Normally I fish for and eat crappie most of the year, but have started fishing for catfish since the lakes are high and muddy.

When you catch a channel or blue that weighs 6lbs or 7lbs. How do you prepare the filet to eliminate the greasy taste after they are fried. I know how to filet them with an electric knife & I cut the steaks about 1/2" thick.

Is there something that you can soak them in over night that will reduce the fat content in the meat?

A fish that big gets the blackened catfish treatment on the grill. For frying, I only keep 1 to 3 pound fish to fry.

Nothing you do will make them taste like crappie. But the smaller 1-3 pounders do eat better than the larger ones.

I throw them back. My preference is 1 1/2 lbs and less.

I'll agree that smaller is better when it comes to cooking channel cats. However, if your only catch is a 6-pounder and you're wanting to fry him up, soaking for a few hours in beer will help.

Thanks for answering my post. I may try blackening one on the grill to see how that comes out. If not I will just let the bigger ones go in the future.

Just wanted to make sure there wasn't a "trick" that I was unaware of. When it comes to fishing there are always techniques, baits that are known by a few that would work really well on most lakes.

That is what makes this Forum so Great!

Spider-Man, try this, filet the catfish, trim and remove all red meat as well as the yellow fat. Need sharp knife.

Do this and a 5 pounder will taste as good as a 1.5 pounder. Personally I prefer blues over channels and both over crappie.

Drink a 6 pack of your beer of choice, bet your it will be delicious lol

LOL! Just like drinkin' em' pretty.

I like to keep the ones 12-16in they cook up much better stuff that big my mother in low cooked them and they are really crunchy bug man is it good

Agreed with the cleaning. Take off any of the red meat next to the skin and watch the yellow fat off of the back. They also make great sandwiches if you cut them into steaks and fry them.

in addition to trimming the red meat...

keep a pair of game shears with you. Cut the gills before you throw em into the box. They'll bleed out - fish blood is the mail culprit in an overly fishy end product.

Cut off the red mud line and the yellow fat line as best as you can. Soak them in a bowl in the fridge a day or so helps.

I've also heard of people soaking them in milk and some other stuff but I can't remember what all was In it.

I think cutting the yellow off is a waste of meat. It's not fat, it's just pigmentation of the meat. It tastes the same.