I’ve been at it again…….

[Drycreek]

Our annual trip on the Catfish Cadillac was made better this year when my sister-in-law joined my wife and me once again for a round of rod bending and slimy critters ! We fished again on Lake Fork, located about an hour and a half N of where I live. Let me say that the early morning wakeup and the drive were both worth it ! We tied up to a tree about 7:30 and by 11:00 we were packing it in with a three person limit of 75 fish !


We fished from a 22’ pontoon boat named the Catfish Caddilac with guide Shannon Wheeler. This is our fourth trip with him and he delivers each and every time. The girls really enjoy this because it’s pretty fast fishing. Very seldom did we wait over a minute to get bit. Usually it was, let your bait go to the bottom, reel up two to three turns, and get ready to set the hook !

 

[Triple C]

Bring on the jalapeno hushpuppies, cole slaw, tarter sauce and fries! That is gonna be some fine kind of eating!!!

 

[buckmaster27012]

did yall hook any of those big largemouth, i'm wanting to make a trip down there for to fish but waiting on water to come back up some.

 

[Drycreek]

did yall hook any of those big largemouth, i'm wanting to make a trip down there for to fish but waiting on water to come back up some.

I used to bass fish Fork as often as a guy that worked in the oil patch could, but not in several years now. There were and are some sho’ ‘nuff monsters in there. A dyed-in-the-wool bass fisherman is just a little bit twisted though and I have cleaned up my life and only fish for crappie and catfish now.

 

[dogghr]

Nice catch and good eating.

 

[massey]

Alright, I have to ask….. never had a catfish that didn’t taste like mud. Now, bullhead are delicious, but catfish? What am I doing wrong with catfish? Or do y’all just like eatin mud?


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[buckdeer1]

soak in salt water over night in frig.

 

[Drycreek]

Alright, I have to ask….. never had a catfish that didn’t taste like mud. Now, bullhead are delicious, but catfish? What am I doing wrong with catfish? Or do y’all just like eatin mud?


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I have no clue where you are from, or where the catfish you are eating were caught, so I’m at a disadvantage here. To us, in Texas, a bullhead is a mudcat and is used for bait to catch big yellow cats (flatheads). Nothing much better to catch a big flathead or blue with, but not many people eat them.

What you see in my pictures are channel cats and are excellent eating in most lakes and rivers, but the lake where we caught these is my preference. I have a lake closer to me that’s full of them, but they don’t taste quite as good to me. And, most of them are very small. There are so many that TPWD has removed both the size and the creel limits on them. Catch all you want, keep them as small as you want.

Check out the “What’s for dinner ?” thread later tonight !

 

[TreeDaddy]

I have no clue where you are from, or where the catfish you are eating were caught, so I’m at a disadvantage here. To us, in Texas, a bullhead is a mudcat and is used for bait to catch big yellow cats (flatheads). Nothing much better to catch a big flathead or blue with, but not many people eat them.

What you see in my pictures are channel cats and are excellent eating in most lakes and rivers, but the lake where we caught these is my preference. I have a lake closer to me that’s full of them, but they don’t taste quite as good to me. And, most of them are very small. There are so many that TPWD has removed both the size and the creel limits on them. Catch all you want, keep them as small as you want.

Check out the “What’s for dinner ?” thread later tonight !

AKA "chughead" ....... a trash fish

Channel cat,on the other hand,is an east texas delicacy

bill

 

[Drycreek]

AKA "chughead" ....... a trash fish

Channel cat,on the other hand,is an east texas delicacy

bill

Chughead, mudcat, bullhead, polywog, and a couple names I won’t repeat I ate them as a kid, and out of the crystal clear creeks I fished they weren’t too bad, but that was 60+ years ago.

 

[Drycreek]

My wife and I took my granddaughter to Lake Fork today to catch some more catfish. We had a blast ! It was hot, but fishing from 8:15 until 10:45 we put 75 eaters in the cooler and that equaled two half-gallon ziplocks full of trimmed filets.

 

[buckdeer1]

Looks like fun and good eating.My hunting buddies family and mine surprised us with a weekend at Texoma for us and our wifes first part of July so we will go relax for 2 days.

