July marks start of prime catfish season

Ken White/Special to the Daily Mail Greg Bernal with a record blue catfish caught in the Missouri River. The big fish weighed 130 pounds and was caught in July.

Many catfish anglers like Bob Walker, Independence, are happy to see the Fourth of July arrive. That is when he starts getting serious about going after the catfish in lakes and streams.

Last year, on July 6, Walker landed a 36-pound blue cat at Truman. That was just the beginning of a lot of catfish hooked by him last year.

He said, "I like to set lines baited with everything from chicken liver to cut shad. Missouri waters hold a lot of big catfish, and although I think you can catch them all year long, I go after them in July, using trot lines, jugs or limb lines.

"The largest catfish I ever caught was a 47-pound flathead. I have caught a lot of fish that weighed more than 20 pounds, over the years."

Summer is catfish time. Many catfish anglers can recall that a bullhead might be the first fish they ever caught.

I remember when I used to bring home a lot of bullheads and yellow cats from a small stream near the Lake of the Ozarks back when I was in high school. I couldn't wait until school was out so I could go catfishing.

Several fishing friends would dig a can of nightcrawlers and head for the stream where we knew we could catch catfish. You don't forget those times.

Walker's friend, Charlie Jones, is another catfisherman who hits the streams for catfish, around this time of the year. One of his favorite streams is the Blackwater River, south of Marshall.

He said, "I used to have a camper near the river, but after getting flooded out a few times, we just take it with us each time we go. Blackwater was and still is a good catfish stream, but it is one of those streams that has a big watershed.

"When it rains upstream, you had better be on guard because the water can come up very fast. There have been many times we would set out lines and before we could get very far, we would see that a fish had already hit the line we had just set. We catch a lot of limits during the month of July."

A monster blue catfish was caught in the month of July, when Greg Bernal, Florissant, was fishing on the Missouri River with his friend, Janet Momphard, St. Charles, just after sunset. Jim Low, Missouri Department of Conservation, reported the pair fished until after midnight.

They had fished in one place, but nothing was happening, so they moved to another spot about 100 yards from shore. Bernal noticed that the weather was turning ugly.

He said, "There was a big storm blowing in. I was ready to call it a night, but I figured I would troll around behind the dike to see what shows up on the sonar.

"I saw a couple of big fish on the bottom, in 27 feet of water. I decided to give it a shot, and there it was!

"I set the hook at 12:45 a.m., and the reel kept screaming. He swam under the boat, so I just kept reeling down and pulling him up. When he broke water, I couldn't believe it."

It took Bernal about 15 minutes to get the fish to the side of the 22-foot jon boat. It took both him and Momphard another 30 minutes to hoist the fish over the gunwale.

Bernal said, "All the time, I've got this big fish on the end of my line without even being in a net. I got him in the first net and he tore a big hole in it, so I had to get the second one and come at him from his head before we could actually get him wrapped up and try and get him in the boat."

It was 10:30 in the morning before Bernal got the big fish to a certified scale to verify his catch. The big blue balanced out at 130 pounds.

The fish measured 57 inches long and had a girth of 45 inches. The fish topped Missouri's record blue catfish by 27 pounds.

Jones also does a lot of catfishing on Truman Lake. He has found a bait that has taken a lot of channel cats, but won't disclose the ingredients in it.

Last week, Jones caught seven channel cats larger than 5 pounds each, while fishing just before dark.

As for eating catfish, Jones has a recipe that he claims will have you wanting more every time. If you should be lucky enough to have some catfish in the freezer, liberate them now.

Otherwise, you might want to get down to your favorite catfish hole and collect a new supply, just to try this recipe.

Grilled Catfish Fillets with Horseradish Sauce

2 pounds boneless catfish fillets

1 5-ounce foil pack Lawry's Mesquite Marinade

4 tablespoons butter

2 teaspoon minced fresh dill

2 tablespoons white horseradish

Seasoned Salt

Lemon Pepper

In a resealable plastic bag, combine fillets with Mesquite Marinade and refrigerate for two hours or longer. (overnight is okay) Remove and drain, then sprinkle with seasoned salt and lemon pepper to taste.

Spray grill with non-stick spray and cool fillets over hot charcoal or propane for 3 to 5 minutes per side. Melt and heat (do not boil) butter in a small saucepan. Remove from heat and stir in horseradish.

Spoon mixture over catfish and sprinkle with minced dill.

Serving suggestion: succotash and corn bread.