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[cool][#0000ff]Everybody who made it had a great time. Those who couldn't make it missed out on some real kitty whackin'. The wipers were slowed down by the murky water from the blow last night, but the kitties came to play.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Water temps ranged from 73 at launch to 80 when we left the water around 1. Beautiful calm day, with only the lightest of breezes on a couple of occasions.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]No wipers, but everybody had plenty of action from "CC Cats"...cookie cutters...arond 15", plus or minus an inch or so. Flycasting scored one about 21" and I may have gotten the littlest at around 12". All fun.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]There were 3 H3s on the water...Majja, myself and Flycasting in TubeDude's new "Rojita". I think he liked it. Road was in his ODC 420 and LH2 in his toon. LH2 got impatient and actually scored the first three cats right in the channel before we all got serious.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]We all split up and went different directions, and fished different depths. But, our walkie talkies crackled with everybody reporting frequent catches of cookie cutters. We all took home a basket of cookies. We caught them in depths from around 4 feet to over 10 feet. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]We couldn't have asked for a nicer day. Glassy calm most of the time, so that even though we all kicked a lot of area, none of us felt like we had been beat up at the end of the day.[/#0000ff]
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Once again another great trip fishing. Thanks for the hand-me- downs TD, even if I did loose most of them. Da*n fishys anyways.
Nice to meet some new BFTers and put faces and sounds to them. At least new to me. Thanks guys for a good time. Will post up some pics when I get out to the truck and retrive my camera.
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It was an awsome trip. Thorughly enjoyed playin with all those kitties, and fishing with you guys. I look forward to doing it again. Here are a fw pics that I snapped.
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[#333366][size 4] The_Guest-of-Honor.jpg [#000000](310 KB) YES!!! The perfect meal! Green beans, potatoes and fish just blends beautifully!!! ][cool][  ][/#000000][/size][/#333366]
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[cool]Looks like FC did a good job in Rojita! Sorry I missed the trip, guys! The only time I ventured out was to go in the pool for a while. It is supposed to be 116 tomorrow!
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Ouch 116 that just makes me want to crawl into a freezer somewhere just thinking about it.
Bluegill it was. Potatoes cooked in garlic butter with catfish and green beans. It was most enjoyable.
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Great report [ ]
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[cool][#0000ff]Thanks for the extra pics. I did not work out as far as the rest of the other floatin' fools, so I did not have much opportunity to get any action shots.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]After yesterday, you have proven that you got the kitties dialed in. Now we gotta find some silly wipers that will play with you. Let's plan a wiper assault sometime in August. They should be boiling good by then...although they are better fried.[/#0000ff]
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[cool][#0000ff]Rojita treated Tyler real nice. In fact, I think he fell in love with her. He wanted her to go home with him but she refused. She is still true to TubeBabe...even though you are gone.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Thanks for the weather report. Makes me feel almost cool in our wimpy 102 stuff. Also helps me get rid of any silly ideas about wanting to spend any time down there. You can take care of the Arizona connections during the summer months. Maybe in the spring...[/#0000ff]
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Sounds good to me. I just did not want to go to the store to buy peanut oil last night so cooking the other way won out.
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I really loved the guest you invited to dinner Matt. Best pic posted and should be over on the throphy board.
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[cool][#0000ff]Not all men are created equal...nor are all fish cooked the same. Pretty profound, huh?[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]While I generally prefer (and promote) deep frying catfish, the smaller ones like we get from Willard Bay can be satisfactorily cooked many ways. The big thing about deep frying is that it provides more intense heat to cook the fish more thoroughly. That is a biggie with biggie catfish...and thicker fillets.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Since catfish have firm flesh, they also survive well on grills, as long as you turn them only once, using a wide spatula. They will fall apart when cooked. Best to use one of those wire mesh fish grilling contraptions. Baste them with lemon butter while they sizzle on the grill.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I will be doing a few for myself (dining alone...TubeBabe out of town) using my semi-scampi recipe. That consists of first marinating the fillets for about 45 minutes to an hour (no longer) in an inexpensive cream sherry (wine). Then, the fillets are drained (not rinsed) and sauteed in a half cube of butter tempered with a couple of tablespoons of olive oil. To that you add a couple of teaspoons of minced garlic and cook over med hi heat until each side is browned a bit and the fillets come apart easily with a fork. The alcohol in the wine cooks off but leaves a nice taste in the fish. Add your choice of seasonings AFTER the fish are cooked. I like plain old salt and pepper. Pour the "drippin's" over the fish in a shallow bowl and mop up the calories with some fresh french bread. Then sit back in your recliner and listen to your arteries harden.[/#0000ff]
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Now that sounds good even if you don't eat much fish (like me[unsure]).
