well shucks... thank you boys.

Y'all comments really made me feel better. Especially since I'm nursing a phenomenally, EXCRUCIATINGLY, painful hardhead catfish spine impalement to my left leg. Note to self: watch husband carefully as he brings in fish.

Sumbitch (fish, not husband) IS going in the oven, this evening, after having been marinated in lemon juice.

FWIW, sorry for the hijack, but I have learned something about hardheads: they taste like other catfish, so if you like catfish, don't just kill 'em and throw 'em away. Cut the head off, gut the fish, but leave the skin on. Scrub the slime off with one of those 3m scouring pads. Doing it this way makes cleaning much easier.

I like 'em baked, flesh comes right off the skin, just like salmon. I expect that a panfry would crisp the skin Asian style and that would be pretty good too.