Catfish Cleaning Demo, How to Fillet a Large Catfish

[shujibhuji]

Hey I just oberved that I was alive a bit in between 1:45 to 1:50 when it moved its tail. Wow a fresh one. Good meat. That is one heck of anice filleting knife u r using. :)

[DSVetDad]

Awfully nice flats

[eaj0886]

nice

[max8073]

not a big fan of really big ones bc they are old but get me a bunch 20 in catfish im set

[BubbaRountree]

@max8073 I agree bud! ;)

[R3TR0gamer1]

@oceantrolls73 catfish is very tasty

[oceantrolls73]

good video! is catfish a good tasting fish? thank you.

[hackerhater]

lotta meat!

[stumpman234]

Great Video! Great Music also!

[BubbaRountree]

@stumpman234 Thanks Bud! ;)

[121212325]

great video what kind of electric knife are you using

[BubbaRountree]

@121212325 Berkley & Rapala makes good ones! Walmart usually has em in stock... :)

[Thetruthishere11]

interesting. no skinning and no cutting head. good for big ones.

[BubbaRountree]

@Thetruthishere11 Yep! This is the best method that we know of... this is after many years and many-many catfish cleaned... :)

[Bbfishman]

@Thetruthishere11 seriously? this is how i filet every single fish i ever filet...cut the meat off of each side, cut the filet away from the skin while it lays skin-side down on the table, i thought this was standard procedure but i guess not

[BubbaRountree]

@Bbfishman Not everyone grew up like we did... :)

[germanthunder1919]

@BubbaRountree yeah the unlucky ones...

[protokingg]

i noticed that you didnt skin the fish before you you cut the filets and just cut the skin off of the filets after they were cut off the fish. i was just wondering if this is easy to do with anormal filet knife or not?

[BubbaRountree]

@protokingg It will work just fine with either knife... It's just a little easier with the electric knife... :)

[dlipman44]

Perfect music! Weather you falling in love or gutting a fish this will do just fine!

[BubbaRountree]

@dlipman44 LOL! Thanks man!!

[weerpool14]

Man, that electric knife owned that big ok catfish.

[NickFishes]

do you use the guts for chumming or no?? plz let me know

[BubbaRountree]

@NickFishes No chumming at all! We only use "fresh" bait...

[LaCatHunter]

good vid an nice fish

[tuttoz]

i need an electric knife hehe ..... omg that belly meat is the best in the world in chicharron .. !!!!!! ill b back ... im going fishing ; ) 5/5

[desiree4558]

i was always told big cats dont taste good so i always throw big ones back

[BubbaRountree]

@desiree4558 I guess that depends on who's doin' the cookin' :) Thanks for watchin'...

[KingsBlend1]

This is exactly how we clean our bigger fish here in mid-Missouri. As far as I know, it's the simplest, fastest and easiest way to get the meat off of your latest catch. It's nice to see someone take the belly meat and the head fillets, these truly are just as good if not better then any other part of the animal.

[BubbaRountree]

@KingsBlend1 Thanks for the kind words my friend! Gerald is one of the best (and fastest) catfish fillet artists that I've ever seen...

[HiWay69s]

u can make catfish leather wallets off skin

[BubbaRountree]

@HiWay69s I did not know that!

My daughter is studying taxidermy and this is a project that might be worth lookin' into! Thanks for the comment! Bubba

[HiWay69s]

@BubbaRountree So how's the leather wallet project going?

[BubbaRountree]

@Firagax2 There are; I'm sure, numerous ways to kleen a catfish... I've seen the "bleeding out" cleaning method... just never done it myself... Mr. Deese is one of the best that I've ever seen at cleaning a catfish. So Capt. Buster taped him one afternoon for the purpose of showing our viewers a few pointers... I've watched several other guys cleaning catfish on youtube... Mr. Deese is still the best! "In my humble opinion" Thanks for watchin' my friend! Bubba

[nsnutter]

@BubbaRountree Hey man, I totally understand where you're coming from ... I just assumed this was a video a cat fisherman put out of him filleting his catch ... no hard feelings man. Keep doing what you're doing! Take care!

Nick

[outthere09]

man either the kinife is not too sharp or thats some tough meat. nice work though

[1mrhitman3]

great vid!!

those r some nice cats

[HEADSTOCK7]

wow, great vid, way too advaced for me. i just don't see the order of operations. have to stick to my rookie technique for now.... NICELY DONE (so hungry now)

[sacarius1]

Nice fish. I prefer channel cat, but those are some nice fish. Great job cleaning them. Question on the belly meat. In my area, people don't like to eat it. They think it tastes funny.

