Smoked Catfish

[Jogeephus]

We are going trout/bass fishing one of these weekends, have you ever tried smoking some of them? If so would you recommend using pecan or something else on them? Sorry, so many questions but would a simple salt and water brine not pehaps be better when preparing trout? Do you add a bowl of water to your smoker? Last question, is the catfish quite an oily fish? Thanks

I've smoked a warmouth in the mix and its about like a bass. It I were doing bass or trout I'd do it just the same as I did but maybe drop off the chipotle pepper after the brine. I still think I'd hit it lightly with the pepper. The brine is very mild and I think it compliments the fish very well. No, I don't use water in the smoker for this cause I want the to dry out some. They are still moist and tender but they are much firmer. Catfish is not an oily fish. Problem with cats is - with the exception of the flathead - they tend to get muddy tasting the larger they get. Flatheads prefer live fish rather than scavenged food and they are delicious no matter their size. I love pecan smoke and I have tons of it so that is what I use but I think if I was going to use something else it would be a fruit wood or grapevine.

 

[alisonb]

Thanks for the advice Jo, now we just gotta catch a fish or two

 

[houstoncutter]

We are going trout/bass fishing one of these weekends, have you ever tried smoking some of them? If so would you recommend using pecan or something else on them? Sorry, so many questions but would a simple salt and water brine not pehaps be better when preparing trout? Do you add a bowl of water to your smoker? Last question, is the catfish quite an oily fish? Thanks

I've smoked a warmouth in the mix and its about like a bass. It I were doing bass or trout I'd do it just the same as I did but maybe drop off the chipotle pepper after the brine. I still think I'd hit it lightly with the pepper. The brine is very mild and I think it compliments the fish very well. No, I don't use water in the smoker for this cause I want the to dry out some. They are still moist and tender but they are much firmer. Catfish is not an oily fish. Problem with cats is - with the exception of the flathead - they tend to get muddy tasting the larger they get. Flatheads prefer live fish rather than scavenged food and they are delicious no matter their size. I love pecan smoke and I have tons of it so that is what I use but I think if I was going to use something else it would be a fruit wood or grapevine.

If you will put those large cats in a cage or a cow trough thats clean for a few weeks it will get rid of a lot of that muddy taste. I have also been told that you can clean em then put em in ice with rock salt overnight, supposedly it will make the fat conjile and be easier to see and you can just trim it of... I cant speak to the latter method, as to wether it works, but putting em in clean water and letting them live off their fat reserves really has worked well for me in the past.... Warning though, your cow trough needs to be clean, and the cattle drinking from that trough cannot be on feed or lick otherwise you are defeating the purpose.

 

[dieselbeef]

sounds a bit like purgin crawfish

 

[Jogeephus]

or possum but you use less water.

 

[houstoncutter]

That flathead should do wonderful. I hope to have a few shortly myself but I'll only dream of one that size.

Jo, hope you have finally got a couple of flatheads by now....Tried your recipe, and it was GREAT. All of the fish was good, but the eyeball sockets chunks were out of this world

 

[houstoncutter]

Gonna try this on some Manitoba pike in 7 weeks, but who's counting..........

 

[Jogeephus]

Gonna try this on some Manitoba pike in 7 weeks, but who's counting..........

You lucky dog you. I went up there once and the fishing was great. I'd have killed someone for some cooking oil, batter and ketchup though. :lol2:

 

[3waycross]

Gonna try this on some Manitoba pike in 7 weeks, but who's counting..........

You lucky dog you. I went up there once and the fishing was great. I'd have killed someone for some cooking oil, batter and ketchup though. :lol2:

When we were in Sask a few years ago we used flour and butter to fry em in. By the time I got home a pint of my blood had a head of grease on it!

Sure was goo though. I would kill for a good shore lunch of Pike fillets! I actually like em better than Walleye!

 

[Jogeephus]

Only pike we have here are red fin pike that are found in puddles. They are about four inches long but are mighty tasty - bones and all.

