aix you can have my share of the yellow bellys I will stick with channel cats and flatheads and I hate blue cats greasy nasty fish those go in barrels too gut free big ones get released.Ihelped a friend skin and fillet a cooler full one day after running lines the oil slick those blues left on the water in the cooler turned my stomach. trash fish I my opinion. But a lot of guys like them so I wont waste them. We throw net shad by the barrels full in the spring. But I have only one recipe for shad and haven't put it to the test yet! cinnamon shad coon bait

I bet if you smoked them shad then ground them it'd be a killer coon bait

Used to roast bullheads over fire and eat them. Poke a stick in mouth and roast till skins peel off and eat like corn on the Cob.

Probably make good oil.

I bet your rite any smoked meat works on a coons appetite hotdogs are good on coons too stab a piece of hotdog on a dogproof trigger and watch out

limb or jug line those big blue cats. you know. the ones that are to big to make good table fare. the ones in fisherman magazine mounted the no science ban on commercial fishing for.

all of the above and the occasional rod a reel one that's a lot of fun they are getting rather hefty in MO water not uncommon to hear of 60-90 pounders caught! Personally ive seen 60 pounders caught on rod and reel. They are like Asian carp worthless but a blast to catch and can really put your equipment to the test. Spring rod a reel fishing on a good river rise and a bloody chunk of shad guy never knows what's going to come knocking! The sound of bait clickers screaming in the wee hours of the am exciting!!!!!!!

Down here, A legitimate 3 lb bullhead would be worthy of a framed picture on the wall imo


I don't think any catfish out of a pond that dries up would be good to eat. Bullheads survive dry ponds due to estivation. Most other catfish survive dry ponds due to....well, actually they don't usually survive.


Sharp spines, yes, but don't forget about their bite. They bite hard enough to make you remember the lesson of not doing it. Been there already... .

yes those little sobs bite like a Rottweiler cant believe you like to eat those fish I don't care for fish so if im eating it its going to be the best their is crappie or good catfish no carp or buffalo big gills are ok as long as you can fillet them and get a decent fillet my favorite is flathead belly meat.Spoonbill is good as long as its skinned properly all the red meat is cut off and discarded. But generally when im cooking spoonbill we fry a big mess of frog legs, good eats their.Sorry for leading your post astray

It's all good....it's not like it's a poppin' thread anyway. Very quiet over in the Lure Formulation forum......


I only want to eat good fish as well. Just to be clear, let me say it this way: When it comes to catfish, bullheads are at the top of my list IF, and ONLY IF they come from good water. I wouldn't eat crappie that came from stagnant water (right before they died due to bad water).

When they come from COOL, clean water, they're as good as it gets when it comes to catfish. The problem with them is they are able to survive conditions that other fish can not, due to estivation. They bury themselves in the mud and wait for rainfall to refill the pond. This means that they taste like chit, I mean mud.

Clean, cool water bullheads are great to eat.

I conned a buddy into lipping a big bullhead like a bass, man that was funny!

In about 2008, a knucklehead that I didn't care for then and don't care for now put an Obama sticker on my truck. Thought it was funny.,,,,the same day, we happened to be fishing together when I caught a sheepshead.


I held its jaw down and showed him its teeth. I told him that he should touch the teeth to see how much they felt like human teeth. He said "but it's gonna bite me". I replied "I'm touching them now and it's not biting me..."


He put his finger in the sheepshead's mouth, and I let go of the jaw. It latched on and bit the fire out of him. He got so mad and asked why I did that. I told him that I didn't appreciate him putting that clown's bumper sticker on my truck.

Bob if a guy would render spoonbill would you use just the fat or the whole fish? Our snagging season just opened up and I put some feelers out for people to save me all the belly fat to Sun render this summer. I should get a few gallons of just fat with the amount of people I talked to the last few days.

im not bob but pure fat will get you oil within the next day now I can render fish oil from straight fat and most times its so clear you think its water! Has more of a raw fish smell not the rotten smell from sunrendered using the whole fish minus the guts. Bill good luck on the spoonies our season opens on the 15'th

It was probably like tryin to get a buggger off your finger wasn't it

Bill I would chunk up the pieces of whatever you can get minus the guts and put them into a container of your choice. The smaller pieces will render more quickly then larger pieces. Good temps will begin to produce oil rather quickly on some fish. Larger fat content tissue will work and break down first. The impurities will settle down as will the water content. If you are careful with your top drawn you will have fine pure oil when ready.

[/quote]It was probably like tryin to get a buggger off your finger wasn't it [/quote]
lol I heard him kinda grunt and growl and I asked him what was wrong,he said " it's biting the &@&@ outa me what do you think!"

I was thinking with just the fat it would be more pure and not gas off so much when making bait. Thank you

Any rendering or aging will produce some gas but fish as a rule at least those I have worked with dont expand alot but there is some gas but not like red meat tissue or glands.

same thing here no expansion but gasing yes if anything it starts shrinking within a week, I have tried numerous small batches in glass jars to monitor got a 1/4 cup once off of straight belly fat the only time I ever collected true bonafied sun rendered fish oil! bto is so much simpler. But I haven't gave up on the fishoil yet! Someday maybe I can get it down

The true stuff has a very distinct odor. Very.