# Eating catfish.



## StarkFisherman (May 17, 2008)

I have ate catfish my whole life. Whether it was caught, from the grocery store or restaurant... A month or so ago, my fishing partner and I landed several nice channel cats out of Berlin. They were all a pretty decent size. I fried them up as usual and I must admit, it was the nastiest fish that I have ate in awhile. The meet also seemed mushy. Anyone get this lately with their channels cats?


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## Bono Joe (Mar 2, 2009)

Try skinning them and then filleting them. Cut the white strip off the top and throw it away. Then cut into 1" to 1 1/2" strips crossways then batter and throw in the deep fryer. Then dip them in seafood sauce, tartar sauce or whatever. Heat gets to them better. Have a cold one handy to enjoy with them.


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## viper1 (Apr 13, 2004)

Normally from not icing down quickly or real hot summer water. Did also one time frying the. Didnt have grease hot enough.

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## Shaun69007 (Sep 2, 2009)

I ALWAYS put them in ice water after fileting and skinning for at least a couple hours and then doing it again. The ice water constricts the vessels and gets the blood and crap out. your ice water will look nasty afterwards. alwasy change the ice water and do it a couple times while soaking. after your done cut off the red / brown and only keep the white. you will loose a lot of meat by cutting off the miscolored but the end result is much better quality fish.


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## viper1 (Apr 13, 2004)

Sorry yes I have always soaked my cat fish in salt water overnight also. Sorry completely forgot. And in some places all the meat taste goods but better to remove any thing not white as Shawn said.Most people also roll in cornmeal for better taste but I prefer flour.Fry in oil with a touch of butter.


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## JFeeds (Apr 14, 2008)

A guy I know said to soak the filets in Mountain Dew. Has anyone ever done this? It sounds a little odd to me.


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## FishandHunt59 (May 16, 2009)

You need to "bleed" the ones you want to eat! Just cut the gills and let them bleed out, and you will have pure white fillets and no strong taste, and you don't need to soak them in anything!

Steve


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## katfish (Apr 7, 2004)

Stark

As you can see their are many possible causes to the taste problem.
Many are associated with care of the catch but others include the diet of channel cats you catch. Forktails caught earlier in the year have less of a fishy taste because shad haven't spawned and the cats haven't got onto a predominately shad diet. They also seem firmer before the water warms up.

As spawn approaches channel cats biology changes and the have lots of hormones and physical changes that may affect their taste.

Larger fish are fun to catch but I have found that 2-4 pound channel cats make much better eating. Stay aware of the results of you care and preparation of fish to maximize results and examine you fish to see if you can find what they eat (examine stomach contents) and you should be able to find the taste problems and resolve them.


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## steelhead1 (May 14, 2004)

Just another .02 along what ya'll are saying.

2-4lb Channels are great eating and I soak them in salt water overnight.

I fry a lot of cats at my camp, never get any complaints


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