# Red River of the North Catfish



## crawdad (Sep 13, 2007)

These are catfish from the red river of the north.  I pulled these out partially smoked to give you guys a peek.  This makes my mouth water because i can taste the finished product looking at the preview.  What do you guys think?  Oh yeah, these were washed with vineger to remove the slime and soaked in a brine and molasses for a bit after that


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## ba_loko (Sep 13, 2007)

They're looking good, Crawdad.  What river did they come from?  Did you catch them?  More pictures will sure be nice to see, too!


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## mossymo (Sep 13, 2007)

Crawdad
I have a sneak'in feeling I may know you (I advertise this site on as many sites as I feel comfortable)...? Send me a PM if you do not mind letting me know what other site's you frequent. This year I have backed off the river because of the spring/summer flood. But your post reminds me that I need to get out there, possibly this weekend? I usually fish the Christine area, I feel comfortable there. 

I did read of a huge catfish (16550) kill south of Grand Forks today. I am assuming someone poured chemical in.....?


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## crawdad (Sep 13, 2007)

These catfish come from the red river of the north in north dakota a little north of Fargo.  and mossy I doubt you know me as I am from Iowa and we trip up there once a year to enjoy the bountiful catfish harvest.

If you love catching catfish, the red river of the north is the funnest place in the world!!!  Imagine your favourite farm pond where you can put a worm and bobber on and catch bluegill after bluegill less than a minute a part.  But instead of bluegill it's channel cats from 5 to 25 lbs and they've lived in current their whole live so they can fight like you wouldn't believe.

I love the red river, except this year it sucked because my pontoon blew it's motor and I got to fish for 30 minutes total and me and my brother had to change out a couple of 400 lb motors on a muddy river bank.  In order to get another motor I had to spend 1700 0n a boat AND motor and had to go back up the next week for the other boat and it rained the whole time so I still couldn't catch up on any fishing


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## crawdad (Sep 13, 2007)

Update.  i overdid it on picks a little bit


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## crawdad (Sep 13, 2007)

Update: 

On the bottom you see some charred hamburger, next you see chive and onion cream cheese and on top of that you see Red river smoked catfish. For us atkins fans this is a dream. But replace the hamburger with some crackers and you're still kickin ass. The key is the salty and sweet smoked catfish. Had I had some I would have put a layer of caviar between the catfish and cream cheese


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## deejaydebi (Sep 13, 2007)

Looks gread CrawDad! I love blackened catfish! I use the Justin Wilson method.

I wonder if it's posible to do a blacken catfish on a smoker? Anyone try it?


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## crawdad (Sep 13, 2007)

Debbie, when a serious catfisherman takes a bite of a tenderly cooked catfish; in one bite he can taste the muddy waters of late summer and in the next he can taste the cleanness of next spring, and in the next, a cold refreshing iced over pond or lake.  No other fish holds the flavor of the seasons like a freshwater catfish.  i spect that's why its the number one sportfish in iowa.

That said you ought to try your magic on some catfish and leave blackened recipes to people not as talented as yourself.

I can't wait to see what you come up with!!!


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## ba_loko (Sep 13, 2007)

Thank you for the name of it...."red river of the north".  I'll do a search on that.


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## crawdad (Sep 13, 2007)

I'll do better than that.  heres the google earth spot where land our boats every night and have a fish fry for the farmer who's kind enough to let us use his place


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## skinnerc06 (Sep 13, 2007)

So were these smoked the whole time? if so what temperature, I need to get this info from you as we catch tons of "butter cats" down here in the florida creeks.


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## crawdad (Sep 13, 2007)

Ok, ill bite... What are "butter cats?"  We eat everything but our cats?


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## skinnerc06 (Sep 13, 2007)

Its what we call the freshwater catfish down here that like to hang out in the deep dark creek waters.  Only get to be about a pound or a pound and a half, but theyre the cleanest best tasting catfish i ever ate.  Did you leave the skin on??? Whats the vinegar secret??


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## crawdad (Sep 13, 2007)

Well, the vinegar washes all the slime off the skin so you can leave the skin on when you smoke em.  10 minute vinegar soak does fine.  Then you do a regular brine with the sugar and salt and water.  The most important ingrediant is molasis.  Open the bag or bowl of catfish in the brine, take a big wiff and then tip the bottle of molassis into the bag.  There is no exact measurement for howmuch molassis.  Good rule of thumb is let is pour into the mix until you get anxious, then that's enough.  Cook at 225 in your smoker until the meat is firm but just a tad moist when you tear off a chunk.  This will be anywhere from 2 to 4 hours depending on your smoker.  If you like it fry cook for longer.  should taste like a catfish flavored ham when done.


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## catfish (Sep 13, 2007)

The butter cats you are talking about are good. I visited florida with a friend and his uncle took us out. That was some good eating after we got them all cleaned up.I love catfish.


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## skinnerc06 (Sep 13, 2007)

o.k. glad someone understands me and i dont feel completely dumb.  They are indeed reall good and even better to catch.  Thanks for the advice, i gotta big old drum smoker at my deer camp and a creek full of catfish about 100 yards away.  Im gunna pack that sucker.  This recipe sounds good, i might try using it on some mullet.  Any of yall ever tried smoke mullet dip? Talk about turning water into wine.


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