Went catfishin' last night

[fastfire]

The biggest 3 were 27", 27 and 28", I'm in the blue plaid shirt.

[mannyCA]

Excellent fish! What were you guys using?

[ph4570]

Nice cats.

[fastfire]

Cut bait, Squawfish

[Beagle333]

Nice cats! Makes me hungry just lookin' at em! :mrgreen:

[daniel lawecki]

Nice cats but I'm wondering about your fishing craft. How do you like it?

[JeffinNZ]

Nice cats.

Nice boat!

[fastfire]

Nice cats but I'm wondering about your fishing craft. How do you like it?

9' pontoon boats very maneuverable I carry a cooler dry bag and 20lb anchor behind the seat and lots of zippered storage. The boat isn't made for big whitewater but works well on the lower Payette river.
And I have no issues with the boat bought at Costco 5-6 years ago.

Nice cats! Makes me hungry just lookin' at em!

They are still swimming. I'll eat Crappie(my favorite) and Perch from around here.
Tried Channel cats several times never acquired a taste for them.

[silverado]

heck yeah!!!! I miss fishing at the catfish pond at my parents place.... went there for Christmas vacation and my 9 year old daughter caught a big ol' cat... at a good portion of him too :)
You can't beat fresh catfish :)

[MaryB]

I won't eat channel cat, they are bottom feeders. Flatheads only eat live stuff and they taste much better.

[starmac]

My fryer is not picky, channel, blue or flat. If I had to pick a favorite, it would likely be blue in the 22 to 26 in crowd.

[dagger dog]

I won't eat channel cat, they are bottom feeders. Flatheads only eat live stuff and they taste much better.

I've caught channel cats on spinner baits, yellow bellies on minnows, all catfish will predate on anything smaller than themselves, and all catfish will scavenge.

If you have a big tub fill it with clear water and drop the ones you catch in the tub and leave them in there for a few days, they will taste a lot better when cooked. The 8-12 " sizes are best scalded to remove the skin, then deep fried whole in your favorite breading mix, the big one like in the photos are skinned then cut into steaks between the ribs.


Ain't much better eatin' than wild caught catfish and hush puppies. I wouldn't give two dead flies for a stringer of farm raised !

[bayjoe]

Lucky dog !!

[Uncle Jimbo]

I won't eat channel cat, they are bottom feeders. Flatheads only eat live stuff and they taste much better.

Like starmac said
My fryer is not picky, channel, blue or flat. If I had to pick a favorite, it would likely be blue in the 22 to 26 in crowd.
I like catfish, don't matter to me, but then again, I eat pork. And they eat their own chit.

[waksupi]

Like starmac said
I like catfish, don't matter to me, but then again, I eat pork. And they eat their own chit.

And chickens eat with their peckers.

[runfiverun]

the clean water trick takes a ton of the muck taste out of the cats.
using buttermilk for the batter helps too.

[selmerfan]

MaryB, I'm in SW MN also and we fish the Minnesota River a LOT! We're above Granite Falls, so we don't have flatheads up here (though reports have surfaced this summer of flatheads above he dam) and we love the channel cats up here - wonderful fried up, particularly if you bleed them out by cutting the throat latch and putting them on ice. I've taken plenty of crayfish, baitfish, small crappies, bullheads, and other forage fish out of channel cat stomachs to buy the "bottom feeder" only argument. Feeders of opportunity, certainly, but flatheads are also. I'm taking three girls out in the morning to get some cats - should be fun. Two 11 y/o and a 9 y/o - one 11 y/o is my daughter's classmate and has been fishing a lot, but never caught a fish. I assured her mother than we would change that tomorrow. I'll put up pictures if I remember. :)

[MaryB]

I grew up on the Minnesota river down by New Ulm. We ran it by boat for many years. Blues and flatheads, walleyes, occasional northern pike, and channel cats. Even fished carp in spring for the smoker, Bunch of 2 pounders that I fileted with the skin on, brined and smoked then into the freezer for snacks with crackers. Small ones aren't as greasy as the bigger carp. Now I don't fish as much, body is to beat up to hike into the good spots below Granite Falls and down to Redwood Falls.

Oh I will eat a channel cat, fish is fish, I have even fried carp and fed it to people without telling them what it was and they scarfed it up and wanted more! I did get a few walleye out of Wood Lake this year fishing from shore, and the gravel pits below Belview have the occasional eating size sunfish. Always do a bullhead trip in Tyson Lake south of Wood Lake on the 4 way stop as soon as ice is off and it is warm enough to sit there. Get them before they get muddy.

[dagger dog]

I was raised to eat what was put on your plate, if that was baked carp, then you ate it and was lucky that you had it to eat.
Dad would let them clean out in the wash tub then give a good cleaning mom fixed them with butter or oleo margarine and spiced with a little red pepper. The old man made a smoker out of an old refrigerator and smoked them too.

You ever had smoked mullet, that's food to die for, We used to winter in Florida and use a cast net to catch them ? The only thing that comes close is what we called skipjack (shad) they are freshwater and most people that catch them use them for cut bait, but when smoked they are great, we ate a lot of those along with eels, suckers. Catfish, bluegill, crappie were delicacies.

If you have some line and a hook or a net or gig the fish market is the nearest river lake or stream !

[blademasterii]

Right now I'm working on a "froggin" arrow for my bowfishing setup. Figured I would do a 3 prong gig (triangle) setup that screws into an arrow and run it with thinner power pro fishing line for the smaller fish and frogs.

[MaryB]

Never been in FL long enough to fish, food was whatever truck stop we were at. Did a ride along one summer with a friend. Loaded and unloaded for some cash plus food. Was a fun way to see most of the USA.

I will eat just about anything, but the freshwater clam a friend caught then cooked in the shell was just nasty, one bite that I spit out. Ate frogs, turtles, plenty of small game, food was food when I was growing up, 5 kids in the family so you ate or there wasn't anything left!