This spring, my oldest son and I have been visiting a small local river for channel catfish, carp and redhorse suckers. We use a chunk of nightcrawler on a small hook (size 8) for carp and suckers, and place a couple of split-shot on the line (10-pound-test mono) to keep the crawler on the bottom. Carp and suckers like the current edge (near an eddy), so you don’t need much weight. In addition, too much weight can cause finicky carp and suckers to drop a bait when they start swimming away with it.
Channel catfish prefer the faster current, at least during spring, so we use heavy baitcasting tackle, including 50-pound-test braided main line, a 3-ounce no-roll sinker, strong swivel, an 18-inch leader built from 100-pound-test braid, and a 5/0 circle hook. For channel cat bait, we use a 2x3-inch piece of sucker — i.e. fresh cutbait from one of the suckers we’ve taken from the same river.
This spring I’ve kept only one channel catfish for the table, all others have been released. And in truth, almost all of the cats we’ve caught thus far have been too big — and too old — for best eating. Many of the channel catfish we’ve caught have weighed 10-12 pounds, with occasional larger ones, including a few 14s, a 15, and my biggest, 16 pounds 2 ounces.
The 4-pound channel catfish I kept (photo below) measured 23 inches long, meaning it was 10-11 years old. Our biggest cats, those with double-digit weights and measuring 30 inches or more, could easily be 20 years old. The 4-pounder I kept is on the larger size of what is best for eating; a 2-3 pounder would be even better IMO.
Catfish are one of the most popular fish in America to catch and eat, but many anglers who don’t have experience with cleaning and cooking catfish are sometimes hesitant to keep one. Don’t worry, you can clean and cook them almost the same way as you would walleyes, sunfish or crappies. And no, you don’t have to mess with skinning a catfish. All you need is a sharp fillet knife.
As explained in the 10-minute YouTube video below, some people don’t like eating catfish because if it isn’t filleted properly, it can taste a bit fishy/muddy. The key is removing the bloodline and the surrounding flesh. But this is easy — watch and learn.
P.S. I cooked my channel cat the same way as I would walleyes, northern pike or panfish; I baked the fillets in my oven. Click here for my simple and mess-free baking method for crispy fillets.
