# yellow channel cats?



## mgeistman (Jun 13, 2012)

i set out some lines at coleto lake last night and pulled up some YELLOW channel cats?? whats up with that? i mean yellow through and through meat and all. i cooked some today and it tastes like **** and has a funny texture, anyone seen this before?


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## mgeistman (Jun 13, 2012)

Sorry not the best pic but it's the only one I took before cleaning them.


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## firedog4$ (Aug 24, 2004)

I see no yellow catfish. These fish in the picture are all channel catfish. Filet the cats and let them soak in fresh water in the fridge overnight. Rinse and then add mustard and hot sauce and fry them up.


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## madshad (Jun 11, 2012)

i caught some channel cats once in a private lake in mississippi the lake was well taken care of but all the fish that we clean had yellowish meat tasted fine to me but hell i was raised on the neches in beaumont


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## obiewan57 (Sep 14, 2005)

If they tasted bad, it must have been from soaking them in the water with gar...LOL...seriously, I have fried thousands of channel catfish for associations and myself, never had anyone tell me the meat tasted anything but good.


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## mgeistman (Jun 13, 2012)

i know everything is good fried LOL, im talking grilled. ive never seen a yellow channel cat always a dark grey back and a light grey almost white belly. but how yellow the meat was and the texture was like gator meat insted of flakey like uasual. the meat was so bright yellow it looked as if some one had soked it in mustard for me, its that yellow! BTW the gar tasted 20x better than the cats did lol! im sure i wont be grilling it anymore, ill just have a fish fry and feed it to other people hahaha


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## ChuChu (Jan 23, 2010)

The "yellow" is from the water they are in. Could be tanic acid from tree leaves. I'm sure you have seen "golden LM bass". It only effects the pigment in the skin.


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## mgeistman (Jun 13, 2012)

thanks ChuChu! i was assuming that, just wanted to make sure they didnt have a disease or something.


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## Ex Boat Capt. Carp (Jul 19, 2011)

Yellow bullheads, mudcats


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## mgeistman (Jun 13, 2012)

Ex Boat Capt. Carp said:


> Yellow bullheads, mudcats


 whatttttttttttt? really? i thought mud cats didnt have a V in there tail fin??


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## Haute Pursuit (Jun 26, 2006)

obiewan57 said:


> If they tasted bad, it must have been from soaking them in the water with gar...LOL...seriously, I have fried thousands of channel catfish for associations and myself, never had anyone tell me the meat tasted anything but good.


Same here. Sounds like someone peed in the iggyloo!:sheepy::sheepy:


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## obiewan57 (Sep 14, 2005)

My experience is if you get one with no yellow tint to the skin, you will notice a thinner body, not in as good of shape. One lake I fish, if htye have yellow they have a ahand full of fat in their tummy, if they do not have yellow tint to skin, then they have no fat and the texture of the meat will be mushy when you clean it compared to firm on the yellow fillets.


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## SSST (Jun 9, 2011)

You'll find some "yellow" channel cats in lakes or in a stretch of river between 2 dams. We fish an area above Gonzales on the Guadalupe that is about a 5 mile stretch between 2 dams and the channels get huge, i'm talking up to 15 lbs., but their meat is worthless, pure yellow and tastes like ****. We always blamed it on fertilizers that washed into the river and never had a chance to escape but we're no scientists, all we know is the meat is real, real nasty, and that's hard to say for a catfish fillet out of the river.


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## mgeistman (Jun 13, 2012)

SSST said:


> You'll find some "yellow" channel cats in lakes or in a stretch of river between 2 dams. We fish an area above Gonzales on the Guadalupe that is about a 5 mile stretch between 2 dams and the channels get huge, i'm talking up to 15 lbs., but their meat is worthless, pure yellow and tastes like ****. We always blamed it on fertilizers that washed into the river and never had a chance to escape but we're no scientists, all we know is the meat is real, real nasty, and that's hard to say for a catfish fillet out of the river.


 these came out of coletto lake. not my first rodeo there and most meat is pinkish white and not mushy, maybe the really hot water temps play a toll.


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## SSST (Jun 9, 2011)

I hear ya, pulled a few catfish outta Coleto myself over the years, can't remember a yellow one there.


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## Ex Boat Capt. Carp (Jul 19, 2011)




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## mgeistman (Jun 13, 2012)

SSST said:


> I hear ya, pulled a few catfish outta Coleto myself over the years, can't remember a yellow one there.


 me either, kinda odd


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## mgeistman (Jun 13, 2012)

Ex Boat Capt. Carp said:


>


i thought so...... mud cats have a stright tail


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## Reloder28 (Apr 10, 2010)

mgeistman said:


> whatttttttttttt? really? i thought mud cats didnt have a V in there tail fin??


They don't.

I have seen many yellow channel cats. They taste fine to me.


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## peckerwood (Jun 9, 2012)

I've seen channel cats yellow this time of year mostly,and all have been out of Govt. lakes from 5 to 20 acres.I think it's the water.The meat was the yellowist around the head.I've eat a ton of them like that,and all were top notch.We've caught them in cooler times of the year,and the yellow was gone.


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## bowhunterchris93 (Sep 11, 2012)

Yeah they look like mud cats. No spots on them like channels have.


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## B-Money (May 2, 2005)

if the bad flavor was "Mossy" tasting, look up "geosmin." Blue-green algae/bacteria are pretty common when the water gets hot. For you limnology crackheads, you call it "going eutrophic."


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