How long do you leave catfish on ice?

I dispatch them with a hammer between the eyes and immediately fillet the meat off. Then I soak the fillets in icy salt water overnight after rinsing.

Maybe just me but I've never let them sit overnight, even on ice.

If you make a good water/ice slurry fully covering the fish they will get cold and stiff real fast. No need to wait overnight.

Personally my hands get cold and numb to the point it's dangerous to operate a filet knife so I prefer to let the fish warm up a little bit if it is alot of fish.

They’re a lot easier to skin if you filet them fresh.

I think it’s easier when rigor mortise has set it.

Skin em fresh (included gutting and de-heading) then chill before you carve the meat off the bone. You’ll get a lot more meat this way.

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Skin em fresh (included gutting and de-heading) then chill before you carve the meat off the bone. You’ll get a lot more meat this way.

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This is how I do it.

Drives some of my friends crazy cause they can’t understand why I skin if I’m going to t
fillet. I just hate wasting meat and never got comfortable using an electric knife to take meat off the skin. In fact, most often I’ll use a regular fillet knife after skinning.