06-01-2019, 04:26 PM
[#0000FF]Yeah, verily. I have eaten more than a few pounds of catfish flesh from Utah Lake over the years. And I will add my opinion to that of many others...cats under 20 inches are the best eating. Although they are still very good up to at least 24"...and there are some days when you don't get any smaller. Some problems are better to have than others.[/#0000FF]
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[#0000FF]There are no slot limits on cats. Nor should there be. They have always maintained a healthy population without any assistance from humans. From an ecological standpoint, it is probably best to release the larger ones to maintain a healthy gene pool of fish that grow larger. And the larger ones produce more eggs at each spawning too.
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[#0000FF]From personal experience I can attest that there is not much (if any) degradation of quality of the flesh. Unlike some species, cats do not seem to be subject to flesh parasites in larger fish. But they can accumulate more oils in the flesh...along with any contaminants that accumulate in the oils. However, if you cut large fillets into small "finger strips"...and soak them in milk, salt water or baking soda...or other leaching liquids...it will reduce the potential for oiliness and strong tastes.
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[#0000FF]Prior to about 2001...while Geneva Steel was still dumping chemical-laden waste water into Utah Lake...even some of the smaller cats sometimes had an "off taste". That is unless you really like the taste of gear box oil. But that was more pronounced the closer you got to ground zero...Lindon. Fish from Lincoln Beach and the Knolls were usually not much affected.[/#0000FF]
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[#0000FF]Since Utah Lake is a big shallow bowl, a high water year like this one can effectively fill the lake a couple of times over. This results in at least a partial flush of the lake and downstream removal of at least some of the chemical buildup and algae nutrients. However, such high water years are less and less common...and the results are water quality problems, algae blooms. The good news is that there has been no measurable adverse affects on the quality of the fish in the lake. There have been no fish dieoffs or illnesses attributable to eating fish from "green water".[/#0000FF]
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[#0000FF]By the way, I did not chime in on the estimation of weight on the fish picture posted. Without accurate measurements of length and girth the best you can do is go by the length/weight chart you posted. Just by looking at it my guess would be just north of about 10#. All cats are fun...regardless of size. But in these warming waters they have more "catitude".
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[#0000FF]There are no slot limits on cats. Nor should there be. They have always maintained a healthy population without any assistance from humans. From an ecological standpoint, it is probably best to release the larger ones to maintain a healthy gene pool of fish that grow larger. And the larger ones produce more eggs at each spawning too.
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[#0000FF]From personal experience I can attest that there is not much (if any) degradation of quality of the flesh. Unlike some species, cats do not seem to be subject to flesh parasites in larger fish. But they can accumulate more oils in the flesh...along with any contaminants that accumulate in the oils. However, if you cut large fillets into small "finger strips"...and soak them in milk, salt water or baking soda...or other leaching liquids...it will reduce the potential for oiliness and strong tastes.
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[#0000FF]Prior to about 2001...while Geneva Steel was still dumping chemical-laden waste water into Utah Lake...even some of the smaller cats sometimes had an "off taste". That is unless you really like the taste of gear box oil. But that was more pronounced the closer you got to ground zero...Lindon. Fish from Lincoln Beach and the Knolls were usually not much affected.[/#0000FF]
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[#0000FF]Since Utah Lake is a big shallow bowl, a high water year like this one can effectively fill the lake a couple of times over. This results in at least a partial flush of the lake and downstream removal of at least some of the chemical buildup and algae nutrients. However, such high water years are less and less common...and the results are water quality problems, algae blooms. The good news is that there has been no measurable adverse affects on the quality of the fish in the lake. There have been no fish dieoffs or illnesses attributable to eating fish from "green water".[/#0000FF]
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[#0000FF]By the way, I did not chime in on the estimation of weight on the fish picture posted. Without accurate measurements of length and girth the best you can do is go by the length/weight chart you posted. Just by looking at it my guess would be just north of about 10#. All cats are fun...regardless of size. But in these warming waters they have more "catitude".
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