You ever eat a LMB that you catch?

[Ktho]

17 hours ago, WRB said:

Yea wrong, fresh water bass like LMB are not commercial fished in California. Sea bass is usually just that some specie of ocean bass, striped or White Sea bass 90% of the time.

Fresh water fish in California are considered a renewable resource for the public to catch and eat on public lakes.

Tom

They aren't commercially fished but they are commercially farmed.. I can go drive to the Asian market right now and buy live LMB from their tank

[J Francho]

1 minute ago, Ktho said:

They aren't commercially fished but they are commercially farmed.. I can go drive to the Asian market right now and buy live LMB from their tank

In NY, their status of gamefish was removed in order to allow farming and commercial sale to restaurants.  This misguided move has resulted in increased poaching for resale.  It's hard to verify the source, and prove that meat wasn't farmed.  It's especially bad near NYC.

[TnRiver46]

29 minutes ago, J Francho said:

I'd say that where the came from made a difference.  The smallmouth are from Lake Ontario, which is much cooler and has far less dissolved nutrients than where most LMB come from.  You don't find LMB out in the main lake too often.  Other than that, there's was no difference in prep.  LMB always taste like garbage when I've had it.  We have plenty of panfish, perch, walleye, pike, salmon, and trout to keep our bellies full, and they taste much better than the best bass I've eaten.  I'd lump LMB with carp and suckers as far as edibility.  I'm sure there plenty of recipes people love, just not me.

We don’t have any real lakes, all water rolls downhill and into the same river. Largemouth taste great here are carp are awful . I’ve never heard anyone say largemouth were bad while they were actually eating it. Everyone says it at the ramps in a feeble attempt to save their “precious” from being supper 

 

kind of a different point of view, I respect a fish that feeds me far more than one that doesn’t. So just because I kill them doesn’t mean I don’t love/respect them. Just food for thought after reading posts saying bass were so beloved they couldn’t eat one. I eat them BECAUSE I love them. 

[J Francho]

The last two I cooked, I couldn't finish.  These were for my friend's mom.  She loves all fish. 

 

This smallie died during a tournament, so I released it into hot oil.

[MN Fisher]

22 minutes ago, J Francho said:

The last two I cooked, I couldn't finish.

I think it also depends on the water. I've eaten LMBs caught in Minnetonka and they were actually pretty good. 2#-3# seems the best - large enough to get a meal off one, young enough that they haven't 'aged' to the mushy/muddy point yet.

 

Haven't caught any walleye in years, northerns I toss back no matter what...never liked them, good size sunnies and crappies are good - but haven't caught any decent size the past two years.

 

Only trout place close enough for me to fish is a stocked lake, and they disappear fairly quickly after the stocking.

[A-Jay]

I'm not a fan of the taste and or texture of either green or brown bass.

With so many much more palatable choices IMO readily available here,

there's just no reason to eat bass.

And on the somewhat rare occasions I do get a hankering for it, 

bathing breaded panfish fillets in hot fat is my go to; almost always bluegill. 

But I'll knock the sides off a keeper walleye in a New York second.

A-Jay

[J Francho]

1 hour ago, TnRiver46 said:

I eat them BECAUSE I love them.

So did Dalmer. 

[Bird]

As a kid growing up, not sure I ever released a fish.

We had a large family that loved fish. 

 

As an older fellow, haven't kept a fish in many years. 

 

Favorite fish to eat ?

Flounder by a mile. 

[geo g]

Yes I have eaten bass years ago.  There are about ten other fish I would rather eat than a bass.  In south Florida we have a mercury problem with the bass we eat.  Extreme chemical pollution from fertilizers especially sugar cane industry.  If I was starving I might eat a few.

[DaubsNU1]

Love fish and seafood. Grew up eating catfish from Platte river here in Nebraska. Have eaten a few crappie, bass, and trout we caught locally. 

 

I have not eaten any fish I personally caught in 20+ years. 

[looking45]

2 hours ago, Ktho said:

They aren't commercially fished but they are commercially farmed.. I can go drive to the Asian market right now and buy live LMB from their tank

Unless the laws have changed in Ca, black bass that are sold in markets or live tanks, must have a Fish and Wildlife tag attached to it until sold or cooked

[scaleface]

LMB  yumyum .

[soflabasser]

20 hours ago, NYWayfarer said:

I couldn’t tell you. I haven’t had Crappie in decades and never had Walleye. Crazy I know for a Northern angler. I have not hooked one in a very, very, very long time. When I did it wasn’t a keeper.

I have caught yellow perch as well but did not eat them. Maybe I will keep some the next time I fish up north.

