Grand River Kitty Report

[Pikeslayer]

Hey All,

Here's my first attempt at a 'thorough' fishing report:

First off, a big thank you to HTHM for hosting me on Saturday. It was part 1 of our fishing date exchange and I will be hosting HT on LO in August .

We launched from Fishermans @ approx 10:30 and HT was eager to test drive his fully restored Ranger with the nearly new 150 Optimax. What a ride!! We didn't quite hit 60 mph but gone darn close. Aside from the awesome performance, I was really impressed with the restoration work. 100 % upholstery and deck/carpet replacement was done by HT himself complete with custom storage . Brand new paint + the nearly new Merc and this package looked brand new. Kudos HT .

I think we eventually got set up and anchored about 11:30 in approx 20 ft.

 

 

The bite was pretty slow and fussy as we both experienced many taps but no takes (most of the other anglers we talked to on the water echoed this). I've never targetted channel cats before and was surprised at the 'simple' rigging and drifting technique. Barrel weight, bead and circle hook with meat. HTHM was determined to put us on fish so we did a bit of runnin & gunnin. A little before 3:00, we were set up in the vicinity of the damn, this time in 8-10 ft. We were anchored maybe 10 minutes, and I felt the felt the tap, tap, tap and then the kitty took off! I didn't have to set the circle hook (thought it kind of strange) as I understand they are self setting. I had no idea what I was in for 'fight' wise but was impressed with the agressiveness of this species. In retrospect, the closest comparison I can think of would be a bigger large mouth bass. HT was a great instructor and did the netting. Here's the kitty; not a trophy but certainly a PB for me @ 22/23 in & 5.53 lbs (FYI HT, I got a stable re-weight at home).

Unfortunately it was the only fish landed that day. We both had commitments and had to be off the water by 4:00 and couldn't hang around for the prime time bite. Back to HTHM's for a quick Heineken and had to head home. Once again, a huge thank you to HTHM. An awsome host, guide and genuine guy. I added another species PB to the list. I'm deteremined to reciprocate.

 

BTW, sorry for the lengthy report but HT insisted I post a thorough report included apre' fishing detail, so here goes;

 

I'd never cleaned/harvested a catfish before, so after lengthy google sesion I bathed it overnite in ice water (supposed to help reduce the muddy taste)

;

Set up for cleaning;

A youtube tutorial (excellent instruction BTW);

Another look at the kitty:

Further to the online information/research, the belly was left intact;

'Raw'fillets;

Bloodlines and excess fat (left side of photo) removed;

The yield was 1.5 lbs of 'clean' meat. To finish the process & reduce/eliminate any 'muddy' taste, the filets were soaked in ice water for 24 hrs with 3 additional rinses.

They'll be marinated and vacuum sealed when I get home later this afternoon.

 

HT, I hope this is thorough enough (& hope I didn't bore any members), but feel free to add anything I may have missed. Thx again, looking forward to our next 'date'

Okay, sorry, but I can't resist ;

Grandbaby Leah came by for visit on her 6 mo. birthday:

 

 

Cheers,

Simon

[perchslayer666]

Wow, all that for 1.5 lbs of meat? Should have released it dude.

 

Cool report though, never personally caught a kitty that big before....

[chuckymcd]

I was out there for about 4 hours fishing off the rocks and a couple of little taps on the bait but thats it. You guys were lucky 2 get one, every boat that came in said they were skunked as well.

 

Good job on the little kitty

[Billy Bob]

Wow, all that for 1.5 lbs of meat? Should have released it dude.

 

"Dude" can't enjoy a fish fry if he released it dude...

[mercman]

Thats the way i see it. If its legal, and its gonna taste good then definately eat it.Congrats PS, i hope they taste better than they look

[johnnyb]

Awesome report....love the detail on cleaning it up too. Those cats heads are so big, I'm pretty sure you did well to get the amount of clean meat that you did. Enjoy!

[skeeter]

Wow, all that for 1.5 lbs of meat? Should have released it dude.

 

Cool report though, never personally caught a kitty that big before....

 

Why should have he released it dude?

How much meat do you get off fish?

He's never caught one before and he wanted to see how they taste.

