Catfish

[wareagle1973]

Where are some good places to catch catfish? Lake Talquin Lake Jackson? What baits? Any public fishing areas? Thank you.

[CaptReelThyme]

St. Marks. Along the Wakulla river banks out the channel. Or come with me, I seem to them find easily.

[bman]

Talquin is loaded with them...
Some of the public landings have docks and you can catch them there on any stink bait or chicken livers.
Cut mullet also works well.

You can also catch them on trotlines up the St Marks or Ochlockonee. Not as many places to fish off the bank on the rivers

[Rhettley]

If you are fishing for channel cats you can spice up an area. Get a bag of deer corn and pour a 5 gallon bucket about half full of corn and then fill it with water. Put the lid on it and leave it in the sun for about a week until it sours. You can sprinkle out a coffee can full over an area every couple of days and you'll have all the channel cats you want.

[Salty Gator]

He's looking for those good eating channel cats, not those filthy hardheads you catch reelthyme!!!

[CaptReelThyme]

that was good SG, maybe you can use that in the Zing section of the democrap...

[CSMarine]

LATE REPORT. (by about 50 or so years!) Caught at the Old Fort at St. Marks. Picture taken directly behind Shields Marina where the boat house now sets.

cat.jpg (23.94 KiB) Viewed 6243 times

[Charles]

To me a catfish is a catfish is a catfish. Freshwater - saltwater; doesn't matter, it's still a catfish. I target the hardheads with cut bait on the bottom and catch a few sailcats and, once in a while, a stingray big enough to be worth cleaning. Any kind of cut bait will work, but a chunk of ladyfish seems to be the best. Everything eats a nice soft, oily chunk of cut ladyfish. I've caught some nice trout while fishing a chunk of cut ladyfish on the bottom for catfish. A chunk of mullet works well, too. Live bait or whole dead bait is more likely to come up with sailcats and fewer hardheads. I also catch them on fiddler crabs while fishing for sheepshead.

One thing about catfish is the meat shrinks when its deep fried. So a fillet from a small one comes out of the grease a catfish nugget.

[bman]

Charles, My dad will keep and clean Sailcats.. trim the dark meat off and they are good.
But I've NEVER heard of someone keeping hardheads... You really eat them?
Do you do anything special when cleaning them?

[mbweimar]

lake talquin holds some nice cats!

[Charles]

Charles, My dad will keep and clean Sailcats.. trim the dark meat off and they are good.
But I've NEVER heard of someone keeping hardheads... You really eat them?
Do you do anything special when cleaning them?

I do eat them, but I don't do anything special when cleaning them, Barry. I just skin, fillet and cut away the rib section. This leaves a skinless, boneless fillet of meat that is ready for the freezer or the hot grease.

There are better eating fish, but hardheads are a lot better than they are given credit for.

[kgarner1]

Stingray? How do you clean and prep? Thanks

[Charles]

I'm sure there are other ways to go about it, but the way I do it, if the ray is big enough to bother with, better than trashcan lid size, I first cut the tail off disarming the ray. Be careful doing this; the ray won't like it. Sometimes I save the stringer, sometimes I don't. Then I cut the wings off the body and discard the body while out on the water. Otherwise the ray won't fit in my 52 qt. cooler that I carry in the canoe. Then I ice the wings down and wash the slimy, bloody mess out of the boat. Then when I get home and am cleaning the days catch I take each wing and fillet the meat off the layer of cartilage that runs through the middle of the wing. The meat on top is thicker than the meat on the bottom of the wing. I then take each fillet and lay it skin side down on my table and fillet the meat off the skin. And that's it. A boneless, skinless slab of white meat.

And it does taste a little like scallops. But don't expect it to taste like a fresh scallop you picked off the bottom of the bay. With a ray the scallop flavor is more subtle.

[Dockwilson]

Where are some good places to catch catfish? Lake Talquin Lake Jackson? What baits? Any public fishing areas? Thank you.

A friend from Smith Creek says the Ochlockonee River below the damn is over run with flatheads. You can catch them on bush hooks w ivory soap, chicken livers, catawba worms or probably stink bait too.

[rgd123]

I have been trying to Catch Catfish on Lake Talquin.
Seems to be hit and miss. Sometimes I caught 6 another 2 and mostly ZERO.
I have been fishing around the iron curtain on talquin with very little luck. Using all type of stink baits and Gulps and chicken livers.
Please help me with locations to fish, I know this lake is FULL of Catfish.
Would fishing around docks help. What is best depth to fish. Better to bottom fish or Cork fish. What is best bait?
PLEASE HELP, I AM RETIRED AND NEED TO FISH !!!!!!