When we saw a woman known as the “Rivah Sistah” expertly cooking up blue catfish right off the dock at a Chickahominy River event near Williamsburg, Va., this summer, we needed to know more about her. It turns out Patricia Clement is a big part of the effort to rid the Bay of the invasive and pervasive blue cat. She also hosts fishing and crabbing classes to help other women get outdoors.
We wanted to know exactly how Clement became the Rivah Sistah—and how she makes her perfected blue catfish recipe.
When Patricia Clement was 23, she left Brooklyn, New York, for Petersburg, Virginia—not to pursue adventure in the great outdoors but to provide a better life for her son. She could not have imagined that more than 20 years later she’d be living a life of fishing, crabbing and boating with a waterfront home in the Northern Neck of Virginia.
“I grew up playing on concrete streets. Who would have thought that a city girl like me would fall in love with the outdoors?” she tells us.
Before she fell in love with outdoor life, Clement served for 20 years in law enforcement as a corrections officer, a police officer and firearms instructor. She was often the only female and the only African American in the group. “But I could shoot,” she insists, recalling her 25-year-old self not knowing anybody, out in the country with hound dogs and woods. “And I was a good street cop because I came from the street.”
A self-described people person, she became the big sister of the neighborhood, taking young girls to church and shopping, organizing toy drives, back to school events and double dutch groups. Clement used her own experience as a troubled child to benefit the community she served. “If you can save somebody when they’re young, they won’t get in trouble when they’re older.”
After 20 years as an officer, the future Rivah Sistah took a chance on the outdoors. In 2016, Clement’s husband proposed a camping trip. Reluctantly, she agreed, expecting to rough it, surrounded by crawling insects and swarms of bugs. Instead, they rented a cabin. By the end of the trip, she was hooked. “I’m an all or nothing person. When I like something I really like it. I was ready to get a travel trailer and do this all the time!” In 2017 her wish became a reality when the couple purchased a travel trailer. “Camping was my gateway to the outdoor life.”
She chose the freedom of the outdoor life over a 25 year retirement milestone in law enforcement and never looked back.
Clement didn’t set out to be an outdoor lifestyle influencer, but she was hooked on the river life. Armed with the desire to share the life she loves with the public, Clement was a natural. The first time she caught, cooked and ate a crab, she posted on social media: “Look! A real crab!”
Clement’s first foray into fishing was in honor of her late nephew, who had always wanted to fish, but passed away from COVID. She took his 11-year-old daughter and her own 12-year-old daughter to fish from a nearby pier. But she knew nothing about fishing. “I bought cute stuff,” she recalled, “including pink rods and fishing gear.” When more experience fishing folks stepped in to helped, Clement posted her enthusiasm and gratitude on her social media platforms.
“That’s when the light bulb went off. Imagine how many women (I was in my late 40s) didn’t know about river life. I’m going to brand myself as Rivah Sistah, just to be that link to get people into the outdoors. If they could see me learning and taking risks exploring, trial and error, they would do the same thing.”
A conversation at a fly fishing meetup led to providing content for the Recreational Fishing and Boating Foundation. When Clement bought a Carolina Skiff, she tagged the company in a post. They liked the content, reached out and came to a content creator agreement with the Rivah Sistah.
She now has the honor of partnering with Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources (DWR). “You don’t get any better than that for fishing life in Virginia, especially since I’m given the opportunity to be myself. I don’t claim to be an expert. but I’ll show you what I know.”
Clement, who loves to feed her family with what she has caught, cleaned and cooked, swears by this simple recipe. Follow the “to taste” rule known by home cooks everywhere; there are no exact measurements.
Fried Blue Catfish
“Frying fish is simple; anyone can do it. Here’s how I fry my fish, and I’ve never had a complaint.”
-Patricia Clement
Ingredients
- Fresh caught, cleaned and fileted blue catfish
- Whole Egg
- Yellow Mustard
- Tony Chachere’s Cajun Seasoning (or multi-purpose seasoning salt of your choice)
- House-Autry Seafood Breading Mix
- Peanut oil or oil of choice
Instructions
Rinse fish with water. When she catches a fish and fillet it on a pier, she usually soaks it in water
with lemon or lime to get rid of any bacteria/dirt.
Squirt mustard into a bowl, add a whole egg, then beat it (maybe 2 tablespoons of mustard per one egg).
Sprinkle Tony’s seasoning on your fish. Pour the egg/mustard mixture into the bowl and
massage with a fork.
Pour egg and mustard mix over fish.
Add enough oil to a deep pot or frying pan to cover the fillets and heat to at least 350 degrees.
Pour House Autry batter into a separate bowl or bag, drop a few pieces of fish into it, and
shake. (I like medium hot.)
After the fish is coated evenly, drop it into the hot grease and fry until golden brown.
Your fish should float to the top when it’s done and be “hot, hard and crispy”.
Remove with tongs and set on paper towel to absorb oil. Enjoy!
Click here for more information about Rivah Sistah’s events, activities, and instruction.
