by Tracy Wever

Created on: February 23, 2010   Last Updated: March 14, 2010

Catfish preparation and cooking can be easy if you follow a few simple tips. When you catch a catfish keep it in the water in a basket or on a stringer while fishing. If you are going to eat the fish you catch, always take a cooler full of ice with you. The way the fish is treated before you cook it, has as much to do with the taste, as the way you cook it.

When you leave your favorite fishing hole, you need to take the catfish you have caught out of the water. Hang them, tail down, still alive, from a tree branch, tree trunk or even the tailgate of your truck. Take a sharp knife and cut the tail off just above where it hooks onto the body. Allow all the blood to drain out of the fish.  Next clean the fish removing the entrails and head. You can remove the skin now also. Rinse the body cavity with water and place the fish in a plastic bag. If you were lucky and caught a large catfish cut it in sections to fit in the bags. Place the fish in your cooler and get them home before the ice melts. Bleeding a fish may sound cruel; it is no crueler than thumping it on the head to kill it. By letting the blood run out you will improve the taste of the fish.

Once you arrive home make it your first priority to take care of your fish before anything else. If you have not skinned the fish do so now. Take a pair of skinning or regular pliers and start at the tail end and pull off the skin. Now make a cut along the dorsal fin down to the backbone on both sides. Take your pliers and pull the fin off.  Do the same with the tail fin and side fins. Wash the fish thoroughly in cold water and remove any flesh or fatty parts still on the fish.

Now we have to decide if we want boneless fillets or whole catfish. To fillet a catfish you need a sharp fillet knife. Start at the tail and make a cut down to the back bone. Point your knife forward laying flat and follow along the back bone until you come out at the rib cage. Do this on both sides. You now have two boneless filets ready to fry or freeze. The only preparation needed for the whole catfish is to make sure it will fit in your freezer bags or pan for frying, if they are a little to long cut a section off the tail end to make them fit.

To freeze catfish for future use, place them in a thick freezer bag and fill with water until the fish is covered. Seal all but one corner and push out all air, then seal and freeze. The water prevents freezer burn while the fish is frozen. It is still a good idea to use them in the not

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