OUR HISTORY
Welcome! While you are waiting for your delicious dinner, we would like to take a moment to tell you a little of the history of our catfish farm and restaurant.
In the mid 1960's after many years of successful conventional farming (pecans, alfalfa, hay, & cattle) we began to look for another cash source that was a little more dependable, more stable, and one that would minimize the risk factors of the other traditional types of farming that we had been engaged in.
Catfish farming was in vogue at that time, so after much reading and research, we started our business with a 7-acre main pond, and several smaller breeder ponds.
Realizing the need of a market for our crop, we opened a fish-out pond for the local anglers. Word soon spread about the fantastic percentage of catch, and attracted fisherman from several states. Business Boomed!! But, even with cash flow from the fish-out pond, we had trouble covering costs of running our breeder ponds.
A friend of ours told us of a catfish restaurant in Texas that was an outgrowth of catfish farm similar to ours. At first we were skeptical, until visiting the restaurant. The difference in taste between domestic catfish and wild catfish was remarkable. That sold us on the idea then and there.
We came back to open the finest catfish restaurant in Oklahoma. With the help of a carpenter cousin, we built the restaurant ourselves, and served our first customer on July 1, 1972. Our secret recipes for the cole slaw and hush puppies were created from scratch by Rudolph's mother. We have been using those same recipes ever since.
Thanks to valued customers like you, we have doubled our original seating capacity since we have been in business.
In October 1983, the Red River flooded and we lost an estimated 350,000 fish from our ponds. In addition, many of our ponds were partially filled with sand. We rebuilt and cleaned the sand out of our ponds, and started raising fish again only to have the river flood the ponds again in June 1987.
In January 2001, we decided to retire and let our son and daughter-in-law, F.A. (Butch) and Wanda Shellenberger operate the restaurant. They have continued the family tradition and even expanded the menu over the past several years.
Once again, thank you for visiting McGehee's Catfish Restaurant. We hope you enjoy your meal as much as we enjoy preparing it for you.
RUDOLPH & ENID MCGEHEE
In the mid 1960's after many years of successful conventional farming (pecans, alfalfa, hay, & cattle) we began to look for another cash source that was a little more dependable, more stable, and one that would minimize the risk factors of the other traditional types of farming that we had been engaged in.
Catfish farming was in vogue at that time, so after much reading and research, we started our business with a 7-acre main pond, and several smaller breeder ponds.
Realizing the need of a market for our crop, we opened a fish-out pond for the local anglers. Word soon spread about the fantastic percentage of catch, and attracted fisherman from several states. Business Boomed!! But, even with cash flow from the fish-out pond, we had trouble covering costs of running our breeder ponds.
A friend of ours told us of a catfish restaurant in Texas that was an outgrowth of catfish farm similar to ours. At first we were skeptical, until visiting the restaurant. The difference in taste between domestic catfish and wild catfish was remarkable. That sold us on the idea then and there.
We came back to open the finest catfish restaurant in Oklahoma. With the help of a carpenter cousin, we built the restaurant ourselves, and served our first customer on July 1, 1972. Our secret recipes for the cole slaw and hush puppies were created from scratch by Rudolph's mother. We have been using those same recipes ever since.
Thanks to valued customers like you, we have doubled our original seating capacity since we have been in business.
In October 1983, the Red River flooded and we lost an estimated 350,000 fish from our ponds. In addition, many of our ponds were partially filled with sand. We rebuilt and cleaned the sand out of our ponds, and started raising fish again only to have the river flood the ponds again in June 1987.
In January 2001, we decided to retire and let our son and daughter-in-law, F.A. (Butch) and Wanda Shellenberger operate the restaurant. They have continued the family tradition and even expanded the menu over the past several years.
Once again, thank you for visiting McGehee's Catfish Restaurant. We hope you enjoy your meal as much as we enjoy preparing it for you.
RUDOLPH & ENID MCGEHEE
WE'RE HERE TO SERVE YOUWe hope you have an amazing experience at McGehee's Catfish, We hope to see you all soon!
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