Tomorrow

[68ROX]

One tasty thing to do with catfish fillets before you cook them is to place them in a plastic freezer bag with enough orange juice to cover them.  Let them marinade in the OJ for a couple of days in the refrigerator.  (You can also use frozen concentrated lemonade or limeade).

While most people deep fry them, I am on a diet...

So I use a dry rub of 1/2 Old Bay Seasoning, 1/4 Lemon Pepper, and 1/4 bread crumbs and then it's on to the Weber Grill with soaked Mesquite chips.

Serve with Rice Pilaf and steamed broccoli.




68ROX

[rogwar]

Originally posted by Curval
Nice one!

Do they put up a good fight?  Sure looks like they do.

They do put up a nice fight and have lots of tricks as well like rolling. Big ones like that are notorious for running when they get close to the boat. Lots of muscle on a 30+ lb catfish.

It was a blue catfish. The record on Lake Lavon is currently 68 lbs. I cannot imagine what that would be like to deal with.

Most "sport" catfishermen throw them back if over 10lbs. A big fish takes a long time to grow and is a substantial egg producer.

Anyway I went back all day today and no big big ones. Caught an 19 lber and about 20+ between 8 and 15 lbs.

Cleaned the boat good this evening and have reconfigured for crappie. Looks like Sunday might be good for spider rigging. Not my favorite way of fishing but it's a good technique for when the crappie are like 30+ feet deep.

Here's my fishing partner's web site. He caught what would have been a world record flat head catfish for 6 lb test line. It was like 51lbs. He did not even think about qualifying and just threw it back. It's the photo of him in camo.

http://www.acrappieguy.com/shame.html

We routinely catch all sorts of things on crappie jigs.

And by the way, noodling is illegal in Texas believe it or not.

[Geary420]

Originally posted by AquaShrimp
Cleaning and filleting a fish is a pain in the butt.

Seriously?  Do you have someone who baits your hooks and takes the fish off for you??  Look into a Mr. Twister electric fillet knife.  It's like a hot knife through butter.  I am hard pressed to find a better meal than Crappie, Perch, Walleye, etc... that goes from swimming in the river, to swimming in hot oil in less than a couple hours.

[Geary420]

Originally posted by rogwar


Here's my fishing partner's web site. He caught what would have been a world record flat head catfish for 6 lb test line. It was like 51lbs.

This piqued my interest as my stepdad caught one that went 52lbs. 4oz. on certified scale on 6lb test and that didn't even make the state record.  Apparently he must not have thought to look into line class records vs. all tackle. What is the current WR for Flats on 6lb?

[acfireguy26]

Originally posted by 68ROX
I thought only Arkansas & Mississippi folks knew about noodling.

And if you think noodling is for "sissys"...try it sometime.

The first time a 50lb catfish chomps on your hand, or what you thought was a catfish turns out to be a snake....




68ROX

What you just described is what I know as grappeling. Noodling involves a piece of pvc pipe nylon rope and a big treble hook.

[rogwar]

The International Game Fish Association maintains the records but you have to be a member to login and look at the records. Somebody he knew looked it up and told him. Of course it's second hand info by a fisherman but who knows. A fish that size on 6lb test is a feat.

Flatheads like to eat crappie so that's why we think they are sometimes caught on jigs while fishing for such.

Here's a good recipe for a big blue cat filet.

Catfish on Cedar

INGREDIENTS:

Big Catfish filet
1/2 cup fresh dill, chopped
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 lemon sliced thinly
1 teaspoon coarse salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 untreated cedar plank large enough to fit the fish

PREPARATION:

Soak the cedar plank submerged in water for 1 hour. Preheat grill. Lightly coat inside and outside of each trout. Season inside with salt and pepper and stuff with lemon slices and dill. Place soaked cedar plank on grill over direct medium heat.
When cedar plank starts to smoke place fish on plank. Grill for about 15 minutes or until the fish is done. The flesh should be opaque and flake easily. Remove from grill. Discard fish filet and eat the plank. Recipe works well for sand bass also.

We are all spoiled on crappie.

[Jackal1]

Nice recipe.


The trick to having a good meal from large catfish is just about the same as any game.
It starts in the field and relies on the one caring for the meat. Screw it up at that point and it`s a worthless cause.
Big cats.......................ha ng, cut off the tail and let them bleed out.
All down hill from there.
Of course the very best catfish dinner is had with pan size cats. Ummmmm Mmmmmm.

Got to be having me some crappie too.

[AquaShrimp]

Originally posted by Geary420
Seriously?  Do you have someone who baits your hooks and takes the fish off for you??  Look into a Mr. Twister electric fillet knife.  It's like a hot knife through butter.  I am hard pressed to find a better meal than Crappie, Perch, Walleye, etc... that goes from swimming in the river, to swimming in hot oil in less than a couple hours.

I've spent many an evening pulling the skin off a catfish with a pair of needle-nosed pliers.  Its just alot of work for a little bit of meat.  Plus its full of tiny bones.  Now it does taste good if its deep-fried, but you need alot of catfish to make a meal for three or four people.

Unless I'm starving, I'll never clean another catfish.  Give me a double whopper with large fry and coke any day.

[BiGBMAW]

caught a catfish on a hula popper one full moon midnight evening...I was fish n for bass..I said..dam this is a big bass..then it came up and started barking..

btw..those are biggazzz catfish..Out here we have channel cats that can get 75lbs and above...still haven't caught one..

They say you use a 1-2 lb bait fish live in a bullhead harness..then put a big weight on it and sink it in a deep hole on a bend of the river