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Put 'em live in a feeder tank full of water with a water hose tricklin' for a couple days. The fresh water runnin thru 'em will take out the muddy taste. Pappaw used to do that with his Mississippi River catfish back in the day.
If they dead, gill cut em, let 'em bleed out, put 'em in heavy ice when you get to dry land. That'll help a lot.
I predominately fish for catfish here in the Carolinas on the Santee Cooper Lakes, and the water here is normally warmer than most place you guys fish. I found out some time ago, throw bullheads at seagulls..we keep Arkansas blues and some channels in the winter. Rule #2 is like some guys mentioned earlier, soak in salt water overnight after cleaning all red meat and fat off the filets like you would duck or deer meat to remove the wild taste and blood.
I cut mine in strips about like your little finger also when frying, good stuff. When done properly, you may need to tie up your wife until you are ready to serve so that you can make a pile on the plate...
don't forget to remove the black stuff on the belly meat.A stiff hand brush will remove it.
Clean catfish fillets of all dark meat. Immediately place in ice water to cool. If you are going to fry them up for supper splash some malt vinegar into the ice water a let set for and hour or so. If you are going to freeze splash some malt vinegar into the freezer bag. No fishing taste after this.
Of course it does not matter what kind of fish you fillet if you let the fillets get warm after you cut them of then you might as will feed them to the cat. Fish taste better out of cold water.
My buddy is a catfishman and he always hangs them up and cuts the tail off to let them bleed. They taste good to me.
I read an article recently put out by the Ark. Game & Fish which said to soak the cleaned or filleted fish overnight in a gallon of water and I think 2 tablespoons of salt and 1 tablespoon of baking soda. I'll check on the article and get back on here if my memory is wrong.
WOW good reading but its starting to sound to me like its better to catch catfish and eat another spieces... Then again I have never been a big eater of fish to begin with. And this is one of the reasons. Bones being another but get me on some Halibut or Tuna and get out of my way. haha
I rechecked it and it was 1 teaspoon of baking soda instead of 1 tablespoon. I haven't tried it yet, so I can't say whether it works or not.Quote:
Originally Posted by blairarnold
Thats the way we do it. keep em alive cut the tails off about 1/2" up hang them let them bleed out the get rid of the red & yello meat.Quote:
Originally Posted by crappiehuntr
these guys on here know what there talking about! One of the things i do & I might have missed it in the other posts, is after filleting the fish on the spine side of the fillet I take my filet knife I cut about 3/4 to inch right out of the middle fillet you can see the mud vien throw it away. Now all you have is the top & bottom of the fish fillet. As one of the 1st posters said soak your cats in buttermilk, be sure to skim the top also as he said. But when you are breading your fish leave buttermilk marinade on the fillet. You will not believe the crust you get from your choice of DRY breading. one last thing now that your fish is breaded lay them out on newspaper and let fillets rest for 20-30 minutes before frying. Good S%&T guys!!:D:D:D