“KISS” my Catfish (Bear Style)

[chilerelleno]

Chili you should throw that little guy back. :D

Warren

He did go back.
I don't keep anything over 5lbs or so as they get to coarse in the flesh.

 

[chilerelleno]

X3 on the Eel!
My son and I love it, we fish them when we can.
One of the first things I order at a Sushi Bar is the Unagi, extra sesame seeds.

 

[Bearcarver]

I'm salivating now - great looking fish!

Thank You PZ !!
And Thanks for the Like.

Bear

Ah yell another great meal by the Bear. Goes good with corn bread, greens, stewed tomatoes and fried taters too. That's the way we do a fish fry.

Warren

Thank You Warren!!
Yup---Our biggest Fish feasts revolved around either Catfish, Trout, or Shad Roe or Sucker Roe!!
And Thanks for the Like.

Bear

 

[Bearcarver]

Bear I love fried fish,had some Catfish down in Alabama that was good. Caught a bunch up in Lake Ontario that tasted like mud never tried them again.
Richie

Thank You Richie!!
We try to catch & keep Catfish in the Spring & Early Summer, to avoid the "muddy taste" problem.
And Thanks for the Like.

Bear

 

[Bearcarver]

Looking good Bear. That's one of the two types of fish that I care for.

Thank You Denny!!
What's the other one?
And Thanks for the Like.

Bear

Hey now, I'm from the North Bear, depends where you go for the Catfish. A place near me does cornmeat dusted catfish on Fridays..13 USD all you can eat. That is to me, pretty darn cheap for All you can eat fish!

I almost got Catfish fillets today; but all I saw from the fish place I went was the breaded kind and they were shortstaffed trying to handle a ton of custom orders. <They smoke fish commercially and for private customers. Pulling up to the place smelt like heaven>. So I didn't end up asking if they had non breaded on hand. So instead we got about 4 pounds of smoked Salmon...

Around here, if a Restaurant has Catfish, it will cost from $20 to $30 for a Dinner with a very small piece of Catfish.

Bear

 

[HalfSmoked]

You get a line and I'll pole and we'll fishing down oh well you know how it goes.
So many memories of days gone by have come up in this thread. Thanks John.

Maybe you should start a thread of old memories of days gone by.

Warren

 

[Bearcarver]

You get a line and I'll pole and we'll fishing down oh well you know how it goes.
So many memories of days gone by have come up in this thread. Thanks John.

Maybe you should start a thread of old memories of days gone by.

Warren

Now with that phrase, you're bringing back Memories of "Jerry McGinnis" and "The fishin Hole"!!
I watched that one more than a few times!!!

Bear

 

[mike5051]

Never tried catfish cooked in butter, it looks delicious. There is a catfish house near me that serves all you can eat catfish everyday...it's whole fried catfish. I've never ordered it because I thought it was a gimmick and you spend all your time picking fish off the bones. I didn't know that the fish comes off the skeleton easily. Thanks for tip!

Mike

 

[dward51]

I've never tried them in butter either. Looks great though, Bear!

When I say the thread title, I figured it was breaded and fried (being from the south like I am there is generally no other way to do catfish, right?). I may have to give this a try as there are a lot of days I don't want to fool with oil and disposing of it afterwards and just forgo things like catfish. Plus I'm trying the low carb thing and true breading is not a good idea, but this would work great.

Thanks!!!!

 

[Bearcarver]

Yeah, I hear ya John about the Cat's rubber wetsuit, skinning cats is the hardest part of cleaning them.

We've countless catfish farms down here that supply the commercial demand.
We also have some great 'Pay to Play' catfish ponds where you can catch'em yourself.
I take my kids and they love it, it's not fishing, it's catching!
And the fish in these ponds are allowed to grow, average fish is 2-3lbs, which is industry standard for harvest, but there are fish ranging from 10lbs, 20lbs, 30lbs and even over 40lbs.
We bring home a lot of fish when we go.

Nothing that big around here in the Catfish Department.
The closest thing we got to that size would be a bit South of here at the Conowingo Dam. (Havre deGrace)
However we always preferred them to be under 16" for the best eating.
Those big ones gotta be fun though, because I know even a 20" Catfish feels like you're stuck on the bottom, until you get him moving.

Bear

 

[MeatSkull]

I agree , the easiest to skin and gut. I do like them but prefer Cod and Salmon, now that's some eating!

 

[ravenclan]

Thank You Richie!!
We try to catch & keep Catfish in the Spring & Early Summer, to avoid the "muddy taste" problem.
And Thanks for the Like.