 

[HOSS]

Several years ago me and a buddy went on a 2 week moose hunt up in Northern Ontario. It was a fly-in, drop camp scenario. Just me and him camped on an island for two weeks hunting moose and fishing every day. We had to bring in all of our stuff as nothing was provided. We brought our own tent, food, gear, boat, motor etc. The boat got tied to the outside of the plane (Otter) for the 75 mile flight in. We ate fresh walleye every day. We brought our own pre-mixed batter and a couple of big cans of shortening and pan fried them. Awesome! After day 3 I shot a bull moose so we skinned, quartered and hung it. We ate surf and turf like kings A typical meal would be moose tenderloin, walleye fillets and potatoes baked in the campfire coals. We didn't see another human for 2 weeks. No phone, no radio, no TV. Just fishing, hunting, sippin some southern libations and spinning tales. We felt like Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn.

 

[Jogeephus]

That sounds like a great trip. I canoed up there but all I had was dehydrated food and the fish I caught but no oil, batter or ketchup. Poor planning is all I can say.

 

[Kathie in Thorp]

Several years ago me and a buddy went on a 2 week moose hunt up in Northern Ontario. It was a fly-in, drop camp scenario. Just me and him camped on an island for two weeks hunting moose and fishing every day. We had to bring in all of our stuff as nothing was provided. We brought our own tent, food, gear, boat, motor etc. The boat got tied to the outside of the plane (Otter) for the 75 mile flight in. We ate fresh walleye every day. We brought our own pre-mixed batter and a couple of big cans of shortening and pan fried them. Awesome! After day 3 I shot a bull moose so we skinned, quartered and hung it. We ate surf and turf like kings A typical meal would be moose tenderloin, walleye fillets and potatoes baked in the campfire coals. We didn't see another human for 2 weeks. No phone, no radio, no TV. Just fishing, hunting, sippin some southern libations and spinning tales. We felt like Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn.

You should have felt like KIngs, in your own Kingdom-for-2-weeks, Hoss. What a great trip! That is also something on my bucket list. Did you meet bears? (My bucket prefers not to meet big bears!)

 

[houstoncutter]

Ok Jo a little report on your recipe on northern pike. Kept a few pike about 30' long on the first day, wuped up your recipe and smoked those suckers for 14 hours. Oh my goodness we nearly foundered ourselves. Those fellas ate the heck out of that smoked fish, we did some more batches until we ran out of supplies to make the brine. Bravo, great recipe.

 

[Jogeephus]

Glad they turned out good. I think the flavor of that is just right. Big fish like that would be a lot easier than the little things I used. Been wanting to make some more myself. I need to go fishing.

 

[dieselbeef]

Several years ago me and a buddy went on a 2 week moose hunt up in Northern Ontario. It was a fly-in, drop camp scenario. Just me and him camped on an island for two weeks hunting moose and fishing every day. We had to bring in all of our stuff as nothing was provided. We brought our own tent, food, gear, boat, motor etc. The boat got tied to the outside of the plane (Otter) for the 75 mile flight in. We ate fresh walleye every day. We brought our own pre-mixed batter and a couple of big cans of shortening and pan fried them. Awesome! After day 3 I shot a bull moose so we skinned, quartered and hung it. We ate surf and turf like kings A typical meal would be moose tenderloin, walleye fillets and potatoes baked in the campfire coals. We didn't see another human for 2 weeks. No phone, no radio, no TV. Just fishing, hunting, sippin some southern libations and spinning tales. We felt like Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn.

where did ya poop? :lol:

 

[houstoncutter]

Just used Jo's recipe on redfish, it might be the best yet!!!!!

 

[Jogeephus]

Its ironic, I was just craving some smoked fish and you beat me to the punch. Did you catch some good reds?

 

[houstoncutter]

yea, everytime i can make it to sabine lake, its a redfish limit in just a few minutes..

 

[J&D Cattle]

Re-reading this thread is making me hungry hungry. This is on my to-do list after I catch the next mess of fish.