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The kitties have become my #2 ranked fish along with LM, just under Walleye, and I don't deep fry em.[unimpressed] I do put enough oil i for about 1/8-1/4 in depth.
Obviously, I didn't make it out there but will in the near future. My back got all bunged up laying brick walkways in the back yard. Was wondering if it was a zoo out there and if it mattered where on the lake to fish. The free access is at the N. and S. end, so that's why I was wondering.[ ]
TD - I know the cooking for yourself routine. Sandy takes off every once in a while too.
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[cool][#0000ff]Sorry about the back going out of whack again. You are gonna have to quit writing checks with your mind that your body won't cash. Fishing is okay. Hard labor is not.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]The cats are pretty much all over the lake. About 3 weeks ago I got into them really good in the NE corner, out from where we fished them last year. There are some deep (10 ft.) holes close to the shore that hold both kitties and wipers. I got two wipers over 20 inches in there on my last trip.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I think you can see from our pictures that there was hardly any boat traffic the day before July 4th. During the week it is not bad anywhere on Willard. With the low water, many of the power squadron wackos have gone up to Pineview or other waters. Too bad. NOT.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Let me know if you wanna meet up for some kitty whackin' on Willard when your back settles down.[/#0000ff]
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I think i saw maybe 6 different boats the entire day.
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[size 1][#0000ff]Since catfish have firm flesh, they also survive well on grills, as long as you turn them only once, using a wide spatula. They will fall apart when cooked. Best to use one of those wire mesh fish grilling contraptions. Baste them with lemon butter while they sizzle on the grill.[/#0000ff] [/size]
I wonder if leaving the skin on while filleting it from the bones would hold the meat while grilling? I do that with salmon every time she picks it up at the market. I haven't tried grilling those bluegills because too many scales than the cats and salmon. (I don't like scaling them) Are the cat's skin too strong that would throw off the taste?
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[cool] [#0000ff]You would gain nothing by leaving the skin on the cats. While it is tough in its natural state (wet), it disintegrates when cooked and would do nothing to hold the fish flesh together. It has a very unique skin, among fishkind. It is totally scaleless. The scaly skinned fishes usually have skin that hardens into a protective covering when the fish is cooked. Trout and salmon are good examples. A lot of anglers prefer to leave the skin on until after these fish are cooked.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Filleting and skinning catfish definitely helps improve the taste, and also removes some of the oiliness of that species. In fact, on larger catfish, you should take one additional step and slice out as much of the reddish tissue as you can. That is the sensory tissue along the lateral line, in between the skin and the flesh. The larger the catfish, the more of this tissue there will be...and the stronger the taste. Here is a picture of that process from my past post on filleting cats.[/#0000ff]
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![[Image: gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=5203;]](http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=5203;) [size 1]
REMOVING THE DARK FLESH. Once the skin is off the fillet, you can slice out the line of darker tissue, if you wish. These fish did not really have enough to adversely affect the taste, but larger ones often will. Begin by making shallow slices in toward the center with a sharp knife. Then, beginning at one end, fillet it right off the flesh. [/size]
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I am envious. The next time you hold a flotilla like this one I will be there!
Lloyd
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TD do you know if the cats in Willard are all natural fish, or do the plant some up there?
Thanks
Majja
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