Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose What is the diff?

My neighbor mentioned that he likes channel cats, but he does not like to eat yellow cats.... Is there really a flavor difference?

thanx

yellow cat? Is he referring to bullheads because yes, then there is a flavor difference. Bullheads are only good, early in spring, if at all.

Bullheads taste just fine. The info that they taste bad comes from when they overrun a pond then muddy it up. They then taste muddy, if the water is clear ok to eat. However I suggest not sotcking them b/c they are diff to manage compared to CC.

The bullheads I've eaten had a reddish color to the meat, it was very good though

But it is hard to beat deep fried CC "Fiddlers"

This past summer I ate some yellow bullheads from a pond that was being drained. Pond was muddy (turbid), month was early July, water temps were above 80F. I expected bullheads to have a bad flavor. To my surprise these yellow bullheads tasted very good and a fisherman, fish eating friend, commented that they tasted as good as bluegills! I think the poor flavor of bulheads and some other fish are probably due to algae blooms creating flavors in the water and the fish absorbing these flavors. The pond situation mentioned above did not have an algae bloom when the bullheads were harvested.

BC, that is another major problem in the aquaculture industry for CC as well. A bad bluegreen bloom and an entire stock of fish might be lost. However muddy flavor in bullheads from historical data led to their downfall.

Here you go guys -- all you wanted to know about off-flavor in catfish thanks to SRAC see link.

http://srac.tamu.edu/tmppdfs/8989590-192fs.pdf