3-21 SS Good to Eat

 What is the attraction surrounding catfish? My girlfriend always wants to take me to a restaurant where she says the catfish is great. Every time I go down south, I end up sitting with a buddy who suggests deep fried catfish. In Idaho catfish are big too as we will find out next. 

Mark Liter who is head of the Idaho catfish survey project that Idaho Fish and Game is conducting  had an extended conversation with a recently. He went into all the details of how the survey was being conducted, who was doing it and some of the results. One thing I can tell…you there are lots of catfish in Idaho and Mark and his group have handled them. “So now after handling 5000 catfish this summer we had no clue of what percentage of angler effort or exploitation was occurring on catfish. What is the attraction in angling for catfish? Catfish are either number 1 or number 2 in 28 states when it comes to angler effort and desire. Catfish are commercially harvested in 30 states. They are very desirable species because of their flash quality. And they do fight well. Not everyone is a fly fisherman. These are a fish that everyone can fish. They don’t need a boat, they don’t need a $400 fly rod or a set of waders or a kick boat or anything else. Catfish give you a good fight and they’re delicious to eat.