Please eat BASS!

[Kevin22]

18 minutes ago, J Francho said:

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.

I would eat a smallmouth bass over a pike/walleye any day. And I eat A LOT of walleye and pike. With that being said, I don't keep smallies from around here as I would like to see the population grow a bit. Smallmouth taste better than largemouth by a long shot. Largemouth I put in with bluegills/crappies... They are a white meat fish, and when prepared and handled correctly will taste the same. If you just knock the side off and toss it in breading you probably wouldn't like it. 

The trick to bass is to get them on ice FAST. The second they come out of your livewell they need to go on ice or the cutting board, then on ice. Don't keep them in a hot livewell all day either, straight onto ice. When you clean them be sure to take off any brown/red meat between the meat and the skin, this is where the fishy taste is. Cut all that off so you just have white meat. Take the ribs out then lay the fillet on the table, cut above and below the lateral line and discard the line. Now halve or third out the top and bottom and toss into ice water. You can soak overnight or go straight to cooking. If you want to grill them, just leave the skin on and eat around the lateral line and the brown/red meat. 

 

Like I said, those who say they don't like bass are not cleaning them correctly. They just lop off the side and toss the whole thing in batter like it is a bluegill fillet. That's not going to work. Bass is a more fatty fish and needs to be cooked in smaller pieces so the fat (the oil taste you all hate) renders out. Just like salmon/trout, they need to be cooked special. 

I had a guy tell me the other day that trout and salmon taste terrible and he doesn't understand how people can eat them. I asked how do you cook them and he says "just wiff fish breadin' n oil" (his exact words). I shrugged and walked away... lol

 

I can guarantee you if I prepared bass and did not tell you what it was you would enjoy it. Its partially mental and mostly the way they are cleaned and prepared. 

 

Oh by the way, guess what's for dinner? Bass! (well, white bass). 

[Sam]

Sorry, don't eat fresh water fish due to the pollutants running into the water.

Love saltwater fish, like redfish, speckled trout, flounder, etc.

[kickerfish1]

Most die hard bass guys will cringe at the sight of a stringer full of bass. It is just one of those things that tends to rub them the wrong way. I will be completely honest and say I am one of those guys. However I will tell you I have kept a few over my lifetime. When I was about 10 years old I caugh a fish that was pushing 6.5 pounds from a lake in MN. Dad wanted to keep it so we could get it mounted. The other bass I recall keeping were caught on live bait when I was young as well. The fish had swallowed the hook so bad we didn't have much of a choice ... release a fish we didn't thing would make it or keep it and eat it... we ended up keeping it.

Now the other point to consider about keeping bass or any fish for that matters is more or less from a fisheries management standpoint. Certain lakes may have size restrictions or numbers restrictions for daily bag limits. There is a fine line between over harvesting and underharvesting. The smaller the body of water the more this comes into play especially when considering lakes under 200 acres or smaller private ponds. Some pond owners manage their ponds in a way to select for numbers and some for size. A pond with few bass and plentiful small bluegill will setup for more of a bigger bass fishery. There will be fewer fish competing for food, and obviously more food for them.

Also consider the food chain in that lake. Are there other bigger predatory fish that could eat the bass? Something like larger pike or muskie. If there is they may keep some of the bass in check and help take out some of the smaller fish.

While I really dislike seeing people keep bass in some situations on smaller bodies of water with stunted populations of smaller bass, it may be one of the more effective management strategies.

[southernson1989]

It seems I'm waging a one man war on spots. Used to be on the lake I fish when you caught a spot it was a fun little novelty but they don't grow to any size on goat rock and last year four out of five bass I caught were spots. I'm worried about those fast little aggressive suckers out competing the large mouth so they are going in the fryer pan or to a co-worker this year. 

[Catt]

Y'all don't know how to cook fish

[WRB]

21 hours ago, J Francho said:

Delicious pike steaks!

 

We call those fillet!

Tom

["hamma"]

I live near boston, if i want fish i can get it at either the supermarket, or catch it myself,...

largemouth and smallouth are not on the menu though,,..for one prefer a nice striper steak on the grill, or fresh cusk baked just right ,.. ok now im hungry,.....Plus,.there's enough commorants around here to "manage" the waters.,...I see them swallowing bass all the time when they surface,...makes me wish discharging a firearm in massachusetts wasnt illegal. 

Although i do understand the importance of management,     sacreledge says I ,.!!!!!

[Kevin22]

19 minutes ago, Keith "Hamma" Hatch said:

I live near boston, if i want fish i can get it at either the supermarket, or catch it myself,...

largemouth and smallouth are not on the menu though,,..for one prefer a nice striper steak on the grill, or fresh cusk baked just right ,.. ok now im hungry,.....Plus,.there's enough commorants around here to "manage" the waters.,...I see them swallowing bass all the time when they surface,...makes me wish discharging a firearm in massachusetts wasnt illegal. 

Although i do understand the importance of management,     sacreledge says I ,.!!!!!

Discharging a firearm in city limits is probably just a fine. However shooting a cormorant is going to put you in federal prison for killing a federally protected species. 

[BassThumb]

On April 15, 2016 at 9:35 AM, J Francho said:

Delicious pike steaks!

 

Now you're talking!

Bass tastes awful, and I know how to cook seafood! I've never eaten a worse-tasting fish, even when they're caught through the ice.