[BubbaRountree]

That may have something to do with geography and the diet of the fish. Most folks around here love it! It's usually the flathead (and sometimes the huge blues) that folks get the belly meat off of... Thanks for Watchin' Bubba

[clewi1091]

@sacarius1 Same here. And supposedly the belly meat has the most mercury in it too.

[Markalicious85]

well i am a n00b fisherman and i was lucky enough to catch a good size catfish.  I am really looking forward to frying it tonight.

[Yuesx]

catfish is good, but people in the midwest dont like it, like Minnesota and wisconsin, they always throw it away but, damn we be staying up til morning fishing them out

[steelerssix86]

what r u talking about katfishexpress i thought u dont eat big cats cause they taste like crap?!

[liability18]

That is one ugly fish

[BubbaRountree]

Yep! That's why they are called a "Flathead Catfish" and not a Cuddle Fish...

They are truly ugly! But I guess that beauty is in the eyes of the fisherman... Thanks for watchin'

[KatfishExpress]

lol I happen to think that the flathead catfish is the nicest lookin fish in the world

[BubbaRountree]

I hear ya! When a 50 pounder slowly breaks the surface after a 20 min. fight,,, I think it's a beautiful thing also! Thanks for watchin' my friend!

[KatfishExpress]

yessir greetings from Sampson County NC we fish in that little oh Cape Fear RIver hows the fishing down there this time of the year been wanting to plan a charter down there

[runesick]

i my opinion it looks cool, my cousin has a small one in a 150 gallon tank :)

[MohadibTheHorrible]

Holy crap!! Is it common to catch them that big? What kind of bait do you use?? Tight lining? Any tips for a novice you care to share?!

[BubbaRountree]

If you want to go after just the hogs... Big bait = Big fish... Both Flatheads and Blues like live/or very fresh bait. We've used live bream, crappie, white perch, shad (gizzard & threadfin) and herring. When using live gamefish IE bream, crappie, perch, we trim their tails so that they can move them faster to increase vibration and action. This works well for us here in central SC! Hope this helps...

Thanks for watchin'

[steelerssix86]

i have never eaten the belly meat off a catfish.

[BubbaRountree]

That's just catfish bacon!! Some folks say that it's the best meat on a "big" catfish... Thanks for watchin'

[phill8850]

catfish nuggets

[cooggs]

what brand of electric knife is he using?

[BubbaRountree]

A Rapala I think... But,,, Your regular old electric knives all work pretty well. I think I've used about all of em that's been made!

[caneywaney]

I'm working on taking my son out for some cats. I'm not keeping anything too small but I'm looking foward to him cleaning his 1st and making some fish fry

[BubbaRountree]

I hope he catches one too big to fit in a 55 gal. drum! One with an exit hole the size of a suff box

[BruceCarvesWax]

Get rid of the music it would be more fun to listen to what the old coots are saying! lol Nice video!

[BubbaRountree]

HAD to overlay the music soundtrack because of the "Old Coots" salty comments and dirty jokes! He is the best that I've seen cleaning a catfish! Maybe in the future I'll get him to do a more articulate demo... Bubba

[randomframe]

CATFISH STEW!!!

[gldntool]

Great video!!! How do you finish processing the meat? Do you cross cut it into cooking size chunks, butterfly them or do you fillet the fillet again for lack of better words. Thanks for the video. It has saved me lots of time.

[BubbaRountree]

My favorite way to finish the process is to cut them into bite-sized chunks, role them in seasoned batter and deep fry just till they float in the oil. Recipies vary, but try rolling them in some yellow mustard before you batter them. Your tongue will beat your brains out!... Bubba

[atri11ion]

Wow, I'm a little fish among sharks apparently. Because every day you see something crazier and crazier. And today...this was that thing. lol

[anthonyerco]

great video. I am looking forward to catching me a cat like that one day. I only do local fishing and I have never caught one that big. hopin to though. I know there out there haha

[geehestop]

bubbarountree do you ever skin the fish before filleting them coz that's what I saw other fisherman do I'm not telling how to do your job no offense man but that's what I thought you had to do.

[BubbaRountree]

Used to do that a long time ago, but not anymore.. Nothing wrong with skinning if you don't mind the extra work. Ya just don't have to remove the skin before removing the fillets. You can remove the skin after the fillet has been removed when your using a sharp fillet knife or an electric fillet knife... Wade

[geehestop]

nice thanks for the info I didn't know skinning was an old fish cleaning tactic

[deweybowling]

wasted most of it

[ahardy93955]

you have no idea how to clean a fish! he got every thing to get!

