Potomac 5/4

[moc]

Also from my experience Channel Catfish always have yellowish meat with a strong odor of earthy mud.

While Bluecats tend to be very white meat fillets with little to no discoloration and a fresh odor that is very similar to Elm tree sap.

Thus i never keep any channel catfish and when i eat catfish only keep the bluecast under 20"

Hope this helps..

Meadeo

Same here. I only keep Blue Cats, and send all of the other Cat Species back to the water.

[ronaultmtd]

I still have several bags of blue catfish filets in my freezer- I don't keep anything but Blue cats- too easy to catch a big mess, so why bother with bullheads, flatheads or channel cats?

And they taste great thawed out and fried-

[Woody]

Boy you guys bring back memories. I grew up in that part of PG county and fished those areas as a kid forty years ago. It sounds like the large shallow bay you refer to south of Ft. Washington is Piscataway bay. The fishing was always good in the actual creek further upstream. Lots of old guys would set up dip nets made with cut tree limbs on fulcrums to catch shad in the spring. The creek to the north would be Swann Creek and the marina would be Tantallon marina (named for the then upscale housing development). As for the catfish we always refrained from eating those from that area for just that reason. It was rumored that the runoff and dicharge from the WSSC Blue Plains waste water plant just north of the Wilson bridge was a major source of pollution and contamination as was the large number of now defunct industrial plants on the Anacostia river just a few miles north.

[ictalurus]

Also from my experience Channel Catfish always have yellowish meat with a strong odor of earthy mud.
Meadeo

Strangely enough, the yellowish color is caused by carotene in the flesh, so it's actually a nutritional bonus. Blue cats sometimes have it, too, in the fatty strip that runs along the back ridge.

[kevinfry]

So Bill, I can stop eating carrots if I catch enough channel cats??? Now that would be step in the right direction!

[Shady]

I never used to care much for catfish, but ever since I started eating blue cats, they are moving up the ladder of my favorite fish for the table. I always soak them in milk over night and then fry. Num Yummy! Flathead cats are pretty good too, but I can only catch them on the susky reservoir in the winter. I would consider channel cats to be ok, but only the 14-16 inch ones.

[jsnyd86]

Ahh, you must have been in Piscataway Bay. I feel ya man, my first trip out was a HUGE struggle. I paddeled up and down that bay about 3 times, using almost the entire day to find the deep holes. I eventually gave up. I've been told by a buddy that the structure in the bay holds fish, but I have yet to see it. It looks very fishy with coves, eddies and structure, but there's also a bald eagle in that area that has first dibbs. I second the idea of moving to the northern tributary to Ft Wash. I've never been there but the charts look good. Another MKF'r had some luck in the creek of Piscataway that was also mentioned.

[frettr00]

I'm just happy I didn't go home empty handed. My next trip out will be purely for bass/snakeheads so I'll be checking out those tributary creeks.

[PotomacTide]

Woody mentioned on this thread that they use to catch Shad back in the day in Piscataway. Does anybody know if the Shad runs still occur there. I'm a Shad addict, and I'm obsessed with finding more Shad runs in our area. If Piscataway still has Shad, that would be a dream come true because it is so close to my house. Does anybody know about Shad runs in the Ft Washington area tributaries? Does that run still exist?

[Woody]

I don't know how strong the shad run was but when I was hiking at Great Falls four weeks ago several men were catching a few.Generaly when the Dogwood trees bloom the run is on.