cat/catfish

[Baker, John]

        Further on skinning cats:  Making of America has this passage from page 166 of "'Way down East; or, Portraitures of Yankee life," by Seba Smith (1792 - 1868), with a date of "c1854":

        >>This is a money digging world of ours; and, as it is said, "there are more ways than one to skin a cat," so are there more ways than one of digging for money.<<

        New England ("down East") is not generally associated with the kind of catfish that have to be skinned.  Unless earlier citations from catfish country can be produced, then, it is probable that the phrase refers to skinning our familiar mammalian cats, even though, as Jerry points out, catfish do require skinning and regular cats do not.

John Baker