[hedgehoghunter007]

haha,those fillets look like steaks.

[appy234]

good video i just dont like those eletric fillet knives id raither have my good old skinning knife

[belgebute]

wonderful video

[Kusunoky]

i wish one day i can fish... i never in my life do something like that. beauty fish and big!

[landingfisher84]

you cant knock on these guys if somebody paid a bunch of money and wanted to keep a fish like that id let them but me myself i would throw em back everybody is differnt i pay 30 bucks a year and plus more tax dollars a year here to fish i gona keep a few for eating

[BubbaRountree]

Thanks for watching! Have a wonderful day and God bless you!

[sirfunkeybut]

best reply i've seen in awhile.

[BubbaRountree]

Jesus Is Lord!

[Luciamonika]

i wanna do that [:

but one thing is..

i like cleaning fishes

but then i don't like eating them lol

[Catfishingonthejames]

Keeping big cats like this is one of the reasons Santee is no longer the great fishery it used to be. Keep nailing them to the signs for photos and filleting them up. Soon you will be talking about "The good ole days" when 40lb catfish were common. No guide on the James would ever allow a client to keep a fish over 10 or so lbs. The guy in the video is awesome at filleting a fish with little waste tho.

[2066241]

cant stop watching nice cats

[ajanixa]

mmmm that is a lot of good meat!!

[BubbaRountree]

Flathead is one of the best eating catfish out there!

[2066241]

OOooooooo yea the meat on a flathead is ALL white

[toyotatrueno9]

He sure does know how to fillet a fish ; )

[2066241]

O i c i never catch a cat over 30 atleast not very often

[2066241]

u eat the eye balls????

[BubbaRountree]

He is not removing the eyeballs.. If you look closely, he is removing the cheek muscle behind the eye. On a large catfish, this can be a right large piece of fillet.

[xvikes85x]

First off, I'd like to start by saying to each his own on game & fish conservation.

But, don't you think there are smaller catfish out there than can be kept to eat than these? These are what most Catfisherman would consider to be trophy's. Bigger fish lay more eggs during spawn. Which helps the populations. Try and keep a few more smaller fish than one big one. It'll help the sport for people to enjoy after were long gone. Let the big ones go to fight another day and lay more eggs. Thanks.

[BubbaRountree]

It is always up to the clients to make the decision to keep the large fish or release them. On Santee Cooper, a 40 lb Flathead is very common..

[xvikes85x]

but I know where i fish here in Indiana on the Wabash a 40 lb. flathead isn't a fish to just throw away, and people don't realize this, I'm just keeping people from seeing this, going out and setting a bunch of limb lines one night and cleaning out 60 pounds of fillets from less than a dozen fish. But like I said, were in America and I dont want anyone else taking away my Catch and Release practices so to each his own. Good luck and keep those lines tight.

[xvikes85x]

Well, I was just posting that to make it clear that CPR is a big deal weather people admit it or not. A 40 lb. Flathead may be common on Santee, I've heard that is an excellent catfishery,

[AMERICANCATTER]

I am in total aggreement with you xv. I am a trophy cat guide on the Mississippi River near St Louis Mo.Guiding since 1989 the trend to release big cat is getting better. My clients know that anything over 15 pounds goes back. Educate your clients about the conservation of big fish and before long they too will sing the praises of big cat. Another thing I encourage all anglers to take a cam, even a cheap throwaway. .  Rich

[txjoker]

So, you're saying that if someone pays you a guide fee to take them catfishing, and they hang a big one that you won't let them keep it? You would tell your paying client that they can't keep that fish? WOW! Do you guide often?

That is about like these big salt water guides down here where I live saying that they wouldn't let a paying client keep a 30" speckled trout.

[BubbaRountree]

We've caught an unusual amount of ridicule over the size of these cats. And often it's from fellow guides and/or fellow cat-fisherman. OK, let me put some of my accusers at ease. On Santee Cooper, clients can keep 1 30+lb catfish per person per day. The Santee Cooper Guide association agreed to end the day's fishing when the 120qrt cooler is filled. 1 cooler per boat no matter how many clients are aboard. Guides on Santee aren't mindlessly depleting our resources. I hope this helps...

[landingfisher84]

Well said man!! Happy New Year may 09 bring u more fish than u know what to do with god bless

Big Wes

[AverageFisherman]

this is by far the best catfish cleaning video i have seen!

i never knew how to clean a flathead like that (although i dont eat much fish)

i hear the BELLY meat is delicious???