The Catfish

11 kg catfish in the hands of happy fisherman from Germany in Suðureyri 2008


Mr. Jóhann Bjarnason hangs up lot's of catfish for drying

The common Catfish is usually about 50-80 cm long but the largest one who was cached near the island Papey in SE coast of Iceland was 119 cm long. Last summer the heaviest catfish cached with sea fishing rod in West fjords was 12 kg (24 pound) and many around 8-10 kg. The best bait for the catfish is squid ( Loligo vulgaris) and the best time in the year for fishing catfish is from beginning of March and through the summer time.

The catfish is very aggressive fish with strong teeth and powerful jaws. If he bites you in the hand he will brakes some bones. So be very careful while handling him in the boat.

The local fishermen’s starts the catfish season in February-March every year with the long line. But past years the fishing has dropped down compare to the best season 15-20 years ago. Catfish is very popular in Iceland, dried from the local experts. They fillet the catfish and cut small stripes into them. Then they wet the fillets with clear saltwater and hang them up on a wooden bars for two month’s outdoor and get’s dried by the strong wind from the ocean. One kilo of dried catfish cost about 4-5.000 ÍSK and it is very expensive food. It shrink’s down to 10% when it is ready to eat.

Almost everyone eats dried fish in Iceland and some like to add butter on them before eating. The main reason for broken teeth in the locals is because of the very hard surface of the dried fish and therefore the dried fish is the best friend of the Icelandic dentist.

Robert Schmidt
http://www.fisherman.is/

Photos by Robert Schmidt