 

[catscratch]

What a great looking trip! Those channels are FAT! You guys weren't chumming were you? I would guess those bellies are full of soured grain or something.

Massy, I'd prefer channels over bass any day! I find their flavor very mild and not muddy at all. I do like to eat bullhead too! My experience with people who don't like catfish is that prep is important to the flavor. If I'm cooking for picky eaters who don't want their fish to taste like fish I go to some trouble on the cleaning end; make sure they are lively until time to clean them, I bleed them, then cut all strips of red meat out while cleaning them. Once done I wash several times then get them cold ASAP. I don't soak in salt or milk. Lots of people who hate fish have sat around the fire and pigged out on big cats and flats if prepped well.

 

[catscratch]

The last time I was at Texoma was years ago catching strippers. What a great day! Way worth the trip!

 

[Drycreek]

What a great looking trip! Those channels are FAT! You guys weren't chumming were you? I would guess those bellies are full of soured grain or something.

Massy, I'd prefer channels over bass any day! I find their flavor very mild and not muddy at all. I do like to eat bullhead too! My experience with people who don't like catfish is that prep is important to the flavor. If I'm cooking for picky eaters who don't want their fish to taste like fish I go to some trouble on the cleaning end; make sure they are lively until time to clean them, I bleed them, then cut all strips of red meat out while cleaning them. Once done I wash several times then get them cold ASAP. I don't soak in salt or milk. Lots of people who hate fish have sat around the fire and pigged out on big cats and flats if prepped well.

You are exactly right on the taste. Trimming and cleaning are important to the taste of fish of any kind. The filets turn out smaller but they taste so much better. He has a “cleaning bucket” which is nothing more than a five gallon can with a garden hose connection near the bottom. He throws the filets in it and turns on the water; after it fills up the filets just keep rolling around in the bucket and everything else flows out onto the ground. When he bags them, they are ready to separate into meal sized portions and vaccum pack.

Oh yeah, he baits those holes the day before with range cubes. The lake is full of fish, but that concentrates them. That’s important too if you want to beat the heat !

 

[catscratch]

Their stomachs looked distended like they do when they've been fed like that. Makes for some outstanding fishing!

Do you ever go blue cat fishing in the winter? The striper pic I posted was a winter trip and we caught mostly "overs" (fish too big to legally keep). I originally wanted to take my boy on a winter trophy bluecat trip and try to hook into a few over 50, but we shifted after talking with some guides. I think a 70lb blue would be a lot of fun!

 

[MarkDarvin]

I've had terrible catfish in a restaurant on Bourbon Street. I've also had excellent catfish from MN. I highly recommend connecting with someone that knows how to clean them. They are hands down my favorite fish to eat. The rest are good, but cats are a step above.

 

[Drycreek]

Their stomachs looked distended like they do when they've been fed like that. Makes for some outstanding fishing!

Do you ever go blue cat fishing in the winter? The striper pic I posted was a winter trip and we caught mostly "overs" (fish too big to legally keep). I originally wanted to take my boy on a winter trophy bluecat trip and try to hook into a few over 50, but we shifted after talking with some guides. I think a 70lb blue would be a lot of fun!

I’ve considered it quite often. We have some great lakes (and guides) in East Texas for trophy blues. Richards-Chambers Reservoir is not too far and there’s a guide there that regularly produces fish forty pounds and up. He has a semi-enclosed boat too so that you don’t freeze to death. My son and I have talked about booking him but we just haven’t pulled the trigger. We need to do that while I’m still above the ground !

 

[Drycreek]

I've had terrible catfish in a restaurant on Bourbon Street. I've also had excellent catfish from MN. I highly recommend connecting with someone that knows how to clean them. They are hands down my favorite fish to eat. The rest are good, but cats are a step above.

I’ve always wanted to try some fresh walleye. I ate some once in a restaurant in ND and it was very good, but it had probably been frozen. Fresh would definitely be better. Good catfish is hard to beat though, especially flatheads, or as we call them, ops (opelousas), or yellow cats.