Who Eats Bass?

[taizer]

Ive never eaten bass but will try one one time. I know people hate eating pike but man one time I ate pike and it tasted just like if not better than walleye

[RoLo]

Ive never eaten bass but will try one one time. I know people hate eating pike but man one time I ate pike and it tasted just like if not better than walleye

 

I'm with you, I also prefer northern pike to walleyes.

I'm sure you'll find that bass flesh is right up there with northern pike and chain pickerel.

In addition, bass are a snap to fillet, which don't have them pesky 'Y' bones to carve around   

 

Roger 

[bangolure]

I will every blue moon eat some small bass.

[phototex]

I've eaten bass all my life. Bass tournaments give extra points for fish released alive, so a stigma became attached; it's now "immoral" to kill bass. What rubbish! I don't kill every bass I catch, but I certainly keep some to eat most of the time. I, too, dislike the "weedy" or "muddy" taste that some bass in the South have - at certain times of year. For bass caught in those places and at those times, simply soak your filets in milk or salt water for an hour or two, and then rinse and cook them. In my experience, that prevents any "weedy" or "muddy" taste. I now have to drastically limit my intake of fried foods, so I seldom eat beer batter- or cornmeal-fried fish; but my favorite way to cook bass is to baste the filets with butter and then grill them over charcoal. Yum! I think Northern Pike is just about as good as walleye or crappie (both better than bass), but I hate those Y-shaped bones in pike. Remember, y'all - different people have different tastes - which is mostly a sense of smell, anyway. Each to his/her own, I say. If you prefer steak, fish for steers!

[slimshad]

I bought a camp on a small lake with a slot limit.  I can keep six bass under 12".  I get my six then fish for fun and bigger bass.  A 11" bass is just as good as any other fresh water fish in my opinion.  I have never had a fish taste like grass....  I do know the colder the water the better they seem to taste.  I will keep a dead fish from a tournament unless others are asking for it.  If it is legal to do, I say go for it.

[BigmouthForever23]

I eat bass! I like the taste too. Honestly, I can't really tell the difference between panfish and bass when you fry em up. I guess if I had a choice I would go with panfish. But my dad and I started to eat bass when I was growing up since they were so much easier to clean. You want to stick with smaller bass though (<2 pounds) as they are the best eating.

 

To fry em, all we'd do is roll the fillet in flour, dip in egg, cover with bread crumbs (Penko style) and then fry in a pan with just enough oil to cover the fillets. Fry em nice and hot and they turn out nice and crispy!

[NathanW]

Anybody compare smallmouth to largemouth? Am considering getting a deep fryer as result of this thread. That sounds pretty good. I just feel bad about keeping largemouth because their populations are not great in our area.

[johnson27]

yummm basss

[Kevin22]

There isn't any need for me to insinuate anything.  But I will ask you one question, based on what you keep saying.

 

If you have such refined tastes, why do you keep cleaning many, many summer bass that taste like weeds or fall bass that taste like shad?

 

 

I clean them for friends that need/want the meat. They don't seem to mind, they will take anything to help them get by. 

[Kevin22]

Ive never eaten bass but will try one one time. I know people hate eating pike but man one time I ate pike and it tasted just like if not better than walleye

 

Pike is very good. It has a little bit of fat in it (the white streaks) which is good. Pike is awesome grilled or pan seared because of this. It is also very good fried of course, but it can get a little wet inside from the moisture in the fat. We only hook into pike here in the springtime, pretty rare to get one in the summer so it is a seasonal fish for me. Pike in the 20-30" range are fantastic eating. The higher side of that rage are easier to clean and remove the bones, but they all taste good. I'm looking forward to hooking into a few pike up north in a couple weeks. 

[Bob C]

Anybody compare smallmouth to largemouth? Am considering getting a deep fryer as result of this thread. That sounds pretty good. I just feel bad about keeping largemouth because their populations are not great in our area.

 

I've deep fried LM and SM and served them together and no one could tell the difference. They all loved it and there were no left overs.

[tcbass]

Anybody compare smallmouth to largemouth? Am considering getting a deep fryer as result of this thread. That sounds pretty good. I just feel bad about keeping largemouth because their populations are not great in our area.

 

 

I like the Emeril Deep Fryer with built in filter. That way you can keep using the same oil like 11-15 times and saves a ton of money. Peanut oil isn't cheap!

