How to

[crappiepappy]

The strong "muddy" or "fishy" taste is generally coming from the "red" meat along the outer sides of the filet. Cut that red portion off, remove any "yellow meat" (fat), and your catfish will taste much better. (note: removal of the yellow fat is recommended in order to avoid ingesting as much heavy metals contamination, which is concentrated in the fat of the fish).

Restaurant Catfish filets can come from pond raised/food pellet fed fish ... so their taste is not usually as strong as one that comes from your local waters. Removal of the "red meat" area of the fish, is your best option to try & duplicate that taste.

... pappy

[MagikSmallie]

....OR you could just try and catch Crappie and Walleye and not have to deal with fishy taste and have to cover it up with cajun spices as they are much better tasting fish!

[kygorski]

I prefer gills and red ear, but I dont like fooling around all day with dinks.In a perfect world, it would be yellow perch, bext tasting fresh water fish there is.

[Kfed5]

I been fishing since i was four years old, and i just started filleting my catch last year. I have went from getting pliers and pulling the skin off my fillets and putting my knife at a angle and cutting the meat right off. The best advice is to just practice. At first it was hard, but now its a breeze and there is no meat on the skin. So i think the easiest way is to angle your blade and cut. Just keep catching fish and filleting them and the ease will come.

As for the fishy taste, soak them in milk or saltwater like the others said. But after you skin the fillets spraying them with a hose works really well to get it out. And cut all of the red/yellow or discolored fish. Or keep 2-5lbs to keep it mild.

[Kfed5]

And basically everything everyone said is correct. So take all this info and you should be good.

[rickhise]

flat heads win my vote, find someone on here to tell you, which ones are best, we have a guide here on the dock who schooled me, you have channel, blues mud, yellow, im sure others,
there is a Big difference, the belly fat of a flat head, properly dressed out an you have the perfect fish meat! get Beal to introduce you to Jim Scott

[kygorski]

Dont get me wrong guys, I'm not going to go out and hang limb lines, throw out noodles, and delieratly fish for "ole whiskers". Theones I'm talking about are the ones who grab my baits as I troll for fish. Those channels and flatheads put up quite a scrap, and the channel is a handsome fish.Those flatheads will crush a hotntot at times.

[smashdn]

Dont get me wrong guys, I'm not going to go out and hang limb lines, throw out noodles, and delieratly fish for "ole whiskers". Theones I'm talking about are the ones who grab my baits as I troll for fish. Those channels and flatheads put up quite a scrap, and the channel is a handsome fish.Those flatheads will crush a hotntot at times.

Throwback the channels if you are cathing flatheads.

This is with the fish hanging from a hook btw.

I use a pair of dedicated fish skinners to grab the skin right behind the fins on the locking bone. Peel the skin down each side that way. Grab the triangle of skin left on the belly and peel it up towards the head. Use a knife to go down the sides of the anal fin to cut it somewhat loose. Use the fish skinners to pull it out. Slice the belly open and cut the fish free from the head. Use your hands to twist the head off and break the spine. Guts stay with the head on the hook. Fish with bone in and tail on are in your hand.

Put that in a bowl for later. If it is a bigger fish I fillet it off the bone and cut it into the sized pieces I want. If it is a smaller "fiddler" cat I will pry it whole with the tail on.

Remove yellow meat. I soak in salt water to get the blood out and overnight in milk before I fry them.

[KYCatfish]

I slice the skin behind each gill/boney area, then slice across the top around the dorsal fin. Then use skinning pliers to get the skin off. Filet as normal with electric knife.

I have done ALOT of jugging on T-ville and have caught maybe 10-15 channels over the years where the entire...ENTIRE filet was yellow. Dunno why but it tasted fine. I also whole-heartedly agree with cutting a V down the lateral line to get most of the dark meat out. I also agree with freezing them in water vs no wate...totally eliminates any chance of freezer burn.