The Quadfather
10/2/2010 12:20:00 PMI've never known anyone to keep/eat bullheads. Usually I think of these fish as about 5-6". How big were yours, and did you get fillets off them or how did you cook them? It's nice to see a report for a different species than the usual stuff on here. Thanks
natetreat
10/2/2010 12:37:00 PMYea, Quad, I fished for bullheads all the time when I was a kid. They taste just like catfish and are delicious! The small ones you skin and de-head and cook like that, but they can get as big as 15 18 inches and those you can get a sweet fillet off of. As far as freshwater fish besides trout that you can catch round here I'd say they are the best eatin. I don't know any lakes up here that have 'em, otherwise I'd be out fishin for 'em all the time.
jbball50
10/2/2010 1:23:00 PMThere's plenty of lakes that have bullhead in them, just don't really see many people going after them over in western WA. I remember a few years ago at Silver Lake down in Castle Rock we weren't having much luck for crappie, so just switched to a bobber and worm to try and catch some perch. Ended up catching alot of yellow belly bullhead in the pads that were 12-14".
ZogTheFuzzy
10/5/2010 9:07:00 PMQuadfather: Since we really didn't get off shore that far, most of our catfish were pretty small. If we got out to the deeper parts of the lake, we would have gotten bigger catfish, I think.
Some tips:
1) after skinning, gutting and filleting your catfish, cut out the area along the vein that goes down the side of the fillet. This region tends to collect that infamous "muddy" flavor. This is done by making a small V cut that takes out the vein and surrounding area
2) soak the catfish in buttermilk for about 2 - 3 hours. This draws out more of the muddy flavor.
3) we like to roll the fillets in beaten egg, then roll them in a 50/50 mix of corn flour and regular flour and a dash of salt, then fry them up to a nice dark golden brown.
Incidentally, we soaked the trout fillets in buttermilk as well, and everyone agreed it was one the best trout we have ever tasted (and we have eaten a LOT of trout over the years!!!)
Zog
Some tips:
1) after skinning, gutting and filleting your catfish, cut out the area along the vein that goes down the side of the fillet. This region tends to collect that infamous "muddy" flavor. This is done by making a small V cut that takes out the vein and surrounding area
2) soak the catfish in buttermilk for about 2 - 3 hours. This draws out more of the muddy flavor.
3) we like to roll the fillets in beaten egg, then roll them in a 50/50 mix of corn flour and regular flour and a dash of salt, then fry them up to a nice dark golden brown.
Incidentally, we soaked the trout fillets in buttermilk as well, and everyone agreed it was one the best trout we have ever tasted (and we have eaten a LOT of trout over the years!!!)
Zog
ZogTheFuzzy
10/5/2010 9:15:00 PMnatetreat: Bullheads are a woefully under-appreciated quarry! They rank real high in flavor for us, so long as they don't taste muddy, which happens sometimes even after a buttermilk soak. I'd like to find a place where we can catch them year round...maybe Warden Lake is that place. Hope so.
Zog
Zog