Reelfoot Catfish?

[Mama Doe]

Caught a few cats at reelfoot this weekend. When we went to cook them and eat them they smelled ruined. Everyone of them were. They all weighed 2-3 pounds.

 

[4onaside]

Iced? Dead fish allowed to stay in the water, stringer, basket, etc? Only one time has this happened to me(slow, but not that slow a learner). Years ago, I caught a bunch of crappie below the dam at Arkabutla in the summer. Ice box, ice, etc. BUT, I had so many fish and did not spread the ice throughout the fish in the box, that the top layer of fish insulated the bottom layer from the ice on top, and those underneath spoiled. If they all spoiled, it had to be something like that?

 

[Mama Doe]

They were all still movin when we cut them up. One might have been dead.

 

[catman529]

I guess it means dont eat the cats at reelfoot... I wonder if it's possible they had been feeding on a dead carcass or something

 

[4onaside]

The Pier restaurant at Samburg makes a big deal out of serving catfish out of the lake! If the fish out of the lake taste that bad, not good for their business! lol
I eat at Lakeview quite often, because its usually too big a deal to get in Boyettes, and I usually order catfish fillets. They are superb! However, I'm reasonably certain that they are farm raised, probably in Mississippi.

 

[B.D.]

Probably a byproduct of summer algae blooms. It can make catfish taste like dirt.

bd

 

[Mama Doe]

Had to be something. Thats the first time I have ever caught a catfish on a cricket. Thats all they would bite.

 

[4onaside]

Had to be something. Thats the first time I have ever caught a catfish on a cricket. Thats all they would bite.

Crickets are a great channel cat bait. Caught 'em all of my life as incidentals while bream fishing.

 

[catman529]

Had to be something. Thats the first time I have ever caught a catfish on a cricket. Thats all they would bite.

caught my first catfish ever on a cricket when I was 11. It was my first "big" fish even though it was probably less than 12 inches. And the only cat I caught at p. priest (I was probably 12 or 13) was on a cricket. They love crickets but I don't use them often at all.

 

[Dodge Man]

We caught hundreds of catfish running yo-yos in May on Reelfoot and dressed them all and so far all I have eaten of them have tasted great. Some of the best tasting catfish I have had in a long time.

Every time we had a cooler so full the lid would not shut, they would stay that way till we get home a hour latter and then we would split them up between 2 or 3 coolers and cover them with a bag of ice and dress them the next day and never had the first fish taste bad.

 

[garytnhunter]

We drove up there today and there were hundreds of dead carp floating all over the water at the spillway.

 

[jw0312]

We drove up there today and there were hundreds of dead carp floating all over the water at the spillway.

Wonder what the deal is? The heat causing a lack of oxygen in the water maybe??

 

[catman529]

We drove up there today and there were hundreds of dead carp floating all over the water at the spillway.

Wonder what the deal is? The heat causing a lack of oxygen in the water maybe??

either that, or Spit had a sudden urge to visit the lake

 

[4onaside]

We drove up there today and there were hundreds of dead carp floating all over the water at the spillway.

I assume big head and silver carp which come up running reelfoot creek from the Obion and Mississippi. Obviously, the more of these invasive exotic species that are removed, for whatever reason the better. I've seen pictures of 70 lbrs caught in the spillway in the past couple of years.

 

[TheLBLman]

Lots of possibilities on why your catfish were or went bad, probably a combination of several.

Caught in very warm water, hot weather, diet of the fish, not enough ice in your cooler, and possibly too much time between dressing the fish and cooking them.

Had to be something. Thats the first time I have ever caught a catfish on a cricket. Thats all they would bite.

They'll eat almost anything if they can see or smell it, and think it's food. One of the biggest channel cats I ever caught was on a large spinner bait at Reelfoot during summer. He hit it on the fall before I started retrieving. Would say Reelfoot catfish eat lots of insects during the summer months, not to mention a few baby ducks, etc.

 

[treestand]