100 pounds of channel cats a day

[Hooked Up]

Its almost that time of year for early cats,and when its on we can catch at least a hundred pounds of cats a day per person.I don't eat them (dont like the taste) and just throw them back,but that would make alot of fish fillets.What do most of you do with your cats?

[MrMarty51]

Fillet them.and be sure to remove the dark grey to brown stuff between the hide and the meat and the are EXCELLENT!!!!

[Hooked Up]

Do you debone them,I have never filleted one and im not sure of there Rib bone structure through the meat.The last time I cooked one I didnt fillet it,but cooked it up Trout style and I didnt like the taste.Im thinking maybe making some boneless fillets deep fried in Cracker crumb like I do my Walleyes to make em taste better.

[greensider]

thats one fish i do not catch and release thier to d**n good to eat i only wish i could catch 100 pounds a day or even a year my best cat spot is over 3 hours a way

[MrMarty51]

Do you debone them,I have never filleted one and im not sure of there Rib bone structure through the meat.The last time I cooked one I didnt fillet it,but cooked it up Trout style and I didnt like the taste.Im thinking maybe making some boneless fillets deep fried in Cracker crumb like I do my Walleyes to make em taste better.

Behind the head there are some rib bones that Ya gotta kinda work around and from there back is like fileting most any other fish.The dark colored meat usually laid out in a herring bone design,between the hide and the meat I`ve heard is kinda like where the undesirable stuff is stored and it will give the meat a bad taste,scrape or skin that part of it off and cook the fillets in Your favorite fashion and enjoy.

[Whatpole]

Ya, I heard the grey meat acts as a filtering mechanism. Get all of the grey meat off, it tastes horrible. I found the best way to cook up big cats, is to deep fry them.

I will take a well cleaned cat over most fish any day.

[yetinme]

We use to put them in a spring fed cattle trough for a few days before cleaning them and it cleaned them out really well. They lost all of the muddy taste in that time.

[sperrin]

I enjoy fighting cats on the Assiniboine river but I've never had the erge to eat any of them...

To ugly of a fish to eat in my books. I'll stick with the walleye!!

[Hooked Up]

I did pretty good during the season and they tasted a little fishy for my liking,but it wasn't to bad.I think I will stick to the walleyes as well.

I did find an easy way to fillet them though,I tried it and it only took a couple times to get it down pat.Heres the way I did it with just an electric carving knife.

http://www.catfish1.com/forums/showthread.php?t=38879

[sperrin]

thats a great link that shows how to fillet really well.... if i ever get the courage up to eat one of those cats now i know how...

[MeatHunter737]

Up here on the Seneca River we can catch a ton of cats per year, but I usually just keep the first dozen or so during the coldest water temps, I may keep a couple more before Memorial Day, cause they are delicious....no doubt my wife will eat Walleye, Perch, and Small Mouths but will not eat catfish or Salmon, because "they taste too fishy"........whatever