Attention All Fishermen

[Fla._Deadheader]

Y'all make fun of our strange lookin logs and how they got holes in 'em and such.
  Well, here's a well kept secret. We use OUR logs for more than lumber. WE catch supper with 'em, too.



  Fresh Catfish and Es'cargo. Couldn't find the Crawdad and the 1½ pound Bluegill got away from ED and made his escape. ;D :D :D :D

[EZ]

I'll pass on that stuff, now if you pull out a couple of nice walleye, I'll be down. ;D
EZ

[Fla._Deadheader]

If the water gets much colder, it wouldn't surprise me none, to find some : ;D :D :D :D

[ARKANSAWYER]

  As a kid GrandPa and I would put hollow logs in the byous of Mississippi and they were called "catfish coffens".   We would come back all summer and "noodle" them.    Now you are a sawing up all the catfish houses and they have no place to hide from gators.
ARKANSAWYER

[Fla._Deadheader]

 :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D

[Stan]

Now you are a sawing up all the catfish houses and they have no place to hide from gators.
ARKANSAWYER

He'll quit laughin' when all he can git is farmed catfish.  :-/

[Fla._Deadheader]

  NOPE, I druther eat horses butts than catfishes. Them whiskers must tickle : :D :D

[DouginUtah]

I was eating at the local Golden Corral and tried something that appeared to be fish.

Took a bite and had to spit it out. Told the waitress that the fish was "bad".

She said, "You know that's catfish, don't you?"

I said, "No, but if that's what it tastes like I won't be taking any again."

So... does good catfish have a tangy, spoiled, rotten taste to it? ???

-Doug

[Tom]

Fresh catfish is good whether farm raised or river grown.  I get a strong tasting one from the lakes and rivers now and again but they are still good.  The bad taste comes from people not protecting the fish from higher temperatures.  You can't leave them out on the counter uncooked for 3 or 4 hours.  Some of those resturants over cook frozen fish too.  That makes them mushy .....yechhh!

[EZ]

My wifes uncle use to live down by a river in Ohio called Will's Creek. There are big cats in their, 40 and 60 pounders, flat heads and blue. We would go down a couple times a yr and fish for them, for the fun of catching them. One time I caught a 43 pound flat head,  he told me we will keep that one for supper. He took it up the house and that evening he brought me out a plate of it, I said no thanks Jr. and he said just try it. So I took a small bite, wow it was really good. I ate about a 1/4 of the plate and started to think how bad the fish look when I caught it, then my stomack started to turn and I had enough. He boiled the meat in water and lightly brown it in butter. It was pretty good, but I haven ate it since.
EZ

[Fla._Deadheader]

 :D :D :D :D :D :D

[Brian_Bailey]

The best cat fish I ever et was at the Best Western in Clinton, Iowa.
My wife & I were on our way to the mecca of motorcycling, Sturgis, SD.
The restaurant at the BW had an all you can eat fish fry.
I asked the waitress what kind of fish was I eat'n after about the 3rd or 4th help'n. She said, "cat".
I never had anything like it before. Man, was it good!  
I think of that fish fry quite often as I reminisce about our trip.

[Tom]

Another biker!!  woohoo woohoo wooho woohoo

That's my daffy duck rendition. :D

[Oregon_Sawyer]

My first time to have catfish was about 1973.  I was 19 and driving truck for Evergreen Helicopters.  They flew me to Arkansas for my first job.  We stayed at the Holiday Inn's.  It was common to have catfish on the menu.  I loved it. It was a little unnerving the first time as they served them with the heads on. 8) 8)

After Arkansas we moved to Georgia and were spraying power line right of ways with defoliate.  More about food.  The locals introduced us to restaurants that served food family style.  I had never had sweet ice tea.  They would have gallons of it along with fried chicken, fresh vegs that I didn't even recognize and corn on the cob, sweet corn bread and then watermelon.  We would all be seated at tables with other customers and you just passed the food around.

In about 1983 my wife and I went to a summer bible school in Tennessee and I tried to find that kind of restaurant but was unsuccessfully.

Arkansas:  We were working up in your area for the forest service.  We were spraying 2,4D and 2,4T on the forest to kill certain trees.  It was there that I drove on my first cable suspension bridge and drove thru my first water bridge.

I can't remember the town, but there is a cavern that you can go in.  I got to go with the first group of people being trained to be the tour guides.  In 1983 we went back with the family.  My kids were so small I had to carry them the whole way.

Back to catfish, Fried catfish and hush puppies.  Why don't they have them in Oregon? :D

Loren

[Brian_Bailey]

Another biker!!  woohoo woohoo wooho woohoo

That's my daffy duck rendition. :D

Tom,  
I've been real careful using the phrase "biker" since my ordeal in Minden, Neb. My wife thought it was funny :D :D, I didn't! :D

[Frank_Pender]

Ready fresh product availability, Loren.   :D  Just about the same reason we do not get to saw much Tulip Wood or Hickory. :-/

[ScottAR]

Man I'm getting hungry!!  Catfish is a staple at the house.  Caught or farmed,  yummy.  

Oregon_Sawyer,  There are two cave systems I know of,  Blanchard Springs outside of Hot Springs. and a smaller one I don't remember the name of in Cave city.  

Blanchard Springs is a fantastic experience and one that should be on everyone's to do list come vacation time.  They've expanded the system since the early 80's and now offer a tour of a lower level that has the above ground entrance.  There is a third level that can't be accessed right now as it's still under water from the spring that built the whole thing.  Should be viewable in a few hundred years.  

[Oregon_Sawyer]

Scott:  It was Blanchard Springs (Cavern) and it is a must see!!  It seems to me there was quite alot to see around there with some kind of local handmade trades and village.

Russelville is the town that I first worked out of.  It was a dry county but the Holiday Inn had a "club" that as a guest we could be members.  I was only 19 but they gave me a card.  I just assumed the drinking age was 18 in Arkansas.  Georgia was the same way.  It was latter that I found out I was supposed to be 21.

Loren

[ScottAR]

Oops my CRS is kicking in...  Blanchard Springs is in Mountain View...  They have the Arkansas Folk Center there also...  Show all the old ways of doing things, Very interesting.  Blacksmith shop was my favorite.  

Hot Springs has The Mid America Musem which is a must if one has kids or acts like one.  Could spend a day there easy.  The Mountain Tower is pretty neat and the old car musem was great.  There are many other things there as well, but those stood out.  
My different trips seem to run together.  Must be gettin old...

[etat]

Guess I'm a pretty big fan of catfish since I've got a stocked pond with a well fed bunch of em, nearly just outside my front door.  I like em filleted or whole if they ain't too big.  Trick in cookin is to get the grease or oil HOT before droppin em in.  Pretty simple recipe, rub em down with a little hot sauce, and drop em in a bag of corn meal and salt and pepper and shake em up good.  Deep fry em, not in no skillet.  If you don't fry em up thick they'll soak up grease.  Plain ole lard gives em the best flavor, but most times I use peanut oil.   Start gettin the grease Hot.  Simple way to tell when it's jest right.  Once the grease or oil starts gettin hot drop a match in it.  When it gets hot enough to light the match (it'll go right back out again) drop them battered up fish in.  Watch out for hot grease splashin on you.  After about a minute they'll float to the top.  Take em out and drop in the fries. In the meantime take whats left of that cornmill you wrapped em in and add some salt, pepper, onions, milk and such.  Let it set until you can dip it up in little balls.  Drop that in the grease and when they're all done it's time to eat.  Don't let nothin sit, eat while it's hot.  And work fast or you'll burn the grease. If they sit around everything'll start gettin soggy.  and not so good.  If that grease ain't hot enough everything will be greasy and not good.  Get it hot enough and nothing has time to soak it up.  Now if you catch up a bunch of catfish and you can't cook em right then keep em on ice until you skin em out.  When you freeze them put em in a empty milk carton or big freezer bag and cover em with water and freeze.  That way when you thaw em out and cook em they'll taste as fresh as when you caught em.  A catfish is a different kind of fish and I've tried em grilled, broiled, baked, and found either I didn't like em that way, or they come out not fitten to eat.  Cook em like I say, and eat em hot, , and I'll bet some of yall that didn't like em would change yer mind. A side order of cold slaw, and a slice of onion, mighty fine eatin.

[litewood]

used to handfish the log piles but as I got older don't like to hang out with the cotten mouths so much anymore.

catfish is my favorite fish,years ago i used to snag alot of them it was legal then and it still is in three places for flatheads and spoonbills.
like the bluesbest,didn't have alot of luck this past summer with the ones I released into my pond over half died naturally it was the bigger ones small ones under 6 or 8 pound lived  the flathead lived except one and channel cats did well.(this is for grandkids and relatives who come up so they can catch a fish bigger than they ever have before.)had a spoonbill (paddlefish) about 65 lbs or more in pond and told grandkids it was a shark.it swam on top most of the time in circles and hung around the dock.
it caught itself up in the cattails and died,haven't got around to geting another in it yet.

I don't care for resturant catfish most places leave the red and grey crap on the meat and i always cut it all off down to white meat  presoak over night in  in salt and soda and that way u can see all the fat and trim it off.
 the flatheads in the summer  some of them especially if you handfish em taste rancid to me but my fatherin law broils them and likes it.I trim about a quarter or more inches where where there was skin mostly the belly.
we live by several large dams on the arkansas navagation system  usually do best in the winter for the big boys.I like it best when all the gates(flood) are open.

I have gotten quite afew small eels out of logs in the past from creek

cktate mentioned the best way to cook em!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[EZ]

When my daughters was still living at home, I put two 20 lb flatheads in the bottom pond without them knowing it. The only thing that was in there was bluegill, small. They never did catch them flatheads but they sure did thin out the bluegills. Before I put them in there they would catch gills one after another, after the cats were in there for a month the girls would be down there for an hour and maybe catch one gill. I had to get them cats out of there.
EZ

[Tom]

EZ,
Did you read this?  How come Daddy's are always picking on their kids?  :D :D  I gave the whole neighborhood a run for there money. :D  click for my tale: A Catfish Story

[etat]

Oh yeah, there's quite a bit of varieties of catfish.  My favorite is channel cat.  Mud cat ain't a fittin to eat.  A big part of the taste depends on the water they come out of.  I had my pond dug over 20 feet deep, although that's a lot deeper than recommend.  I wanted the water to stay cool even in the summertime, and I didn't want it to dry up if we have a dry summer.  My pond is sorta on a hill without a lot of run off keeping it filled up.  That's another reason I dug it so deep.  Also I salt the bank and the edge of the water about twice a year to keep algie down.  Helps keep the water clear and purty.  

[Stan]

I remember the first fish my youngest caught. It was an 8 lb cat. He must have been about 5 years old, and that cat nearly caught him. I rigged his pole to dangle a stinkbait about 2 ft under the surface, and was showing his older brother how to tie a palomar knot. Rob was intently watching us, when Waylone said to him, "you'd better get your pole". He was in the water up to his chest when he caught up with it, then turned with it over his shoulder and came back on shore, pulling that cat all the way. Quite a tug of war, good thing his drag was cinched down tight.  :D

[EZ]

That pretty good Tom, wonder if anyone ever caught them.
When my son was 5 yrs old a friend and I took him cat fishin at a creek that we new there was alot of small mudcats. He was fishin and we were b.s. ing ;D. He got a bite and told me and told me even louder and then told me it was a big one. I told him reel him in, thinking it was a small one. The next thing we know the fish pulled him in and under, I jump up and went in and grabbed him. There I was holding him and he still had the pole in his hands and the fish still on. ??? I help him get the fish in, it was a 30 inch channel cat. We look at it for awhile and turn it loose. I took him home(to my x wife) gave him a big hug and left. Unfortunatly, the next day when I was at work the cops came and got me out of work and I spent 10 days in jail for child indanger. I was'nt aloud to see him again until he was 16.
EZ

[Tom]

I can understand the X causing trouble but put you away for 10 days?  Man! What gestapo town did you pay your taxes in?

[EZ]

I think my x was sleeping with the mayor.  :D :D :D O-well I have no problem with her anymore being my son is grown up and she lives down your way. ;D
EZ

[ARKANSAWYER]

  I head down to the Arkansas River several times a year to molest them big cats down there.  Often in a night we will land one over 50 lbs and I have come close a time or two of making the state record.   I have several blues over 80lbs to my credit.   Some where I have a photo of a flathead the covers all of the tail gate of my 79 Ford F150.  I catch alot of these drums while chasing the cats.   The eat good and have a light and fluffy  meat if fried fast and eaten hot.   I clean them with my pressure washer at home now since the duck cleaning deal at the carwash. ;D
ARKANSAWYER

[litewood]

arkansawer where on the arkansas river do you fish?always wanted to hit place outside aways from russellville dartenelle i think it is where the power plant is in winter for blues usually fish the dams here in okie land and never tried it any farther than the dam outside ft smith barling I still haven't caught an 80 blue have hooked them as far as i know on rod and reel but in the past alot were never weighed.got big ones on trotlines/snag though.
I bought a rubber tank last spring to keep in truck because i was going to bust a 100 lb blue this year and keep it for pond(wife thought it was funny).year isn't up yet!
you can't use a boat anywhere closer than end of lock wall or I would have had several in the past but they were to big to turn.
here are afew cat stories
had a taker one night  at base of dam using a large crappie for bait i set the hook and fish jerked me off sidewalk ito the logs and rocks below wondered what all bones were broke held rod a 15 ft with one hand until i could get up, walked fish about 3/4 mile down river he fianlly took all line.
kerr outside sallisaw one night had a small boat run it to riprap just past lock wall plenty of current to much flood gates rolling so we fished off rocks at very end boat was about 75/100 yds up baited with two shad about a foot long as it was sinking hog grabbed it had to let him take all line and had only 40 lb stren(new line that day) but started wondering if it would ever break,fish was pulling me inoff end.

had been hand fishing and we were in about 8 or 9 ft of water bobbing and swimming we were  going to a ledge by a point when one came off bottom and grabbed me size 12 tennnis shoe in mouth  up to middle of shin and jerked me down buddies said I was a puss cause I didn't just pin him to bottom (what I did was kick loose with other foot and set a new underwater back stroke record) if it would have been waist or chest deep and i was hunting one at the time i would have been ready!over chest highthey control you.
had one at a lake one night in a shallow cove that was munching shad thats where shad went at night  in summer at that place millions of them and big fish ate bunches at a time   its 3 am and something slams side of boat(a twelve ft aluminum) and moves it ,hits several times.broadside boat starts to lean hard going to tip overi had to lean into whatever it was.in the dark.had a lantern in a holder hooked to seat it knocked it loose.usually nothing scares me that did! I was talking to fisheries biologists on phone that morning.and they said they believed me and knew about the bigger ones said when shocking they didn't even try to get in boats.losts of folks don't think they get much over a hundred i know better.
ever see any of the old mississippi fish dock pictures? afew must have been 300lb or more an wifes grandpaw and uncles were commercial fishermen and he had some pix of some huge fish.
I want a monster!!!!!
have a reel holds 650 yards of 80 test but you can't cast it at dam but can use it with styrofoam boat mine has a crank handle but diawa has a rig for it for  deep sea for big boys with a battery powered winch setup.*smile*  
biggun's never hit on it only on my rods with reels that don't hold enough line to last them out,sooner or later though.

[Fla._Deadheader]

 :D :D :D :D  HA  And Y'all just THOUGHT Gator divin was risky : : : ::)Them water kitty's don't really EAT ya, they just wanna SMOOCH ya  : ;D :D :D :D :D :D :D

[L. Wakefield]

 

snip
  
I clean them with my pressure washer at home now since the duck cleaning deal at the carwash. ;D
ARKANSAWYER

????? I missed that story. Can you tell it again?  lw

[ARKANSAWYER]

 :D :D :D :D  I will make a long story short.  A few years ago I went duck and goose hunting in eastern Arkansas. (big time ducks and geese over there)  I did well and on the way home I stopped by the carwash to clean the gumbo off of my truck and boat from coming across the fields.  It was there that I noticed that the feet of the ducks fit in the clamps on the walls for car matts.  So most quick and $2 later I had my ducks cleaned. ;D  Next time I was at the car wash there was a sign that said "NO DUCK CLEANING.  Clean your ducks here again and your goose will be cooked!"   So I bought a pressure washer and have found all kinds of uses for it.
    I fish around Toad Suck and down to Little Rock around Cook's.  There are some grain  loading docks down there and the fish eat the beans that fall into the river.  I found that bream the size of your hands and skip shad about 8 to 10 inches long work best for large cats.  I use 25 lb mono line as I can get 300 yards on my Penn reel and it cast well.  I can sit at the 300 ft mark below the lock & dam and bounce a bream and 3 oz sinker off of the concrete.   Since I fish from a boat I can chase after them.  I like to jug fish  for them and it is a good way to spend the night.  Have to watch out for them barges as they throw a good wake.

ARKANSAWYER

[ScottAR]

Ducks and rice are our big thing...We have several farmers that turn their rice fields into duck fields for the winter to make extra money...  

[litewood]

liked the duck cleaning story!
around here its mostly channels and small blues eating the soybeans and other grain where they load and unload the barges.but its also where the shad hang .if you thrownet them and use bigger ones live occasionally you get the bigger blues but the babys munch all the cut bait  have caught afew nice flathads there and nice largemouth bass
   the bigger fish seem to like the back lock wall mostly and the blowhole .
at robert s kerr dam you have the generators then The spillway weir has a net length of 900 feet and is surmounted by eighteen 50- by 44-foot-high tainter gates. The gates are separated by seventeen 10-foot piers just to get to the wall ...
and webberdam is to far to cast its generators then The weir is surmounted by twelve 50- by 41-foot-high tainter gates. The gates are separated by eleven 10-foot intermediate piers (copyed the weir stuff from corps page)they don't allow boats anywhere at dam until end of locks so you use styro boats to haul live bait out.or throw as far as you can.sometimes you need 6/8 ozs or more of weight and it drifts slow need a pound or more lead to hold at wall by generators and if they are cranking you can't hold you just drift until you hung in rocks near shore.
 have alot of luck stomping a live large green sunfish and while its fresh and if any water is running its heck on flatheadsand blues seems to work better than live
.best jugging i ever had is up the river abit where the vertigris has a little lock and from it to the arkansas.I remember the first time.didn't know you needed a somthing like a gaffhook on a stick or someone with you to grab the jugs..hard to run them down with nothing but a big motor they ran from it.

fishing is  number one on my list of things to do!

then its woodworking (make lots of kindlin'..and half started projects) like  to make things that make smaller children gasp stuff that has a surprise movement wiggle wobble mechanical.like birds wings flap or beaver tail flops anything off beat.been busy lately doing this.I don't use plans much although will look at a book but always do it my way,(sometimes it would be best to try things like the plan/books show )saves mistakes.
anyone have any ideas for things like this,description of something you have seen??
thanks

[Fla._Deadheader]

Litewood, Where's the pics??? ;D ;D ;D ;D :D :D

[Bro. Noble]

Litewood,

My father-in-law used to make wooden toys.  Two of my favorites were the peckerwood that descends a brazing rod (pecking all the way) and a 'bull grinder'.  They are both common but I would still play with them if I had one :D

[Tom]

I wish some of you guys would put the plans for those toys, and maybe some pictures too, in the knowledge base.  One of these days some kid is gonna want to know what a Bull Grinder is and nobody will be able to tell him.

[Paul_H]

I don't know what it is,but was afraid to ask :P

[dail_h]

   I made my first one in school shop over thirty years ago and they still facinate me. Guess it don't take much to occupie  a simple mind huh

[Tom]

I always looked upon them as an enternal combustion engine with twice the cylinders and half the pistons :D  Wish I could figure out someway to make it work :P :D

[litewood]

Got to ask what is a bullgrinder????????
woodpecker hooked to spring goes down rod I know.

don't have a digital camera or would put up some pictures.

did talk to a lady in her 80's about toys from wood the yard
/maintance man made for her when she was about 5 or 6
one she called a walking man dowel in his back movable legs and arms you walk him around.
  dancing man  its a jointed man  you stand him on a flexible paddle shaped like a flyswatter tuck handle under your leg while sitting and tap it and guy dances flops around she told me how she cryed when it broke.may have to make her one.
  a chicken shape on both outsides pieces with a spacer in middle with cut out to fit  circle of wood  with 5 or 6  legs ending at outside edge of circle like a wheel just drill a hole through sides it and center of circle glue a dowel and legs go around like its walking

any other odd toys???a picture or description of what it does would be nice.
lite

[Tom]

A "Do Nothing" machine or Bull Grinder looks like this.

[WoodChucker]

This is a 88 1/2 pound catfish my cousin and I caught on a trot-line about 35 years ago. My uncle was a commercial fishermen and this fish was taken out of the Tenn/Kentucky Lake, at least I think that was the name of it, thats what we called it anyway. We thought we were dragging a log in, but when we tried to get it into the boat it came alive and pulled a hook all the way through my cousins hand. It was tangled in the line and had about 10 hooks in him so we figured it wasn't going anywhere. We went back to the boat landing and got a 22cal rifle and came back and shot him in the head so we could get him in the boat. Sounds cruel now, but we were just kids at the time, but it sure was fun seeing that big sucker. lol. After I came back home my uncle got one that was 102 pounds. I seen pictures of it but don't have one to show you. I don't know how true this is, but we were told that divers had seen catfish in that lake so big that you couldn't step across there head! Best guess was near 200 pounds. That thing would have to look like a shark. I don't know what the record is for a catfish, but I do know back then a record wasn't a big deal to these guys, it was just money in there pockets.

R.T.

[etat]

Showed the picture of the catfish to the wife.  She was impressed as I was.  That's a LOT of fish.  

[WoodChucker]

Showed the picture of the catfish to the wife.  She was impressed as I was.  That's a LOT of fish.  

Thanks cktake, glad you guys enjoyed it.

I've had a lot of fun over the years with that pic. When the big fish stories would start I'd whip that picture out and it would really turn some heads. Once in a while if the bull got to deep I'd just leave off the part about it being caught on a trot-line and say I caught using a pole and 8 pound test line, then just add " ya just gotta know how to play them big ones" .

R.T.

[etat]

 :D :D :D :DYes Sir, All's fair in fishin stories, but with proof like that you could have a LOT of fun!!!!!! :D :D :D :D

[litewood]

thats a nice fish!
I tell folks up at the dam if they catch a 100 lb plus fish with my name on his side be sure to turn him loose needless to say its worth a few strange looks and then some believe it when others back me
I will have to ask wifes uncle if he has the pictures that his dad had  my favorites were the huge alligator gars.

[Stan]

Biggest one I caught wasn't very, but I was fishin' for bluegills at the time. Ran outa worms and put on one of them phony ones that are made of powerbait. Cast out to a stump in the water and there he was. A tornado was threatin' so I horsed him up to the bank. That #10 aberdeen hook straightened out, and I lost the toughest fish in the pond.  :'(

[ARKANSAWYER]

  Whitey and I were down on the Arkansas River for a big catfishing trip last summer.  We went and caught a  few dozen bream on cricketts for bait for the catfish.  The bream were bitting good so it did not take  us long and we had some time before dark.  Whitey says" Let's put on some crawdad crank baits and hit that shale bank and see if we can catch some small jaws".  So we motored over and started casting and cacthing some small jaws most quick.  There was a log laying on the bank that jutted out into the water and looked like hawg heaven so I made a few cast at it, but nothing.  Then I noticed a pecan sitting on the log just above water level.  About then I notice a fox squirrel comming down the bank toward that log.  I told Whitey to watch and it that squirrel headed for that pecan I was going to throw my lure over there and try to snag him.   That squirrel jumped on that log and started sneaking down toward the water where the pecan lay.   I pulled back and was just about to cast as the squirrel got to the pecan when the river just blew up.  This catfish jumped up and took that squirrel right off that log as slick as any thing I ever saw.  If that fish weighed a pound he weighed 50.  We's just looked at each other  mouths wide open and could not believe what we just had seen.  Directly we hear splashing over by the log and looked and that catfish was putting the pecan back on the log. :D
ARKANSAWYER

[Bro. Noble]

 :D :D :D

Did Whitey's wife know he was hanging around with you? ;)

[VA-Sawyer]

All Right ! You had me till the line about the catfish putting the pecan back. ;D

Rick
VA-Sawyer

[ARKANSAWYER]

Whitey's wife was only sad that I brought him back
ARKANSAWYER