18 hours ago, Dwight Hottle said:

I have eaten yellow perch, walleye & crappie. Walleye are flaky white fish liked by almost everyone with little oily or strong taste. Yellow perch are of the same family but smaller in size & a little sweeter in taste. Crappie are similar to perch but slightly bigger fillets & less sweet in taste. 

Which one is your favorite one to eat?

 

 

From my experience the best tasting freshwater fish in South Florida are Oscars and Mayan cichlids that come from clean waters. They taste much better than any crappie, walleye, bass or other freshwater fish I have caught. Saltwater fish such as mangrove snappers taste better than any freshwater fish I have eaten. 

[gim]

Jumbo perch are the best freshwater eating fish there is.  Small keeper sized walleyes are probably a close second.  LMB are near the bottom of the list in terms of food here IMO.  Never had a SMB, and never plan to.

 

The fish that needs to be consumed and harvested more here are pike.  Mainly the small ones.  They've raised the bag limit to 10 per day because they are so over populated too.

 

The issue with over harvesting bass here in the north is the amount of time it takes to replaced them.  It takes a decade for bass to grow to trophy size here.  Even a 3 pounder is likely 7 or 8 years old.  And bass are not stocked here either.  We rely solely on natural reproduction here.

 

Is harvesting a 12 incher here or there going to decimate bass populations here?  Probably not.  But if a lot of people starting doing it and they start keeping larger, older fish, then we will encounter a problem.

 

 

[Dwight Hottle]

53 minutes ago, soflabasser said:

I have caught yellow perch as well but did not eat them. Maybe I will keep some the next time I fish up north.

Which one is your favorite one to eat?

 

 

From my experience the best tasting freshwater fish in South Florida are Oscars and Mayan cichlids that come from clean waters. They taste much better than any crappie, walleye, bass or other freshwater fish I have caught. Saltwater fish such as mangrove snappers taste better than any freshwater fish I have eaten. 

As long as I don't have to clean them perch are my wife's & my favorite best when lightly fried with cracker meal coating. Walleye are 2nd favorite and very good grilled as well as fried. Note I love catching fish but hate cleaning them. 

[soflabasser]

21 minutes ago, Dwight Hottle said:

As long as I don't have to clean them perch are my wife's & my favorite best when lightly fried with cracker meal coating. Walleye are 2nd favorite and very good grilled as well as fried. Note I love catching fish but hate cleaning them. 

Thank you for your response. I will consider harvesting a couple yellow perch the next time I fish up north. Cleaning fish is not the funnest part of a fishing trip but I enjoy doing it to feed my family. 

[TnRiver46]

3 hours ago, J Francho said:

So did Dalmer. 

Hahahah! If that was LMB we would all breathe a little easier 

[Diggy]

1 about 30 yrs ago as a kid. I ate a lot of panfish tho. I rarely eat fish anymore...Why would I when the McRib is coming back?

[billmac]

Not sure if I've ever had LMB.  Had plenty of SMB.  I don't have any problem harvesting and eating any species as long as it is done legally, but I honestly don't love eating fish, so I don't do it often.

I've seen too many grubs in bass I've cleaned, so I would stick to walleye, pike, or panfish.

[billmac]

2 hours ago, gimruis said:

The fish that needs to be consumed and harvested more here are pike.

Pike are excellent table fare.  Filleting them is a little tricky, but worth it.

[TnRiver46]

30 minutes ago, billmac said:

Pike are excellent table fare.  Filleting them is a little tricky, but worth it.

I wish we had them! I ate one in Alaska where they wanted rid of them. Flaky white meat! I just filleted like any other fish and ate around the Y bones with a fork 

[gim]

30 minutes ago, billmac said:

Pike are excellent table fare.  Filleting them is a little tricky, but worth it.

They’re actually not bad out of colder water if you can filet them properly. I’ve never been very proficient at it though and I have a hard time getting past all that stinky slime.

[J Francho]

I use the five-fillet method for northerns and make stock out of the carcass. 

[GReb]

I’ve eaten a ton of bass in my lifetime. Fried bass doesn’t taste any different than fried perch or bream. Honestly it can be better than fried catfish sometimes. There’s no other way to eat freshwater fish

[PourMyOwn]

I've eaten bass before, but only when it's gut hooked and won't survive. When I want a meal I fish for crappies and yellow perch, or maybe head to the CT river for some big bluegills. I also icefish primarily for perch, since they are delicious and there's always a chance for a nice bass on ultra light equipment.    

Here's my favorite way to eat them:

perch tacos