Bear

When we clean catfish we "roll them" we have a five gallon bucket filled with water, take a hose with a adjustable nozzle put in the water and spray the the water towards the bottom to "roll" the fish. this cleans the fish and removes the muddy taste. you will know when you are done the fish fillet will be white. we fill the bucket half full of fish then rinse them. more then that will take longer to clean.

 

[gmc2003]

Man it's amazing how many threads slip on by when your working and can only log on for 10 or 15 min. at a time. Bear that cat looks scrumptious. Brings back allot of memories from when I was younger and went fishing/camping with my buddies. We used to cook them on a cast iron pan over an open campfire. Good times.

Point for sure.

Chris

 

[Bearcarver]

When we clean catfish we "roll them" we have a five gallon bucket filled with water, take a hose with a adjustable nozzle put in the water and spray the the water towards the bottom to "roll" the fish. this cleans the fish and removes the muddy taste. you will know when you are done the fish fillet will be white. we fill the bucket half full of fish then rinse them. more then that will take longer to clean.

I hesitate to tell this story, because the last time I told it, a Non-Member of this forum joined just to call me disgusting & abusive:
Anyway, back in the 1960s my Dad had it down to a science (This would take him well under 1 minute per catfish):
We used to fish the Delaware River at night with lanterns. We sat on 5 gallon buckets, and every time we caught a Catfish my Dad would hold him inside the mouth with a rag (to get a good grip), and he would cut lightly all the way around, just behind the head. Then he'd grab the skin with a pliers, and pull the skin right off, from head to tail. Then it would go into one of the 5 gallon buckets, filled with water. They would swim around calmly until we got home in the morning to Gut & Behead them.
This probably accomplished much the same thing as your "Rolling" did, because we didn't get the Muddy taste.
However we still preferred harvesting Catfish during the Spring & Early Summer, because the flesh was more Firm at that time.

I can remember a few times that we limited out at 50 Cats each.

Bear

 

[Bearcarver]

Hell yell I'm with you on the American Eel' Dad use to cut them in about 3" pieces then cut through to the back bone in 2 places on each side and you had 3 nice bites on each side. Wow that brings back some memories of some good eating haven't had that in awhile.

Warren

Yup---Nice flaky, pure white meat---Very Tasty!!!
And I used to get a kick out of how the Eel Chunks would jump around in the pan, even more than Frog Legs did.

I hated dealing with them when I caught one. My Dad used the trick of holding them with a rag in his hand, so the rag would soak up the slime & allow him to get a good grip on it, but just like a snake the Eel would wrap himself around his arm while he was removing the hook.

Not me---Too much like a snake for me---I just cut the line & put him in the stringer bag. A lot easier to put a new hook on than to play with him, especially when they got up to 30" long or more!!!!!

Bear

 

[HalfSmoked]

WE just take and slam them down on the deck and they straighten right out like they are knocked out.

Warren

 

[Bearcarver]

Never tried catfish cooked in butter, it looks delicious. There is a catfish house near me that serves all you can eat catfish everyday...it's whole fried catfish. I've never ordered it because I thought it was a gimmick and you spend all your time picking fish off the bones. I didn't know that the fish comes off the skeleton easily. Thanks for tip!

Mike

Thank You Mike!
Yup---Definitely Zero Bones to pick.
I think that's a big percentage of why a Catfish is my Favorite Fish to eat.
I hate picking bones.
One of these days I'm going to tap some LA guys for some "Cajun Catfish" Recipes.

Many moons ago, when I had my own Cabinet shop, I redid a Big Bar (Spinnerstown Hotel), and I did both kitchens, his upstairs office, his Waitress Stations, and even his Bar at his mountain cabin at the Lake.
So I took Mrs Bear there for Dinner, and I ordered "Cajun Catfish". So after we ate, the owner (My Buddy) asked me "How did you like that Catfish?" I replied, "You're asking a guy who usually eats 4 or 5 Catfish at a sitting how he liked a little sliver of a piece of fish you put on my plate. I can't really say. It wasn't in my mouth long enough to taste it."

And Thanks for the Like.

Bear

 

[Bearcarver]

Man it's amazing how many threads slip on by when your working and can only log on for 10 or 15 min. at a time. Bear that cat looks scrumptious. Brings back allot of memories from when I was younger and went fishing/camping with my buddies. We used to cook them on a cast iron pan over an open campfire. Good times.

Point for sure.

Chris

Thank You Chris!!
I know what you mean---I miss a lot of Awesome posts, I'm sure!!
And Thanks for the Like.

Bear

 

[zachd]

We just have a board with a nail stuck all the way through slam the head onto it and make it stick. make a cut Then you take a needle nose and pull the skin off.

Speaking of eel I love me some eelpout

 

[Bearcarver]

Looks good Bear! Only thing missing is some mac & cheese.

Thank You HC !!
And Thanks for the Like.

Bear