eating bullhead catfish

[nathanazajac]

This maybe a little off base for this forum but i have found an abundance of bullhead catfish. I have never eaten them before and was just wondering if anyone on this site has cooked or eaten them before. Thanks for the help it seems like a shame not to try them at least once.

 

[ebroesicke]

You can get them in restaurants in Upstate New York. Not sure that qualifies them as good, but yeah you can eat them and people like it.

 

[Mike]

I think they are very good with a texture and somewhat of a flavor like black sea bass. They fillet very nicely and the meat is firm, at least that was my experience when I caught them in the winter through the ice.

 

[Fishidiot]

Used to eat them all the time when I was young and they're tasty. It is a good bit of work to clean them since they are small fish and you have to get the skin off - however, with some practice, this becomes easier. Roll 'em in batter and fry 'em.
There does seem to be some consensus that bullheads from muddy waters don't taste as good as ones from clear water but the ones I used to eat as a kid came from a muddy pond and they were fine.
As you've discovered, when you catch a bullhead, it is usually easy to catch a bunch more (unless you're FFing, in which they are usually an incidental catch) so it is easy to organize a fish fry.

 

[sandfly]

grew up on bullheads and eels. cut the skin behind the gills all they way around, grab with pliers and pull off skin. cut filets and either fry, broil or batter them. cut out any dark lines and meat in center of filet to keep from tasting like mud. they are catfish which all taste great !!!

 

[beadhead2]

What sandfly just said !!!!!!!!

 

[jifigz]

Bullheads are delicious, as are most catfish species. They are cinch to fillet. You can fillet a bullhead or any type of catfish in under a minute. Cut right down from ribs until you hit the backbone. Follow the backbone with the knife just until about the end of the tail but do not totally cut through the skin. Lay the fillet over by using the piece of attached skin like a hinge. Remove skin from fillet. Then enjoy. It is a very simple and fast process.

 

[springer1]

Not surprised that there are several methods described ..... after all, "there's more than 1 way to skin in a cat" refers to a cat-FISH, not a feline. I used to nail them thru the head to a tree to skin them ... then update the method to a 2x6 LoL !

 

[poopdeck]

I wont eat any catfish because of toxins. it skeeves me out just thinking about potential toxins during dinner. bullhead are the best flathead bait you can get.

 

[nathanazajac]

Thanks for all the responses now it is time to go get some more