# Secret in plain site - Catfishin'



## GaryFish (Sep 7, 2007)

A buddy invited me to tag along to chase some cats around in Utah's most overlooked fishery - Utah Lake. So I skipped work and we headed down to enjoy the day. We put in at Sarasota Springs, and headed out in the little boat. For two big guys, the boat was small but worked just great.
[attachment=6:1honnpyk]Captain.jpg[/attachment:1honnpyk]
We motored out for a bit, leaving a mean wake behind the 5 hp motor. Timp looked amazing with the blue skies and white clouds today.

Fishing the reeds on the west bank, Steve was the first to land a decent fish.
[attachment=5:1honnpyk]Mr Whisker.jpg[/attachment:1honnpyk]

I was able to catch a few smaller cats. This was one of about 10-12 smaller channels that went back to catch some other day.
[attachment=4:1honnpyk]Gary with Channel - little guy.jpg[/attachment:1honnpyk]

Most of the channels we caught were about the size of this guy.
[attachment=3:1honnpyk]Gary with Channel.jpg[/attachment:1honnpyk]

We also caught a bunch of these bullheads - probably 12-15 between us. All of those went back into the lake.

[attachment=2:1honnpyk]Gary with bullhead.jpg[/attachment:1honnpyk]

This was my biggest cat and the biggest fish of the day. This guy went about 8 pounds is my guess.
[attachment=0:1honnpyk]Gary and Mr Whisker.jpg[/attachment:1honnpyk]

When it was all done, we caught close to 40 fish. We kept a few to fillet up for dinner.
[attachment=1:1honnpyk]A Few Keepers.jpg[/attachment:1honnpyk]

As far as the how, we were fishing dead minnow, slack-line on the bottom with no weight at all, in the reeds. Great day all around!

Thanks Steve!


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## lunkerhunter2 (Nov 3, 2007)

Nice cats!


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

Wow....those are cool cats. 8) 

nice pics Gary


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## LOAH (Sep 29, 2007)

Looks like you got it done. That's something I need to try. Nice work.


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## .45 (Sep 21, 2007)

Way to go GaryFish !! --\O 

Well worth skipping a day of work, thanks for sharing !!


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## muysauve (Jan 7, 2008)

Question for you, how do you fillet your catfish? Do you skin them first, or do you just fillet them like you would any other fish?

My father-in-law has these catfish pliers to skin them with, but I was wondering if you could just fillet them like any other fish.


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## Riverrat77 (Sep 7, 2007)

muysauve said:


> Question for you, how do you fillet your catfish? Do you skin them first, or do you just fillet them like you would any other fish?
> 
> My father-in-law has these catfish pliers to skin them with, but I was wondering if you could just fillet them like any other fish.


Yeah, just filet em first... don't even bother gutting them. When you cut off the filets though, don't forget the nice chunk of meat right in front of the ribs.... its a nice sized nugget usually but hard to keep attached to the filet.

Nice work Gary, I'm heading out early Saturday to shoot a carp with my bow and get cat bait for the rest of the day.


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## GaryFish (Sep 7, 2007)

muysauve said:


> Question for you, how do you fillet your catfish? Do you skin them first, or do you just fillet them like you would any other fish?


RiverRat is right. We didn't skin, or gut them at all. We just filleted them, cutting the fillet out first, and then filleted the skin off as well. We did all this at the fish cleaning station and ended up taking the fish home - already filleted, mudline cut out, and chunked just the right size for frying, all packed in 4-5 zip lock bags.


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## Fishrmn (Sep 14, 2007)

GaryFish said:


> We put in at Sarasota Springs, and headed out in the little boat.


Man, that truly is a secret spot. Never heard of a place called Sarasota Springs in Utah.

Fishrmn


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## GaryFish (Sep 7, 2007)

Huh. Great catch. Shhhhhhhh! :wink:


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## Fishrmn (Sep 14, 2007)

Ain't that in Florida? One in New York, too, I think.

Fishrmn


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## muysauve (Jan 7, 2008)

Riverrat77 said:


> muysauve said:
> 
> 
> > Question for you, how do you fillet your catfish? Do you skin them first, or do you just fillet them like you would any other fish?
> ...


Thanks for the tip, I'll have to give it a try!!! By the way nice cats!!


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## Bhilly81 (Oct 18, 2009)

i really would like to get into some catfish but i really know nothing about them


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## GaryFish (Sep 7, 2007)

Wednesday was the first time I'd ever caught one. They are a heck of a great time. I learned a lot in one day of fishing with a guy that knew what he was doing.


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## Troll (Oct 21, 2008)

Fishrmn said:


> GaryFish said:
> 
> 
> > We put in at Sarasota Springs, and headed out in the little boat.
> ...


It's just south of Tampa.


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## Chaser (Sep 28, 2007)

bigboybdub said:


> i really would like to get into some catfish but i really know nothing about them


I don't know much about catching them, but I'll tell you this much- They are TASTY!!!

Good work, GaryFish! I really need to do that sometime.


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## GaryFish (Sep 7, 2007)

We had the fish fry last night. My son is a great cook, so he did all the prep work and I helped with the frying. We used Alton Brown's recipe for southern fried catfish. Basically, we dredged the chunks in buttermilk, then in a flour/corn meal mixture with various spices. Then fried in 350 degree oil for about 3 minutes. Perfect! I also mixed up some batter for some "hush puppies" to go with it. About two cups flour, 2/3 cup corn meal, teaspoon of salt, teaspoon of baking powder, and 1/4 cup of sugar, then two eggs, 1/2 cube butter, and about 1/8 cup of milk - mixed until a fairly solid dough. Dropped in tablespoon sized balls into the 350 oil and served up with some honey. I should have taken some pics because it looked as amazing as it tasted. 

I tell you - the trip was enough fun that I've stayed up late trying to figure how to fix my pontoon so I can go out again on my own. I'm on my way I tell you. My buddy Steve had an old trolling motor he pulled out of a garbage can and gave it to me. It runs great, just needs a new prop. I'm checking on some catfish poles because much as I love my dainty fly rods, I really don't think they'd be all that good rippin' some lips out of the reeds. 

And when I consider that I can be on the water within about 30 minutes of leaving my driveway, it makes catfishin' in Utah Lake better than a trip to Strawberry or Scofield.


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## willfish4food (Jul 14, 2009)

ahh. Another person hooked on catfishin'! Way to go on the big haul and what sounds like a great fish fry!! I think more people would be catfishers if they knew how hard they fight and how great they taste!! I have a buddy that won't even try them because he says they're bottom feeders. What the heck does he think shrimp, lobster and crab are? I gotta get out after em too. Maybe I can talk the wife into a date to Utah lake tonight.


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## Nueces (Jul 22, 2008)

Nice catch. I always break all their fins off as they will stick you pretty quick. I'll fillet them then use pliers to pull the skin off. I find it hard to fillet with the rubber type skin where it is tough enough to pull off after you cut out the fillets.


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## Bears Butt (Sep 12, 2007)

I'm with you guys who fillet them without gutting or skinning them first. It's really fast to get a lot of fish done in a hurry. On smaller cats, I will pull the skin off first and then gut them, cut the heads, fins and tails off. The bone structure is easy to deal with after they are fried. YUMMMMM!

Thanks for the post, pics and fry description. You did it up right!


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## a_bow_nut (Feb 25, 2009)

Troll said:


> Fishrmn said:
> 
> 
> > GaryFish said:
> ...


Yeah it's kinda funny. I'm sitting in Sarasota as I type this post and we just got done fishing for the day too and our fish didn't look anything like those fish.

Check it out. http://utahwildlife.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=26401


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