 

Great report pikeslayer !!!!!

Let us know how it tastes.

I'm going for cats soon and i might keep 3 or 4 for the table, if there good.

[HTHM]

One minor detail the Pikeslayer neglegted to mention.....He has the distiction of boating the first ever fish in the ranger since restoration. As tempted as i was to wrestle the pole from his hand and gain the honour for myself, I did as his sig says and was the "better" man. The look on his face was worth the price, as rarely have I seen someone so happy about boating a fish. We had a great time, and that is saying something because there was no bite to speak of and we had to entertain one another with good converstaion to make the day platable.

Thanks for putting up with my desire to run the boat, Simon it was nice that you could use your empathy and enjoy it as well.

Once again a good time on the water.

Edited April 11, 2011 by HTHM

[toca]

Ive Never Notice A Muddy Taste With Mine. I Just Slice Them Up Remove The Skin Rinse With Water and away it goes. There was this red line in the middle of the fillet that i had to remove since its brings out a very odd taste (i guess mud).

Edited April 11, 2011 by ReTodd

[Pikeslayer]

Wow, all that for 1.5 lbs of meat? Should have released it dude.

 

Cool report though, never personally caught a kitty that big before....

 

Hi Chancho,

 

Thanks for the 'cool report' comment. It actually took me longer to put this report together than it did to process the kitty.

 

Yeah, it sure was a lot of work for the yield but I selectively harvest based on:

1. Size and age of fish- based on pre-fishing grand river research, I determined my 'DNH" (do not harvest) standard was anything in the 7+ lb range.

2. Local knowledge- My 'guide' for the day, HTHM has fished these waters for many years and assured me it was definitely okay to harvest.

3. Taste & Table Fare- I'll never take a fish that will not get 'et. Catfish happens to be be pikeslayer jr's 2nd favourite (next to pike) so hopefully he's in for a treat when he comes home from school at the end of the month. Fish will be marinated, vacuum sealed and frozen later today.

 

BTW, I probably could of got close to another 1/2 lb from the belly. But based on the fishes age and environment, I didn't want to compromise.

 

 

Cheers,

Slayer

[brifishrgy]

small cats like the one you got are very tasty, the bigger ones aren't worth the time and effort, the easiest way I have found to reduce the "muddy" taste on catfish is to cut their gills to bleed em out, put em on ice clean em and eat em

 

I normally head them and gut them, leave skin attached but scrape the slime off with the back end of the fillet knife, wrap in tinfoil with butter, salt, pepper and onions and do em on the BBQ, peel the skin off remove the rib bones and ... dam I'm hungry now

[perchslayer666]

Hahaha, love the negativity on here sometimes.

 

All I'm saying is that was a hell of a lot of work for 1.5 lbs of meat.... Not saying he shouldn't have kept it, but if I was to catch a Catfish, I would have let it go because of all the cleaning and soaking involved before it's even ready to be cooked.... I guess some people have a lot of time on there hands.......

 

Cool report, don't want to take anything away from it, just saying that's a big production for 1.5 lbs of meat, that's all.

[Billy Bob]

Hahaha, love the negativity on here sometimes.

 

All I'm saying is that was a hell of a lot of work for 1.5 lbs of meat.... Not saying he shouldn't have kept it, but if I was to catch a Catfish, I would have let it go because of all the cleaning and soaking involved before it's even ready to be cooked.... I guess some people have a lot of time on there hands.......

 

Cool report, don't want to take anything away from it, just saying that's a big production for 1.5 lbs of meat, that's all.

 

I somewhat understand what you're saying but if you want to eat fresh fish do you have a better way to achieve that goal. I have had to clean 50 perch after a day on the water....didn't really want to but that's what a guy has to do in order to put food on the table for his family.

 

Sometime these C&R folks push their believes onto others too much. If it's legal to keep the fish I don't see a problem with it IMHO.

 

Bob

[toca]

I somewhat understand what you're saying but if you want to eat fresh fish do you have a better way to achieve that goal. I have had to clean 50 perch after a day on the water....didn't really want to but that's what a guy has to do in order to put food on the table for his family.

 

Sometime these C&R folks push their believes onto others too much. If it's legal to keep the fish I don't see a problem with it IMHO.

 

Bob

 

Metro Will Do All The Work For You.

[Pikeslayer]

Alrighty men.

Thanks for the comments. Chancho, I wan't trying/intending to be negative. If I offended you, kindly accept my apolgies.

 

That said;

Gentlemen & ladies, I put a lot of effort in putting together the report and would hate to see it turn into a debate and get locked??

So let's put the whole harvesting discussion to bed. (Please?). It's just a report for anybody who chooses to view/enjoy it.

 

HEY!!! WHAT DO YOU GUYS THINK OF THE MOST BEAUTIFUL LITTLE BABY IN THE WORLD (well my world anyways).

 

thx,

Slayer.

[aplumma]

Very nice fish thanks for the time it took to make this report. As far as cleaning them you will find that they can be filleted and then tossed into a little vinegar and milk for a few hours and they are good to go. All of the soaking is not needed they do not have a mud line it is actually the main artery of the fish and it is edible, just a little strong to some peoples taste. I harvest many catfish a year and the 3 to 5 lbers are by far the best ones to cook. The fish at that size are less than 2 years old and they have not absorbed the amount of toxins that the larger ones have. You can fry them in chunks or broil them the flesh is very firm and light tasting. Remember that the catfish is a predator and given it's choice they have the same diet that Crappie and Perch do so the flavor is really close to being the same.

 

 

Art

[pikehunter]

Nice catch Pikeslayer, they put up a nice fight when they get that size. I've never kept any cats for the table before, tried some fillets once from a fish store though and they were mild flavoured and tasted fine. But I haven't heard of anyone soaking the fillets to rid them of a muddy flavour before, I always thought cats were OK right from the water to the knife to the pan to the plate.

 

Knew a guy from Germany a few years ago, they ate carp often over there. He said that they would have a muddy taste so after catching they would keep them alive in clean water for several days which was often changed before slicing them up for the dinner plate.

Edited April 11, 2011 by pikehunter

[landry]

We were there and landed 5 - all in one spot(got lucky I guess) in about an hour. We fished about 7 hours total.

I want to see some pics of this refurbished Ranger now!!!!!

Landry

 

 

[Pikeslayer]

ReTodd, Brifishrgy, Art & Pikehunter,

Thx for the feedback on the taste issue. I read on more than one thread that the bloodline may give an odd/muddy taste. When dealing with an unknown species, I tend to take caution to the extreme (just ask slayer jr.) so for sure I definitely went overboard on this one. So I'll use this catch as a baseline for taste and take your collective wisdom to the test on subsequent catches. I'll keep you posted.

 

Et al,

Thx for the positive replies. It made the effort worthwhile and I'm looking forward to posting my next report. What! Y'all don't like baby pictures!

 

Landry,

You sure we didn't meet and talk in @ the ramp area @ approx 4:00? We met a few guys who reported similar numbers to yours. As for the boat porn, that would be up to HT. Yoohoo HT pics have officially been requested.

 

Thx & regards to all,

slayer

[HTHM]

There are pics and the story of the restoration process on the board. Look here:

http://www.ofncommunity.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=40590&st=20&p=434612&hl="ranger%20370v"&fromsearch=1entry434612

[GBW]

nice report and yup, she's a cute one.

[skeeter]

Hey Simon,

That is one heck of a little cutie pie you have there for a grand daughter !!!!!!

Thats the best part of your post.

I think by may she should be able to hold a fishing rod.

[danbouck]

Great Report!

[landry]

I was in a black crestliner with an optimax. Me and a friend. It was more like 6 PM or after though.

Did not notice the boat so I think we did not meet.

But wow!!!!!! I remember the thread on HT's boat - truly amazing!!!!

How did the new engine work out??

I will look for you next weekend as we may go Saturday.

Landry

 

 

Edited April 11, 2011 by landry

[Gregoire]

Nice report. Thanks for sharing. My girlfriend loves catfish so maybe I'll have to make a trip to the grand and try for some kitties. If anyone knows of some shore spots that they want to share shoot me a PM.