Catfish farming is growing business in eastern N.C.

Updating a previously published column:

Carolina Classics Catfish is a brand of farm-raised catfish. The aquaculture company, which originated in 1985, is based in Ayden in Pitt County, N.C. It owns and manages 1,200 acres of fish farm ponds, harvesting some 5 million pounds of catfish a year.

Joanie Stiers of Williamsfield, Ill., an agricultural journalist, reports that Carolina Classics is North Carolina’s largest catfish producer, employing more than 80 people. The company sells fresh to retailers, restaurants and upscale grocers.

 

Rob Mayo, owner of Carolina Classics, said: “We sell our fish to people who want consistently good-tasting fish that has a clear traceability in terms of where it’s come from, what it’s been fed and how it’s been raised.”

 

Catfish farms contribute more than $12 million a year to North Carolina’s aquaculture industry, which as a whole, generates some $33 million in annual revenues.

 

Ranking the best “catfish songs” of all-time is a challenge, because fishing and rural humor are favorite subjects for country music songwriters. But readers of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette were up to the task recently.

They say the very best catfish song is “Fishin’ Blues,” written in 1911 by Chris Smith. 

“Fishin’ Blues” was recorded in 1928 by Henry “Ragtime Texas” Thomas. 

Taj Mahal’s cover in 2004, though, seems to have set the standard. Here’s a bit of it:

 Betcha’ goin’ fishin’ all the time;

Baby goin’ fishin’ too.

Bet your life, your sweet wife

Catch more fish than you.

 

Caught a 9-pound catfish;

Now you know I brought him home for supper time.

…Baby, put him in the pan;

Mama, cook him till he nice an’ brown.

 

I’m a goin’ fishin’…

Yes, I’m goin’ fishin’

And my baby’s goin’ fishin’ too!

 

It’s a lilt familiar to loyal listeners of The Talk Station – FM 107.1, based in Morehead City, N.C. 

“Fishin’ Blues” was the theme song of the popular “Dr. Bogus Fishing Show,” which for many years, aired every Monday morning. (Dr. Bogus’ print column continues to appear regularly in the Carteret County News-Times.)

 

One of the best Major League Baseball pitchers in the Hall of Fame is the late Jim “Catfish” Hunter of Hertford in Perquimans County, N.C.

 

High school hurler Jimmy Hunter was “discovered” in 1964 by Clyde Kluttz, a former major league catcher from Rockwell in Rowan County, N.C., and a scout with the Kansas City Athletics.

 

The team owner Charlie Finley thought his 18-year-old rookie pitcher needed a nickname, deciding on Jim “Catfish” Hunter.

 

Finley fabricated a story: “You left home when you were 6. When your momma and daddy finally found you, you had landed two catfish, and you had a third one on the line. They’ve been calling you ‘Catfish’ ever since.”

Hunter balked, but Finley said: “I just gave you $75,000,” (Hunter’s signing bonus). “Yes, sir. My name is ‘Catfish,’” Hunter conceded.

 

Finley moved the Athletics to Oakland, Calif., for the 1968 season. The new A’s, buoyed by Hunter, were unstoppable, winning three consecutive World Series championships from 1972-74. 

Hunter was the American League’s Cy Young Award winner in 1974 – the best pitcher of the year.

Hunter became pro baseball’s first “free agent,” able to offer his services to the highest bidder.

He inked a five-year deal worth about $3.2 million, plus a $1 million signing bonus with New York Yankees’ owner George Steinbrenner, to join the “Bronx Bombers” for the 1975 season – making Hunter baseball’s first multi-million-dollar player.

 

Hunter helped the Yankees win back-to-back World Series titles in 1977-78. 

Hunter retired at the end of the 1979 season. His five World Series rings, earned over the course of a 15-year career, is quite impressive.