I have a pond in the backyard. Stocked w/ channel cats. Only 2 acres at most. If you feed the regularly they taste much better. If you don't they eat mud, shit, etc, of course. (they WILL survive). The smaller they are, the better they taste. Bigger than 3-4 lbs......chunk'em.
The pond is creek fed as opposed to spring fed. In a dry, hot summer, even the small ones taste a little "muddy".
My Dad's pond, which IS spring fed, and therefore stays cooler & cleaner, seems to yield better fish. I have eaten some pretty big ones (which were cut into fillets) & they were rather tasty.
I'm thinking its a combo of the food AND the water.
Lots of folks think the taste comes from the bones, and insist on fillets.
xoB: Don't tell me you eat carp..............

BTW, in my area the best bait for catfish is small sunfish (in the river) and raw chicken liver in ponds. I'm quite sure they are omnivorous........

Not if I have a choice but I worked for a Jew whose mother used to put them in a tub with fresh water and corn meal for a couple days. Twern't that bad.
Some people even eat Shad instead of the board. :lol:

Oh.....catfish...omnivores...you bet. I've had them hit a Hawaian Wiggler.

Flying Carp. From Sunday paper. http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pb...507030341/1127

What does 100 year old catfish taste like?

Depends.

haha

What do trout use for feminine protection?

Brook shields.

OK bye

Probably one of the strangest fish dishes is Lutefisk from Norway where in the old days it was usually cod that was dried and treated with lye as a preservative. It was typically served smothered in bacon fat or mustard for Christmas dinner; :eek:

I got a lead on that picture that chrisinhouston posted on the last page. it appears to be a Goliath Grouper (Jewfish) here's a pic and the narrative on these guys fishing trip......

I have had lutefisk. You can't live in Ballard and not have lutefisk (you'd probably be driven out). It is cod cured in lye. The mystery of why you don't die from poisoning is intact. However, it is a dish that you should try.

I have not had it with bacon grease, but with a little butter on top. I would say that it's delicious, but that would be the butter talking, because the fish itself was so mild as to be practially tasteless. The texture was interesting--very soft and without much grain. Maybe like firm tofu. It was pretty to look at, blindingly white, and somewhat translucent, like a clear piece of squid. Check it out sometime.

How's about I just take your word for it?

Nothing like a good soaking in lye to get those stains out! :lol:

BigV I think you are missing a career as a poet. When I read the above I noticed that if you start at one point you get a limerick. Start at another and you get Seuss.

The limerick

You can't live in Ballard and not have lutefisk
(you'd probably be driven out)
It is cod cured in lye
The mystery of why
you don't die from poisoning is intact.

Seuss

It is cod cured in lye.
The mystery of why
you don't die from poisoning is intact.
However, it's a dish that you should try.

(one minor change for scansion)

If you can do that subconsciously, think what you could do when you were trying.

Lutefisk? Oh yeah...Betty White gave me some the night we... :blush: ...ah..nevermind.
Back to the Catfish...T'was a male...they milked it's milt before it died. You can see morehere

Thank you, dar! I do try to take care with my posts, including this one, but poetry? You flatter me.

Thank you.

*scurries off to the dictionary in search of the meaning of scansion...*

Shoulda googled it...

http://homepage3.nifty.com/Daiou3/Argig_u3.jpg

Doesn't look like 16 feet to me. :eyebrow: