Video: How to a Wels Filet

This spring my eldest son and I visited a small local river for canal winds, carp and redhorse. We use a piece of nightcrawler on a small hook (size 8) for carp and vacuum cleaner and place a few split shots on the line (10-pound test mono) to keep the crawler on the ground. Carp and vacuum cleaners like the current edge (near a vertebra), so that you do not need much weight. In addition, too much weight can lead to difficult carp and vacuum cleaner drops a bait when you start swimming with it.

Canal winds prefer the faster electricity at least during spring. Therefore, we use a heavy bait caste tackle, including 50-pound test-woven main line, a 3 -unzen-no-roll-sinker, a strong swivel, an 18-inch leader who was built from 100-pound tests and a 5/0 circular hook. For Channel Cat bait we use a 2×3-inch piece of water-dh fresh cutbait from one of the vacuum cleaners that we have taken out of the same river.

This spring I only kept one channel winds for the table, everyone else was released. And in truth, almost all of the cats we have caught so far were too big – and too old – for the best food. Many of the channel winds we caught have weighed £ 10-12, with occasional larger ones, including a few 14, 15 and my biggest, £ 2 ounces.

The 4-pound channelwels that I kept (photo below) measures 23 inches, which means that it was 10-11 years old. Our biggest cats, the double -digit weights and measurement of 30 inches or more, could be slightly 20 years old. The 4-pounder that I kept is to the greater size of what is best to eat. A £ 2-3 would be even better.

Wels are among the most popular fish in America to catch and eat, but many anglers who have no experience with cleaning and cooking sometimes hesitate to keep one. Don't worry, you can clean them and cook them almost as much as they would be walleleyes, solaries or crappies. And no, you don't have to put on a catfish. All you need is a sharp fillet knife.

As explained in the 10-minute YouTube video below, some people do not like to eat catfish, because if it is not properly filleted, it can taste a bit fishing/muddy. The key is to remove the bloodline and the surrounding meat. But that's easy – watching and learning.

PS I cooked my chance as much as I did Walleyes, Northern Pike or Panfish; I baked the fillets in my oven. Click here For my simple and chaotic baking method for crispy fillets.