And them bottom-dwelling catfish are good eatin', too. Clean 'em, skin 'em (no scales, which is somehow appropriate), roll 'em in cornmeal, fry 'em up, and eat 'em hot. Make some hush puppies if you must, but cole slaw or cornbreads is good company.

You can catch mudcats all along the Mighty Mississippi, the best river in the world (and I include the Thames, the Liffey, the Seine, the Snake, the Red, the Missouri [second best], the Hudson, the Columbia, the Detroit, the Portneuf, the Cuyahoga, the Ohio, the Monoghehela, the Potomac, the Colorado, the Rappahanock, the Republican, the Rio Bravo, the Sacramento, the Susquehanna, the Allegheny, and all the rest of them).