cleaning catfish - the skinning part

[alcom]

Does anyone have experience cleaning catfish? I'm thinking of trying for channel cats and don't know if they need to be skinned.

Here's what I do for bullheads:
* Snip off the fins/spines with wire cutters
* Slit the skin down the back from head to tail
* Cut through the backbone (just) but not the entrails
* One thumb goes into the body cavity and grabs the backbone
* The other hand grabs the head
* Pull, and the entrails come out as the skin is peeled off

I imagine it would be hard to do that with a channel cat.

[MuskieBait]

Your technique should work for channel catfish as well.

Most of the time, I just fillet channel catfish. There is not much meat around the ribs so I don't bother to take it off that area. It's also wise to avoid belly fat since contaminants like heavy metal and other organic chemicals are fat soluble, so I don't eat the belly meat.

[OldTimer]

Like MB said your method for bullheads is great for small fish.

I find that medium size channel cats (2+ to 4 or so pounds) are best filleted, skinned and de-ribbed in the same manner you’d do other fish such as bass or walleye.

Once the cats get large (5 pounds & up) it’s a different story as the rib bones get fairly beefy and tough to cut through easily - below is a video link from Thundermist that shows a good technique and some tips on avoiding the fattier areas of the belly and on removing them from the lateral line as well. These fattier areas really don’t taste all that great. This method really does cut down on the mess by leaving the stomach area untouched – which is fine since the better meat is along the back, past the ribs and down through the caudal peduncle area.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CrV6-Pn-jc

Cheers,

OldTimer