The biggest 3 were 27", 27 and 28", I'm in the blue plaid shirt.
The biggest 3 were 27", 27 and 28", I'm in the blue plaid shirt.
Last edited by fastfire; 08-26-2014 at 07:39 PM.
Excellent fish! What were you guys using?
The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.
-Thomas Jefferson
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
Nice cats.
ph4570
Nice cats! Makes me hungry just lookin' at em!
KE4GWE - - - - - - Colt 1860, it just feels right.
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.
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
You better watch where you go and remember where you beenThat's the way I see it I'm a Simple Man. - Charlie DanielsFor if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins. -Matthew 6:14-15
I won't eat channel cat, they are bottom feeders. Flatheads only eat live stuff and they taste much better.
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'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 !
Last edited by dagger dog; 08-18-2014 at 04:58 PM.
"NUTS" A. Clement McAullife
The solid soft lead bullet is undoubtably the best and most satisfactory expanding bullet that has ever been designed. It invariably mushrooms perfectly, and never breaks up. With the metal base that is essential for velocities of 2000 f.s. and upwards to protect the naked base, these metal-based soft lead bullets are splendid.
John Taylor - "African Rifles and Cartridges"
Forget everything you know about loading jacketed bullets. This is a whole new ball game!
the clean water trick takes a ton of the muck taste out of the cats.
using buttermilk for the batter helps too.
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.
God gave us music that we might pray without words
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.
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 !
"NUTS" A. Clement McAullife
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.
Two wrongs don't make a right, but three lefts do. metalworker, woodworker, mechanic, restorer and 200.00 stamp collector
BP | Bronze Point | IMR | Improved Military Rifle | PTD | Pointed |
BR | Bench Rest | M | Magnum | RN | Round Nose |
BT | Boat Tail | PL | Power-Lokt | SP | Soft Point |
C | Compressed Charge | PR | Primer | SPCL | Soft Point "Core-Lokt" |
HP | Hollow Point | PSPCL | Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" | C.O.L. | Cartridge Overall Length |
PSP | Pointed Soft Point | Spz | Spitzer Point | SBT | Spitzer Boat Tail |
LRN | Lead Round Nose | LWC | Lead Wad Cutter | LSWC | Lead Semi Wad Cutter |
GC | Gas Check |