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Catfish taste wonderful when you cook them over a fire on a camping trip. They are usually found in lakes, which are a bit murky and muddy, since they stay at the bottom of the lake and unsettle it. They like live bait such as minnows and worms best and can be caught close to the edge of the lake if it is deep since the muddy water makes them feel quite safe even close to you. Catfish have a smooth, thick scaleless skin, are usually dark brown or black in color. Their fins are soft except for the "whiskers".


You can usually find minnows in the same lakes as the catfish, and to catch them you can use a small net, wait until the minnows come close to explore, and quickly lift it out of the water. That way you don't have to worry about carrying the bait with you. But if you're going to a lake for the first time, bring some worms just in case it's unpractical to try to catch the minnows or in case this lake has none.

 
The catfish is more of a night animal. During the hot daytime hours they are in the deep pools, hiding under debris or logs, but they can still be caught. At dusk it is usually the best time to start fishing. In the spring and in the fall you will find more catfish then in the summer, but you can still try on cool evenings. In the winter the catfish is almost totally unavailable. Try out one area of the lake for about 15 minutes. If you don't catch anything in this time period, you are probably in the wrong area of the lake. Move along and try a different area. When you throw in the line, start pulling it in slowly, zigzagging the path. As soon as you feel a slight tug, pull once hard to ensure the fish gets hooked, then steadily pull the fish in.
Once you catch a fish, you can identify it by looking for catlike whiskers (hence the name catfish). The hook can now be taken out of the catfish's mouth which might be hard since this kind of fish likes to swallow the hook very deeply. To try to avoid this from happening use a large hook, but the mouth is huge and the catfish might swallow it anyway. If you want to catch more fish, it might be best to put the fish into a bucket with a little bit of water to keep it alive, so you can kill them all at the same time. To kill the fish quickly and painlessly, take a heavy stick, and hit the fish once on his neck to break it. Make sure you don't hit him just anywhere since that would cause unnecessary pain and suffering to him.


Now you can either fillet the fish (cutting along each side) or you can clean it, making an incision down the belly and taking out all the guts. The head is usually discarded, and the guts as well, but some people like to eat the liver. The skin can be taken off with a very sharp knife, which should be inserted between the skin and the meat and by pulling on the skin. To cook the catfish, you should make a mix with 1 cup flour, 1 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper and any herbs you like. The fish can then be first dipped in an egg, then covered in the flower mixture, and pan-fried in butter over a fire. This is the best way to cook this fish.

   

Nice post... Most of the fisherman around here will use live shad or bream.  Quite a few use the stinkbaits also.