I have smoked a lot of catfish. Best is to get that skin off so you get rid of most of the oil when smoking them. You can fillet or chunk them. Soak in salt water for a brine. Smoke them for 6 to 8 hrs. They are very tasty that way.
unfortunately I went to 2 stores and they are out of the fish brine I use 
.I will try another store tomorrow,I like to use the Hi Mountain brand salmon brine.Can you just use plain salt? 
I haven’t had any first hand experience since about 30 years ago making pickles with my mom, but I believe “Pickling Salt”, or “Canning Salt” are what you want to use in a brine.
Add pickling salt to water until it floats an egg for the correct mixture!
You can use plain salt if it is non-iodized.
Until it floats an egg? are you serious,Now thats a new one to me.Is there a size that you should no longer eat these prehistoric creatures from the Mississippi,I would imagine that the longer they are in the water the more toxins that are absorbed in there bodies? 
How do they taste deep fried ? sorry for all the ?’s but am new to the catfish game,I know my Daughter had a blast.KD
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Add pickling salt to water until it floats an egg for the correct mixture!
Thats what i do also! Always turns out great!
I always mix 10 cups of pickeling salt with 5 cups of sugar and about 25 cups of water. Mix it until it is all disolved and then soke it in the brine for 24 to 36 hours. I also agree with skining the catfish first. I also sprinkle a little brown sugar over the fish when I smoke it. Keep it on a medium heat in your smoker for 5-6 hours or until done.
Hey…wait a minute here……..Here all these years I’ve been chopping it up in little pieces and letting it dry so it would roll eaiser( the papers really don’t work well when it’s wet). 
Good Idea with the salt. 
As far as how big…I prefer the 2 to 3lb , 5 being tops, range with channels….better tasting to me ,but the bigger ones smoke well too.
As far as frying them up….yummmmm 
.
Any way is fine…cracker crumb coating for the frypan.
Beer batter (everything goes good with beer!!) for the deep fryer.
Just make sure to cut out the lateral line 
Just make sure you get ALL the hair off. 
I find that the real problem is teaching them to use a lighter.
That is one ugly cat!!!!!!!!!! (not that there is such thing as a pretty cat)
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