One way to skin a
catfish is to slice the belly, de-gut it and place it belly-down
on a wooden cutting board. Stick an
ice-pick through the top of its head into the
cutting board (essentially nailing its head to the board).
Make a cut with a very sharp
knife, below the ice-pick, over
the spine, just
below the head of the fish. This cut must go just through the skin, not into the
flesh.
With the aid of the knife, separate the skin from the flesh on the body side of
the cut and pull the skin toward the tail. If done properly, the skin should peel
off cleanly from the flesh and separate the tail from the flesh also.
Chop the
fish head off and you have two intact
fillets connected by a
ribcage.