website that way people can comment on the fish. Maybe like a comment button at the bottom of the post, or even a thread format like what we have here.
I know this potentially opens up a can of worms as far as people "debating" fish size and stuff, but I still think it would be cool to give people some props by commenting on their entry directly.