Stinkin Catfish

[Hunter91]

I set out some noodles the other night on Stockton. Didnt catch many fish but had two channels about 6.5lbs and a few smaller ones. When I cleaned one of the bigger fish, it stunk like fish that had gone bad. I kept everything on ice and none of the other fish smelled bad. I didnt cut out its belly meat as that area looked very discolored compared to the other big one whos belly meat was fine.

Just wondering if any of you catfishermen have ran into that?

[fishinwrench]

I have on the Mississippi. We had a flathead once that had bad meat on it, it just smelled "off" and was very noticeable when I was cleaning it. It had a 8" piece of rubber weather stripping in its stomach (like the stuff around a car door).

You are what you eat, as they say.

I bet your channel cat had eaten some kinda nasty business that didn't set too well with him.

[Big Mike]

I caught one about 15 lbs a couple weeks ago that had the same issue. All of the smaller catfish I have been catching have been fine.

[straw hat]

Is the meat along the back on those 'stinkers' yellowish/green?

[Big Mike]

Yes it was.

[kwall]

I have found that is just the way channel cats are go for the blues the flesh is much better whiter meat and no yellow (fat line ) in them

[straw hat]

That is from the catfish eating algae. They will eat their fill of algae. Their stomach dissolves all the microorganisms and aquatic insects. The algae then passes on out. The meat takes on a rancid dead fish smell. Your choice is either through the fish away or you can put them in a tank at home, keep them alive for a couple of weeks and that problem will fade away. I find this problem real common in winter when food is scarce for the cats.

[Boobie]

Straw, You never cease to amaze me.

[fishinwrench]

I wonder how long it would have taken that 'sippi flathead to get all the remnants of that chunk of rubber out of his system ?

[Walcrabass]

Straw Hat and others,

I had not heard about them eating Algae before. Very interesting. I had a friend that raised Channel Cat fingerlings when I was young. When he would take some of his older broodstock out of production we would clean them. He always pointed out that we needed to cut out all the "Yellow Meat" around the top fin and back area in particular. These fish were fed fish pellets. He said that was why the Channel Cats were better to eat when they only weighed a couple of pounds. I have noticed these same "Yellow Areas" on Flat Heads down through the years too. I agree with you about keeping them alive for a while to clean them out. Especially the Flatheads. We also used to bleed the Flatheads as their meat has a tendency to be a little "red" along the tail sometimes.

Walcrabass