March meet and greet...Potomac Blue Cats at Marshall Hall

[sega]

DNR definitely isn't going to hold you up for going after blues. Probably offer you some marine grade dynamite if they had it lol.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[kevinfry]

I eat plenty of blue catfish from this stretch of the river and down by thewicomico/st clements creeks in at Mary's county. Plenty of commercial harvest in these areas and eating is promoted. If what I have read is true, a 30in rockfish and a 30lb blue catfish have the same issues as food fish as do large tuna. Anyone giving up sushi lately?

That being said, the smaller ones are much easier to process and are whe re I do most of my eating. 18" -24" are my target. They filet nicely (I don't mess with the whole catfish skinning thing) and don't cut into the intestinal cavity. There is so much boneless meat in these fish that there is no point messing with ribs.
These are super easy fish to process, their flesh is whiter than other catfish, and it freezes great. So I'd encourage you to keep a mess of them. You can see in my pics earlier in the thread a nice mess of eating size cats I was taking home and the great fish fry some of them made.

Sent from my SM-G360V using Tapatalk

[suicyderider]

awesome report, is there access to cleaning tables nearby? and surely I would need a recipe .... I generally don't keep fish but seeing as they ask to kill them I may take 3 or 4 home to fry on this occasion.

I eat plenty of blue catfish from this stretch of the river and down by thewicomico/st clements creeks in at Mary's county. Plenty of commercial harvest in these areas and eating is promoted. If what I have read is true, a 30in rockfish and a 30lb blue catfish have the same issues as food fish as do large tuna. Anyone giving up sushi lately?

That being said, the smaller ones are much easier to process and are whe re I do most of my eating. 18" -24" are my target. They filet nicely (I don't mess with the whole catfish skinning thing) and don't cut into the intestinal cavity. There is so much boneless meat in these fish that there is no point messing with ribs.
These are super easy fish to process, their flesh is whiter than other catfish, and it freezes great. So I'd encourage you to keep a mess of them. You can see in my pics earlier in the thread a nice mess of eating size cats I was taking home and the great fish fry some of them made.

Sent from my SM-G360V using Tapatalk

[kevinfry]

I don t clean on site. I just ice down and take home. They are usually still alive 3hrs latet as they just go dormant on ice....a catfish thing.
They are great for kids, tacos and old people because of no threat of bones. I have a friend with a handicapped daughter who struggles with meat and heard bones in other fish (partially paralyzed due to car accident ) ...they always get some of my catfish which they love and eat fearlessly.

Sent from my SM-G360V using Tapatalk

[DonV]

I don t clean on site. I just ice down and take home. They are usually still alive 3hrs latet as they just go dormant on ice....a catfish thing.
They are great for kids, tacos and old people because of no threat of bones. I have a friend with a handicapped daughter who struggles with meat and heard bones in other fish (partially paralyzed due to car accident ) ...they always get some of my catfish which they love and eat fearlessly.

Sent from my SM-G360V using Tapatalk

Years ago, stopping to fish on the way home from work on the eastern shore, I caught a few nice cats to bring home. Not having the sense to bring a cooler and being lazy I left the fish on on the stringer and tied them hanging from my truck rack.(insert you may be a redneck joke here)
Temps were somewhere around 50 or a above, after the hour and a half ride back home I threw the very lifeless looking fish in the sink to get ready to clean them, with some doubts as to my whole food safety system bouncing in my head. I'll be damned if after a few seconds of the things hitting some water they started breathing and flopping around.

I think some ice will do the trick to get them home and thanks for the advice on keepers for eating. They are not my favorite but it sure is hard to pass on those nice white, thick fillets and I'm going to keep a few.

[kevinfry]

Yeah...catfish stay alive like no other creatures.

Blue catfish, for me, are the very very best eating cats. If placed in ice after fishing. You get WHITE meat. They don't have that liquid day you find in channel catfish. ...though I also like channel cats, they don't have that nice white flesh. It is not flakey like ocean fish but it is good.

Sent from my SM-G360V using Tapatalk

[Redfish12]

Kevin, count me in for this one. We used to eat a lot of flatheads (mudcats) & channel cats from the New River in WV with my grandpa. They would always soak the meat after filleting in buttermilk and then fry it in a egg/flour/egg/ritz crackers mix. They'd even freeze the meat in buttermilk and it always came out great.

I've never eaten a catfish from the Potomac and I'll confess I've never even cleaned one. I guess my grandfather spoiled me. I'll have to try it this year.

[Salty Dog]

Kevin, count me in for this one. We used to eat a lot of flatheads (mudcats) & channel cats from the New River in WV with my grandpa. They would always soak the meat after filleting in buttermilk and then fry it in a egg/flour/egg/ritz crackers mix. They'd even freeze the meat in buttermilk and it always came out great.

I've never eaten a catfish from the Potomac and I'll confess I've never even cleaned one. I guess my grandfather spoiled me. I'll have to try it this year.

I have fished cats before but never cleaned one as well. Can't be that hard, if you catch enough of them, practice makes perfect.

[DonV]

Honestly I don't know if I have ever caught a blue or eaten one. I have only had channels, I think. Till a few years ago wasn't even aware of the difference and I may be mistaken.

[kevinfry]

Kevin, count me in for this one. We used to eat a lot of flatheads (mudcats) & channel cats from the New River in WV with my grandpa. They would always soak the meat after filleting in buttermilk and then fry it in a egg/flour/egg/ritz crackers mix. They'd even freeze the meat in buttermilk and it always came out great.

I've never eaten a catfish from the Potomac and I'll confess I've never even cleaned one. I guess my grandfather spoiled me. I'll have to try it this year.

Got ya redfish12! Gonna be a fun M&G.....nice mix of vets and more recent snaggedliners!

[kevinfry]

I have fished cats before but never cleaned one as well. Can't be that hard, if you catch enough of them, practice makes perfect.

I, personally, just filet them like a rockfish. They are so muscular that it is easy to see where to start the filet without hitting rib bones

[kevinfry]

Here is a stringer full of the size I like to keep for eating


for filetting, i take an angled cut about where the diagonal line is drawn here on Ictalarus' nice cat. this shoul angle behind the ribs and vent. I then take it off the spine all the way back, taking off the whole filet. I then remove the skinjûst like one does with a rockfish filet....running the knife between flesh and skin

[moc]

Looks like you got a good group going out Kevin. Since I have been sick, I still cannot get on the water yet, but count me in for Lunch. It will be good to see how everyone else does. Temps looks like 68 degrees for next Saturday. Should be a nice day.

[kevinfry]

Looks like you got a good group going out Kevin. Since I have been sick, I still cannot get on the water yet, but count me in for Lunch. It will be good to see how everyone else does. Temps looks like 68 degrees for next Saturday. Should be a nice day.

we look forward to seeing you, moc! Can't wait fpr the day you are healthy enough to fish with us!!

[YakCapn]

I'm going to try to make it. Will be my first trip out this year on the yak. Just had a newborn baby girl, 5 weeks old (my first), and have my hands full, but I'm going to try to get a morning out on the water. Looks like its a few late nights this week to earn up the capital with the wife.