Please eat BASS!

[Simp]

So we are all here because we love the green guy or girl. I just wanted to remind everyone to eat some of your catch. No seriously,  let's not turn the bass into the cow like in India.

Please take a couple minutes and try to read up on your lakes and even talk to your lakes DNR biologist. Way to many lakes and a majority of ponds are having issues with to many small fish. A simple Google search can often provide you with all the info you need to find out fish shocking data and often comments from the manager on management plans. Fish harvesting is a very important part of Lake management and we should practice in it. 

[Catt]

[Hurricane]

People seem amazed that I don't eat fish and that I just love to fish for the sport...Can't stand seafood or any of that.. Oh well... It is the best sport in the world...

25 minutes ago, Catt said:

Wow... Now that's a stocked freezer... Nice.

[buzzed bait]

i don't disagree with you one bit.....  but that said, i ain't eating **** from most of the waters around Atlanta....  i'd have a third eye in no time!

[Darren.]

Sorry, mate. Just not in my DNA. I don't like
to eat fish except on rare occasions, and it'll
more than likely be a salt water variety than 
fresh.

I'm with @LastCastChris that I just enjoy the 
sport of fishing.

[roadwarrior]

Take out the little fish and give them away, there are plenty of people that would really enjoy a fish fry!

 

[J Francho]

Largemouth bass are gross.  We have so many better eating species up here, bass don't even register on the radar.

[BrianinMD]

I am the same as J Franco, bass especially largemouth are nasty to eat, yes I know some of you have some great recipe for how to batter them up. I am not referring to covering them up so much you don't notice the actual fish. There are much better fish for table fare.

[Dye99]

Old heavy bass taste like a shoe. No thanks.

When in the mood to have fish for dinner, I go twenty minutes from my house to fish for high elevation native trout...

Thats good eating!

[J Francho]

Delicious pike steaks!

 

[scaleface]

I'll comply .

[geo g]

Here in South Florida we have a problem with Mercury levels in the bass south of Lake Okeechobee.  This problem was created by Big Sugar and the Dairy Industry around the lake.  They have dumped everything in our waters for the last 50 years.  For the last 10 years there are warning signs at boat ramps warning about eating bass from these waters.  It has done more for Catch and Release in South Florida then any other promo could do.  We still have some canepolers that eat everything they catch, but bass fisherman I know release everything.  Eat these fish frequently and you may start glowing in the dark!  I understand the intent of the post, but down here its just not healthy.

[NJSalt]

I live 3 blocks from the ocean and 10 minutes from one of the largest seafood ports on the East Coast.  That, coupled with the fact that I only harvest fish i plan on eating means that Largemouth all go back where they came form...

 

[SDoolittle]

We always keep a few when I take the kids out.

[Hog Basser]

I eat the ones out of my pond.  It's a part of our management plan.  And they are very tasty fried or baked if you know what you're doing.  If we don't harvest and eat, they become overcrowded and starving really fast.  

That being said, we put the large ones back, just keep the 10-15 inchers.  

[Wbeadlescomb]

I like spots from clear fast moving water but I learned how to catch crappie year around and that's my fish of choice. I will blacken a stripe in a second though

[JigMe]

Totally agree with J Francho, crappies and walleyes taste much better than Bass. I will only keep a Bass if it is gut hooked and might not make it, and then I will keep it.

[Kevin22]

I eat bass sometimes. I find no difference between them and other "panfish". You just have to clean and prepare them correctly. My favorite way is grilled with the skin on, a little old bay and butter. 

 

I wish Iowa would let me eat 12-14" bass, those are the best eating and most overpopulated. 12-16" would be a great slot for eating fish, instead its 15"+ and on some lakes 18"+. I release fish over 16".

[greentrout]

I make plenty of money to go to a good restaurant and order a main course of my favorite fish -- salt or fresh. When on the water, I follow the rules like right now in one my destinations the state has promulgated rules for the lake for fishermen to keep five bass per trip that don't reach a certain length. I give 'em away to those who live on the lake. Crappie and bluegill, too. Be careful taking too many out of small ponds.  

[Simp]

Hmm well personally I've always preferred bass over crappie and bluegill. I know some people love catfish but my dad hated to clean them. We always cleaned bluegill and crappie and once in a while a bass. I've always preferred bass and they fit nicely on a bun

What I want to stress though is this about the fishery. A family fish fry sure is fun though and the little ones love to see you bring them home.

[Neil McCauley]

The ones I catch are too big and un-tasty.

I did keep some SMB last summer for the hell of it and results were so-so at best. I panfried them after a dip in milk and coating with breadcrumbs/flour/cornmeal like I do with Yellow Perch, but the difference was.. uh noticeable. Kind of a pungent fishy meatiness to them, like frozen Tilapia.

[Gundog]

The only time I ate bass was when a friend and myself went out on his boat (his rules) and he kept everything we caught that was legal. He beer-battered that smallmouth bass and brought it to me to try. I was glad he did cause even with the heavy beer-batter you could still taste the very oily taste of the bass. After that I stuck with crappie and trout. They just taste better. 

[the reel ess]

On 4/15/2016 at 10:05 AM, J Francho said:

Largemouth bass are gross.  We have so many better eating species up here, bass don't even register on the radar.

The ones I catch from clean waters are good eatin' indeed. Better than the crappie from the local hydro lake. And waaay better than the catfish. There'a another place I fish where they get the yellow grubs. No thanks to that.

On 4/15/2016 at 0:35 PM, greentrout said:

I make plenty of money to go to a good restaurant and order a main course of my favorite fish -- salt or fresh. When on the water, I follow the rules like right now in one my destinations the state has promulgated rules for the lake for fishermen to keep five bass per trip that don't reach a certain length. I give 'em away to those who live on the lake. Crappie and bluegill, too. Be careful taking too many out of small ponds.  

I've been told my a DNR employee who ran a fish hatchery that you probably couldn't fish a pond out. They simply won't all bite. He did say you could pressure fish so badly you'd think there were none. And there are other factors that can cause them to die off.

[rboat]

We have so many predators that eat fish around here, that there is no need to keep any. Mother nature does a good job of keeping a balance. Even large bass will eat small ones. Keep some if you want, where it is legal, but I do not see a need to keep any bass where I live.

[J Francho]

27 minutes ago, the reel ess said:

The ones I catch from clean waters are good eatin' indeed.

We eat walleye, king salmon, coho (silver) salmon, steelhead, brown trout, yellow perch, walleye, northern pike, and smelt.  All are far superior to any crappie, bass, or sunfish.