How Do You Eat Your Bass?

[VtGr0wn]

i prefer mine deep fried in little bite sized pieces. i usually do flour then an egg wash then bread crumbs and some fish seasoning.... serve with hot sauce

 

 

how do you like to cook yours?

whats your batter ingredients? 

do you have a secret recipe you are willing to share?

 

 

[Mccallister25]

Iv personally never had bass. Iv heard good things about it. Your recipe sounds awesome.

[tomustang]

With butter in a pan, no difference with all the other species too

[bluezed]

9 times out of 10 I'm a C&R guy.  Sometimes I will keep smaller bass.  If I am fishing with my mother (she's full Asian) I am pressured to keep some as she is all about cooking everything that we pull out of the water.  

 

That said, I'm not huge on the flavor of LMB.  Perhaps it's just because I haven't found the right recipe yet, but I really only like it when I dip it in sriracha.  And that's probably just because I really like sriracha.   

[TWMstr]

Always wondered why people would go to a catch and release lake or pond, and keep the bass, then take them home and eat them. Bass to me aren't worth eating. Maybe brim and catfish, or maybe even pompano or spots in saltwater, but bass? Never. Rather keep the sport alive than fish a local pond or lake out just to eat the fish and take away everyone's fun. 

[Kevin22]

Usually a C&R guy unless one dies on me.. but if I am in a tight spot on a fish fry I will keep a couple barely legal post spawn bass to fill the void. They taste like giant bluegill, which is pretty much what they are. The people who say they taste like crap are just believing a myth told to them by C&R bass anglers. 

 

I like the bass pro uncle bucks beer batter for bass. I don't make a batter out of it, I just roll the fillets in the dry and fry. 

[SPEEDBEAD.]

I go to the store.

 

It's not because I see something wrong with eating keeper size bass, I'm just lazy.

 

I fully understand the benefits of people keeping bass and if they are of legal size, at or under the legal number kept and caught using legal means (including having a license) then by all means eat 'em up!

[MCS]

Always wondered why people would go to a catch and release lake or pond, and keep the bass, then take them home and eat them. Bass to me aren't worth eating. Maybe brim and catfish, or maybe even pompano or spots in saltwater, but bass? Never. Rather keep the sport alive than fish a local pond or lake out just to eat the fish and take away everyone's fun. 

 

I understand your thought but it is like speedbead said on another thread selective harvest is the way to go....catch and eat those from 12-18" and put back anything over 18" just like the slots they have for say redfish. If there is no harvest then there will be to many fish in a pond or lake without preditors like musky and pike. You see that a lot in the young ponds around here, they get stocked with minnow, carp, bluegill and bass, and then the bass stay 1-2 pounds for life.

 

 I haven't eaten bass since I was 8 years old, here I fish retention ponds so it aint happening anytime soon. But I typically fry my fillets of grouper, flounder or tilapia in butter  with a cajun rub from the local fish market until they get a nice brown crust. My brother in law wraps his rockfish up in foil with butter or italian dressing and bakes.

[crw]

LM/Spots/Shoal bass are 95% C&R.

 

White Bass/Strippers/Hybrids are baked or fried with a light cornmeal (3/4 cornmeal 1/4 flour with salt and a lot of pepper) breading with hushpuppies and cole slaw.

[Nice_Bass]

I eat plenty of LMB- they are easy to filet, no  blood line like wipers/stripers.  No need to clean hundreds like bluegill or crappie etc.  Meat is really light tasting so my wife and daughter like them too.

Anyhow, I soak overnight in water, and use simple premade batter to fry...but dip in homemade dill sauce.

We also make them into tacos which I prefer highly!

The best so far though is to dice potatoes, very thin, lay filets over potatoes, spice, and lay a few pieces of bacon over top of it all.

Bake until all are done.  If done in the correct proportions then they all come out at the same time perfect.

[Felix77]

I catch and release 95+% of the time.  The only time I have kept my bass is if it happens to die in the livewell during a tournament.  If that happens I suck it up, bring it home and make a yummy bass meal for myself.

 

I keep things simple ... A little cajun seasoning, some butter, olive oil and garlic.  Fry it, plate it and eat it.

 

Yum!

[THE_Vue's]

pan fried- onion, green onion, cilantro, tomato, lime, salt, black pepper, a little fish sauce, oyster sauce and some soysauce and your good to go.  CNR all the time but this is the ingredient i use for talapia.

[A-Jay]

I don't - there are just too many other better tasting fish available up here, just depends what's in season.

 

A-Jay

[(='_'=)]

i have been fishing for only 2 years, and only once have i brought any fish to eat, the rest of the times its C&R... the one time i did bring a couple of fish, my grandmother cooked them in a broth... there were just 3 fish in the 3-4 pound range, but they made a great dinner for 8 people...

[THE_Vue's]

mmm yummy.  looks really good.

[SirSnookalot]

I never eat bass.  I grew up in the fish business, we mostly ate Lake Superior whitefish and Lake Erie pickerel (which are called walleye in the states), these 2 fish were out most popular with out clientele.  We may saute with a very light breading like flounder or sole, but usually bake, broil or grill our fish.  I don't like masking the true flavor of fish with batter and oil.  One thing I miss for sure is whitefish.

[slonezp]

Deep fried in "Don's Chuckwagon" onion ring batter. I cut it with beer instead of water. It's lighter than Shore Lunch beer batter

[buzzed bait]

anybody ever put them in a smoker?  when i was a kid we'd go for a day of fishing and keep a few bring them back and smoke them that night, mostly trout back then but i've since had bass the same way.  I think the flour and pan fry are the best method for sure, but the smoker is a nice change from time to time

[SPEEDBEAD.]

I always had a tendency to dry fish out in the smoker.

 

I'll stick with red meat and the other white meat.

[buzzed bait]

I always had a tendency to dry fish out in the smoker.

 

I'll stick with red meat and the other white meat.

do you scale them and leave the skin on or do you cut out filets and smoke them like that?  i ask because if i filet them it will surely dry out, but skin on can manage to keep them moist

[Nice_Bass]

do you scale them and leave the skin on or do you cut out filets and smoke them like that?  i ask because if i filet them it will surely dry out, but skin on can manage to keep them moist

have not tried for fear of drying them out.

Any chance you can pm me your way?

[BrianSnat]

I generally don't eat bass,  I release most of what I catch.  The only exception is when I'm ice fishing and gut hook a bass with live bait.  I've brought them home to eat and tried a variety of recipes. All of them sucked. I don't think bass tastes very good

[slonezp]

have not tried for fear of drying them out.

Any chance you can pm me your way?

Never smoked bass but for salmon, I soak them in a brown sugar/salt brine for a few hours then rinse and dry them in the fridge overnight, add seasoning and smoke away.

[slonezp]

AND YET ANOTHER FOOD THREAD. Mods, gonna ask again for a food forum, so we can talk about scrapple and other recipies.

[Bassfishing375]

I don't eat bass, but I do eat a lot of Walleye and I just use Shore Lunch Cajun. I just fry it on the stove. Nothing special.