The wife, kids and I hit the lake in afternoon, fished till sun down,... caught 30+ blue catfish in 2-5 FOW using my secret baits and chum, not stinky but very effective...filled the cooler then some in 4 hr of fishing.. gonna try some California style Vietnamese baked catfish this evening for the first time,...

final pic of my old "fish hauler" cooler, all catfish heads, fins, and guts removed, guesstimate 80 lb of catfish meat in this cooler

I'm assuming that the combined total of fish caught is 30, Because bag limit is 25 for blues. I sure do wish that I had a cooler full of fish=)

Nope, just catfish,...Four of us fishin', we left them biting because our cooler was overflowed.

That's awesome! I need to learn how to prepare my own bait for catfish. A lot of people do it. Enjoy your California style Vietnamese baked catfish!

thank you Cottontail! My brother and his wife visited us from California last week, they thoroughly enjoyed our Texas wild fish during their stay... My sister-in-law mentioned the Vietnamese style baked catfish that come baked crispy and some fresh vegetable to go with it that people can order from supermarkets or Vietnamese restaurants in Southern Cal (kind of expensive, though, $50 for a baked fish 3-5 lber and some prepared fresh vegies and fish sauce. ouch! )

We got another smash-hit catfish recipe - Cali-style Vietnamese baked Blue Catfish!

We weren't so sure about eating catfish skin, but that what the recipe said... so we scraped and scraped the skin until it was paper thin... This recipe requires lots of works, olive oil brushed 4-5 times while fish were in the oven,...skin became transparent looks like sausage skin, but very crispy and flavored with chopped green onion and sliced garlic in hot olive oil...the finished product were two medium size catfish that were aromatic, crispy on the outside and juicy inside... it all added up to super delicious dinner for four!

it might take good but it looks like [censored]

What temp, how long in the oven?
mmm, looks good to me.
enjoy

Chuck7700, it probably takes some getting used to or an acquired taste, but it is healthy and delicious meal, it was our first time trying this recipe, we like it... On the other hand, donuts, fast food chains hamburgers, and hotdogs might look good, but if you eat enough of those (censored) your body will not only let you know the meaning of ugliness, but it will let you feel the ugliness of the (censored) that you ate over the years.

ChugR, it was delicious, 400F for 45 minutes, spaced out the olive oil application on the catfish skin once every 10 minutes or so... the sauce: fish sauce (this already has salt in it), water, lemon juice, sugar, chopped garlic, Asian chili paste (ready to eat comes in plastic jar), and crushed roast peanuts. Enjoy!

Nice Mess of fish. Good job.

Nice Ones.

HAHAHAHHA! Im with ya! HAHAHAHA!

Nice haul. Not sure I will ever eat catfish skin though

I'M IN!!

thanks y'all for the kind words!
some of you are chickin's, but I'll bet more than half of you would help yourself with your second portions if you try it! haahahaha, J/K! It definitely take some getting used to, but with the hot oil green onion and garlic flavor, it was ten times better tasting than eating pork rind snacks, i.e. deep fried pork skin! that's right many of you eat pork skin more often than you think...pork rind is the basic ingredient in most of the sausages that you eat... oooooo sh** (censored)! ... and pork skin is more "dirty" than catfish skin, catfish uses its slime to insulate itself from the elements in the water.