Catchin' and Bleedin'

Catchin' catfish with jug lines is not all that difficult..just a matter of the right bait on the right lake at the right time. This shot was in June on Lake Waurika and the fish was one of the smaller ones we kept. April and May seem to be the best months on that Lake although we have caught a lot of fish during the cooler fall months. Summer time is okay with rod and reel although it is blistering hot..100F plus most days and the fish will die in the live well because of the temperature.




Some folks have asked me how we clean catfish..the first thing is bleeding them. We hang them and just cut off the tails and let them bleed out. Then instead of skinning the fish we fillet it. I like to leave about an eighth of inch of flesh on the skin. This keeps the fat and some of the darker collored flesh off the fillet. I always cut out the blood line and take ALL the dark flesh and fat off the fillet. Doing so will make for a milder tasting fish.