Even the frozen, farm-raised tilapia fillets from Wally World taste better, and they're like a $3 per pound.

["hamma"]

one can dream kevin,...lol

[RFSims]

I fried some bass tonight, sure were tasty.

[avidone1]

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.

I admit they are not the best tasting fish.  Nothing like fresh water trout, or salt water mahi to name a few.  but I do keep and eat one or two bass a year.  It may be weird, but I feel like I'm honoring the fish somehow. 

I find that if the fish, any fish, are cooled down right away after killing that makes a big difference.  Then there is the cooking.  Any fish recipe can be applied to bass, but the saucy ones are my favorites.

Oh, and don't forget.  Bass are an excellent source of Omega 3's.  Not all fresh water fish can make that claim.

[greentrout]

We catch LMB here but don't brag about it. If you are ever in the Biloxi, MS. area and would like to eat some good fish at a reasonable price in a great and historic atmosphere then try Mary Mahoney's.Your wife or girlfriend will be pleased. 

 

[Bluebasser86]

I wish I liked to eat fish, but other than some fresh saltwater fish, I'm out. I've tried fish cooked every which way, just doesn't do it for me and bass is right there with trout as some of the nastiest fish I've tried. Some lakes near me that need some people to keep a ton of fish out of them, but it isn't going to be me unless I find someone who wants them. 

[scaleface]

The bass I catch have white , flaky , mild tasting flesh . I dont do anything special to prepare them . I usually drag them around on  a stringer for hours before filleting them . I   keep the fish under the slot so they are 11 to 12 inches long and delicious ..  One lake I go to has a 12 fish creel and no length limit . The conservation dept is begging people tp remove fish . I fished there for three days and brought home 72 fillets . Had a fish fry and everyone loved them . Even people who say they dont like fish .

[tander]

I do love fried bass, crappie only better. Served up with some fries, hushpuppies, and cole slaw. Doesn't get much better. Might even throw on a pot of greens. 

[nascar2428]

Don't kid yourselves, plenty of people eat whatever they catch. Catch and release anglers IMO are in the minority. at least around my neck of the woods.

[Simp]

2 hours ago, nascar2428 said:

Don't kid yourselves, plenty of people eat whatever they catch. Catch and release anglers IMO are in the minority. at least around my neck of the woods.

Not when it comes to bass.

[lmbfisherman]

On April 15, 2016 at 10:35 AM, J Francho said:

Delicious pike steaks!

 

Pike is yummy, but I haven't perfected the art of deboning them like that!  I wish more people would eat them too.  I feel they are taking over too many waters in my fishing holes.  Most of the reason people don't eat them is because walleye and trout are the favoured table fare and easy to debone unlike pike.

[Catch 22]

As stated by others ,the predators keep my waters in check.I have many salt species to eat so the bass don`t make the cut.[the cut=yuk yuk]

True==For dinner tonight I ate some pickerel breaded deep fried. Nice white meat and very tasty.

I watched a utube vid that is excellent for deboning them. I think pike are basically the same.

 

[livemusic]

I think we had this same thread last year, lol. Where some say that LM bass are nasty, etc. I could not disagree more. In the south, it is common to eat LMB. 99% of the time this means deep fried with corn meal and hot grease (oil). Which is how crappie and bream are also cooked here. They taste fine even if you don't do anything special to the meat. I am sure there are better tasting fish but to say that bass are nasty seems unfair to the fish, because they taste fine to a bazillion fish-eating fishermen.

[J Francho]

On 4/15/2016 at 4:16 PM, Kevin22 said:

I can guarantee you if I prepared bass and did not tell you what it was you would enjoy it. Its partially mental and mostly the way they are cleaned and prepared. 

I love it when people say, "you'd like it prepared right," or something similar.  There's also no way to prepare mushrooms, ham, cauliflower, or lamb in any shape or form that will get me to "like" the taste.  Black bass taste gross to me.  Has nothing to do with the prep.  Has to do with my taste buds, bud.

18 hours ago, lmbfisherman said:

Pike is yummy, but I haven't perfected the art of deboning them like that!  I wish more people would eat them too.  I feel they are taking over too many waters in my fishing holes.  Most of the reason people don't eat them is because walleye and trout are the favoured table fare and easy to debone unlike pike.

Look up the five fillet method.  Leaves a bit on the bone, which is okay, since I use the carcass to make a fish base for sauces and reductions.

[Bluebasser86]

2 minutes ago, J Francho said:

I love it when people say, "you'd like it prepared right," or something similar.  There's also no way to prepare mushrooms, ham, cauliflower, or lamb in any shape or form that will get me to "like" the taste.  Black bass taste gross to me.  Has nothing to do with the prep.  Has to do with my taste buds, bud.

 

I hear the same thing every spring during trout season. Stuff isn't fit for human consumption in my mind. Not only does it taste bad, the texture is horrible. Only reason I keep them is they make good cutbait and I don't need nearly as many as I do with shad, which I imagine them tasting very similar to. 

People have different tastes, it isn't always how something was prepared. 

[J Francho]

I will say that farm raised stockies taste a lot different than smoltified steelhead.  I don't actually care too much for trout myself, though many in my family love it when I make my famous baked, macadamia nut crusted steelhead fillets.

[Derekbass02]

There aren't to many small bass where I fish so I'll stick to eating panfish occasionally.