 

 

 

Also, if you get that type, make sure you let it cool before you turn the release knob to "automatic drain". Apparently someone did that right after using it and the hot oil strained and melted his plastic container because it was 375' degrees. lol.

[ww2farmer]

A 12-13" bass after a dip in the batter and deep fryer is as good as anything. I actually like them better than crappie because they are firm.

[jhoffman]

I try not to kill fish period, I get enough killn on the land

[dcorp]

Bass taste like crap. If it was a good eating fish you would see it in restaurants. I think I saw it on the menu at a Chinese restaurant a few years ago.... 

[WeekendWoodsmen]

When we first started fishing we loved eating fish and bass fished almost exclusively, so naturally we ate them and they are great.  Now that we have more than enough walleye we catch and release our bass.

[Catch and Grease]

Bass taste like crap. If it was a good eating fish you would see it in restaurants. I think I saw it on the menu at a Chinese restaurant a few years ago....

I've ate bass at loads of restaurants in the south. I went to an Irish restaurant once that had the best bass I've ever ate in my life.... Another good place that has bass around here is rays mill pond cafe.

And bass is a very popular eating fish? Just because you don't see it at a red lobster served on a silver platter doesn't mean it ain't good!

[Basspro87]

They are softer than most fish

[TrippyJai]

Here in WA none of the lakes get stocked with Bass, if I happen to have one die I will keep and eat it, otherwise I never keep Bass. I dont even keep Trout anymore unless I am going to eat it that day, there are enough people around here taking their lomit (an then some) everyday, then they wonder why there isnt any holdover Trout in the winter. If there wa a larger population of Bass in my area, I would consider taking one every now an then, but our state does nothing to preserve the Bass population, and has no limit on how many you can take, so I choose to release them if I can.

 

I feel the same way. All the places I fish are very pressured so I throw them back. If I were to fish at a more remote lake up north during a cottage trip, I would keep a few fish to eat. Each situation is different. The only time I keep a fish is if it dies.

[TrippyJai]

For those having different experiences of how bass taste, I think it's because bass from different lakes taste different. I had a friend who used to fish his home lake and would give us a few of his catches and it always tasted "sandy". I've had bass taste weedy before and sometimes they are fine. We eat it steamed so you can really taste the difference. When you fry it, they all taste the same like fried fish.

[Violinguy]

I have only eaten smallmouth once, and it was delicious.  I rarely eat fish at all so I've never even thought of keeping LM.  I've eaten all manner of panfish with perch being my favorite.  Now, if I were crab fishing, it would be very hard for me not to keep every @#$%! one of them!

[BasshunterJGH]

Largemouth is good deep-fried. Otherwise I'd rather eat panfish or trout.

[mjseverson24]

I have never eaten a bass, and I never will... Just the same I have never eaten a Muskie, and I never will... these are both sport fish and they are worth more to me alive than in my frying pan... it is interesting to see how many people do eat bass that claim to love the sport of catching them...

 

Mitch

[Bob C]

I deep fried some last night. They were very good. You see sport fish, I see sport dinner.

[RSM789]

Growing up, I would catch bluegill, catfish & stripers with my Aunt & Uncle.  They kept & ate everything they caught, they were fishing for food more than fishing for sport (although they enjoyed the process).  They didn't abuse the fishery, they released smaller fish, only kept their limit and were stewards of the environment.  They saw their fishery as a provider of food (both grew up on farms).

 

When I started bass fishing as a pre-teen, it kind of stunned them that I would release what I caught.  They didn't give me a hard time, I think they appreciated the fact that I had learned an appreciation of the outdoors & was just showing it in a different manner.  I always looked at fishing, especially bass fishing, as sport, so release made sense for me.  As a 15 year old, I even went so far as to order tags so that I could hopefully re-catch some of the same fish & learn about them (I thought I wanted to be a Marine Biologist).  My uncle would joke with me that if he ever caught one of my tagged bass, he would use the tag to floss his teeth after eating it.

 

Bass, especially Largemouth, really lend themselves to catch & release.  They will bite artificial lures, so less gut hooked fish.  They are hearty enough to be handled & released without rolling over dead like many trout.  The lack of teeth allows lip landing, which means they don't lose any of their slime coat during handling.  The big mouth makes it easier to remove hooks.  Of all the fish I know of, the LMB is most suited as a catch & release gamefish.

 

That said, if you like to eat them, more power to you.