It Was This Big!!!

[TCLynx]

Well Here is the blog post I promised about the BIG catfish. We had this girl for a little over two years and she was definitely an advanced fingerling when we got her. This one was from our very first batch of fish that we put in the system in March 2008. We harvested this fish March 31 2010.

This one was two feet long.

And she was so heavy that the kitchen scale couldn't hold her so we had to get creative and use the luggage scale to get the weight.

Here is a close up of the scale so you can see better what the weight actually was.

And here is a picture of mom holding up the fish just before filleting out the meat. The cook has already removed the barbs then skinned, gutted and removed the head. Even after all that it still looks like a huge piece of fish.

After filleting, we still had six pounds of meat from that one fish. One single fillet was plenty for four of us to eat and still have left overs. Even that big fish was still tender and tasty and wow were some parts of that fillet thick!!!

Just shows what can be possible with aquaponics!

[TCLynx]

Yea, they have thick skulls!

I think the procedure now is to hit them with a heavy pipe or the hammer first, then when still enough to do it, a whack with the knife to cut the spinal cord to make sure.

[matthew ferrell]

The hammer is very useful.  I once had a 40 pounded come back from the dead twice during the filleting, after I used a sledge on it.  I cut my finger so bad the second time.  Make sure they are down.

[TCLynx]

Ah yes the hammer. Catfish have very hard skulls.

Don't think you have to wait two years to eat a catfish out of an AP system though. We have eaten some catfish only 5 or 6 months after putting them in. More commonly we keep them a year. All depends on how big you want them, how patient you are and how big they are when you get them. Catfish in my AP system here in FL often reach 2-4 pounds in a year but it will also depend on how big they are when they are put into the system and the quality of the feed.

Catfish harvested and processed fresh from an AP system are so nice. Very fresh and clean tasting. I think the key is they don't get much time to stress between being netted and being killed/processed.

[Frank Gapinski]

Wow! Well done. I haven't seen photos of catfish before that have also been harvested from an aquaponics system. Two years of patience. A great tribute to your AP skills.
PS That hammer must have been useful... ;)