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Catfish a Public Resource & Awesome Food Source – Epi-3783

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Over the holiday break I got out and did a bit of fishing for a variety of things but mainly just some bullhead catfish to add to my back yard ponds.  I also started to reorganize my gear after a recent surf trip and as part of my winter routine.  Then on top if it had a text conversation with a good friend about fishing.  Turns out the guy is a huge fan of catfish so I was giving him some advice on using things like range cubes for chum.  He didn’t know what range cubes were so I texted him a couple pictures.

This all led me to think, huh, “I should do a show about catfish”.  The topic has come up a lot over the years but always as part of a larger show.  Say one on local food resources or ditch fishing and such.  We have never dedicated an entire podcast just to whisker fish in general though long ago I did one just on bullheads.

Today we correct that and go over fishing for, finding, cooking and processing the primary catfish people in in the US.  These are the blue catfish, channel catfish, flathead catfish and their little brothers the bullheads.

Join Me Today to Discuss…

  • The importance of finding and using local resources in general especially for food
  • Some general great things about catfish as a resource
    • Found in some form in almost all fishable waters
    • Great tasting, no matter what the willfully ignorant claim
    • One of the higher fat to protein ratios in true fresh water fish about 7% if well fed
    • Can be cooked many ways beyond breaded and fried, more later on this
    • High limits and no one that matters gets in a wad when you take a limit home
    • High reproductive rates, means you are not harming anything with ethical harvest
    • In many instances catfish are actually over stocked in small bodies of water
  • Species Breakdown and Best Baits
    • Blue Cats
      • Considered the best eating by many
      • Very hard core predators – live baits like shad are often best
      • Will still take shrimp, stink baits, etc.
      • Unless stocked they are generally in larger bodies of water
      • The largest overall with the world record hitting 143 lbs
      • Has size and quantity limits in most places
    • Channel Cats
      • Often takes live bait but happy to take cut/stink baits
      • Relatively easy to chum, very easy to find in some seasonal cycles
      • Common in big and medium waters, often heavily stocked in small ponds
      • Can have breeding populations in ponds not just lakes and rivers
      • Fish 16-24 inches are great “keepers”
      • 6-12 lb fish are great as well and steak out nicely too
      • The smallest of the big three, world record is 53 lbs
      • Has size and quantity limits in most places
    • Flathead Catfish
      • The most common “big catfish” in day to day catches
      • Almost exclusively a predator as a mature adult, will often take cut bait though
      • Common in lakes but really loves large creeks and rivers, bank cut outs, etc.
      • One of the best baits is other catfish, especially bullheads
      • You need adequate gear if you target flatheads, larger fish will be found
      • Has size and quantity limits in most places
    • Bullheads
      • There are three target species, Brown, Yellow and Black
      • The smallest of America’s catfish sought by anglers
      • Highly underrated with many stupid claims, they eat mud, etc.
      • Absolutely both a scavenger and a predator
      • The biggest issue are large schools of bait stealing small fish
      • Very commonly overpopulated in park ponds and such – nothing to eat them
      • World record is a black bullhead at about 8lbs average eaters are 1-2 lbs
  • General tactics
    • Fish the bottom with slip rigs, in lakes and rivers drifting is great too
    • Some sort of circle hook works best for most fish
    • Chumming areas works well, range cubes are effective, cheap and easy to use
    • Night fishing is highly touted but in my experience they can be caught all day
    • The most active times seem to be the first two hours in the AM, then 2 hours before dark to one hour after dark
    • Some of my most productive baits
      • Stink/punch bait
      • Cut bait – from the same water is best
      • Shrimp – especially salted with channels and bullheads
      • Live bait like shad, small bluegills, etc. and other catfish
    • Also consider unconventional methods like jugs, limb lines and trot lines (check your regs)
    • In some states a commercial licencse may be worth the cost, at least consider it
  • Cleaning Catfish – Don’t make it hard
    • Larger Fish –  fillet and cut off the skin like any fish
    • Smaller Fish – Use the “shucking” method – one example
    • Really Big Fish – Consider the steak method – skinning is not necessary
  • Cooking methods
    • Yes dredge and fry is delicious
    • Direct grilling as steaks, fillets or whole skinless is great
    • Catfish can handle more cooking than most fresh water fish so it can also be good as
      • Blackened with a hard sear
      • In a gumbo style
      • In a stir fry
      • In soups and curries
  • In the end catfish can be cheap to catch, fun to chase and delicious on the table
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Samuel R
Samuel R
13 days ago

Wrong Video in this post

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