What do bass taste like?

[perch-jerker60]

MAN those fillets looks good! Anyways, I always pan fry my freshwater fish. Just a light coating of oil in a nonstick pan, coat the fillets in flour, seasoned with salt, pepper(sometimes lemon pepper), and paprika and you're ready to go. Wait for the pan to heat up a bit (wait for the sizzle when the fillet touches the pan) and enjoy w/ some lemon juice on the cooked fillet I've been wanting to try baking bass in the oven, wrapped in tinfoil like I do salmon....anyone tried this?

Hey, could you guys post what spices u guys put in your seasonings??? dying to know!

Try using course black pepper, course salt, paprika and ground cumin......I use these spices and pan fry the fillets in alittle olive oil.  Pretty good  

[FatBoy]

I think the taste of crappie is pretty similar to how they smell (the whole fish right out of the water).  Is that the same for bass?  Do they taste like they smell (or like your hands smell after a good day)?

[Brookie]

Well ive honestly never seen a crappie in person but judging from the name they probably smell and taste like a handful of fish sh!t.

just my 2 cents

[Dan:]

I always thought bass didn't have much of a taste at all. When I ate them it seemed that they just acquired the taste of whatever you cooked them with. There are many much better eating fish

[TENNESSEE NEWSOME]

Fillet, fillet, fillet.  Just like the picture he posted above.

I catch and release only, but many years ago when I fished with my Dad, he would always keep a few to eat.  They tasted just fine..definitely not boney or oily.

I've never tasted a smallmouth.

[Catt]

This is what I use  

[perch-jerker60]

            Well ive honestly never seen a crappie in person but judging from the name they probably smell and taste like a handful of fish crap.      

best tasting fish crap you will every eat.

Crappie as in Bream fish???  :-?

[Fish Chris]

They taste like a cross between Bald Eagle, and Spotted Owl ;-)

Seriously though, I'm really picky about the fish that I eat. The only freshwater fish that I really like, is Crappie (filleted, soaked in milk overnight, and deep fried) and sometimes catfish..... either farm raised (for a gauranteed consistent flavor) or, when I lived in La, Flatheads. Never had a bad tasting Flathead.

Bass just taste "too much like fish" to me. Stripers are even worse.

Now Saltwater fishing open up all kinds of choices :-) Halibut, Salmon, Mahi Mahi, Swordfish, Yellowfin Tuna, etc, etc.........

All of this said, "IF" I liked the taste of Bass, I'd pick a place which had lots of smaller fish, and I'd bring home a limit every time ! Selective Harvest is where its at. When you see / hear of people getting all bent out of shape because somebody killed a few small bass for dinner, what they are showing, is that they don't understand much about fisheries.

Peace,

Fish

[RoLo]

It should be indicated at the onset, that everyone doesn't enjoy eating fish, my own brother is a good example.

As for my wife and myself, we both love eating fish, which is to say, we don't want our fish to taste like chicken

and we don't want our chicken to taste like fish

Among my favorite freshwater fish are bluegill sunfish, yellow perch, walleyes and bass (both largemouth and smallmouth).

I'd have to say that the best tasting freshwater fish I've ever eaten were indeed "bass" (High in Omega-3 oil to boot).

I put catfish near the bottom, which taste like the mud from whence they came.

As Dan pointed out, I never scale my fish, but fillet-and-skin those we choose for table fare.

In saltwater, I believe that blackfish (tautog) would be my favorite, but I put them no higher than freshwater bass.

Roger

[Guest avid]

My absolute favorite freshwater fish is native brook trout caught from a mountain stream and eaten within a hour of harvest.  Nothing more is required that a little salt, pepper, butter and lemon.  delicate flavor, flaky meat.

And cooked camp style adds a smokey quality.  

Totally to die for.

As for saltwater,  too many good choices. but mahi mahi, and Chilean sea bass are among the best.

[captaininsaneo]

Bass are just like several other kinds of fish, tastes great if you can cook.  However, crappie and bluegill consistently taste better.  A few large crappie bring alot of meat, but you generally have to catch quite a few bluegill.  Catfish are excellent too.  

I have no clue how she does it, but my grandma fries fish perfectly. I can probably attribute my addiction to fishing partially to her cooking abilities, and to my grandpas love of the sport.

[pantera4]

when i do ea them i use a product from bps called uncle henry's beer batter.really good deep fired,but i do think lm are better than sm

[cart7t]

I've often had to fill a short crappie limit with a bass or two for a fish fry.  Bass have a slightly gamier taste than crappie.  You can pretty much tell that just by filleting them.  The Crappie have a whiter flesh, the LM, sorta grey.

All in all,  there's far better tasting fish that come out of saltwater than anything from freshwater.

[=Matt 5.0=]

To me, LM Bass taste like Snapping Turtle...

8-)

[BucketmouthAngler13]

In these waters, the bass taste just like the catfish. Catfish = Very good.

[polarbear]

I have to agree with Dominion Dan they tend to acquire the tatse of whatever you cook them in or with.  If you are going to fry them dredge with a good quality breading, I use House-Autry seafood breader.

[Whopper-Stopper]

They taste terrible so be sure to release that fat old girl.   ;D

[Rattlinrogue]

Well ive honestly never seen a crappie in person but judging from the name they probably smell and taste like a handful of fish sh!t.

just my 2 cents

Crappie or white perch as they're known in these parts are probably the best tasting freshwater fish swimming.

[[[J4cks0n.Shr3dd3r]]]

I love bass.. Alot of good meat on them. I only eat LM though, altho I have never tried SM. I just fillet them, nothing fancy. Works good for me!

[Del from philly]

after reading these posts, IV REALIZED A FEW THINGS i am doing very wrong.....LOL

a. i probably cooked them terribly, with the cool oil soaking into the meat, rather than hot enough to cook it right.....

b. i dont clean them right....so they are too bony

c. the fish come from murky water, which may7 be why they dont taste as good as they could

d. I scale them, when i should have skinned them

wow, thagts a lot to learn from one post  

[bpm2000]

Just ate my first one this weekend after wondering for a long time how it would be, with a helping of trout and bluegill (was a mixed bag day!).  Didn't think it was nearly as bad as a lot of people try to claim.  The bluegill were definitely better tasting.  

I will try one smallmouth this yr for comparison but I dont think ill be keeping any LM for eating anymore.  Still have yet to find a fish I like better than yellow perch from the freshwater though!

[J.adam]

I just tried and ate some large mouth last night. It did have a slight pond taste to it which I've never noticed before yesterday. my 11 yr old son pointed it out to me. I grew up eating LM out of our private lake on farm in upstate NY and never noticed any pond taste. they are easy to fillet and no bones if you do it right. always fried them. Super good fish. maybe the smaller ones are better tasting. mine was almost 3lb that tasted a little like pond water. Stay away from stinky smelling water. over all great eating fish!

[Deleted account]

Bass is white, solid, flaky, and bland. Works well fried, or brolied when flavored with spices or sauces. Doesn't have much "fish" flavor. It's a relatively easy fish to clean by filleting. I don't keep or eat bass normally, there are so many better options.

On 6/16/2007 at 11:12 AM, RoLo said:

In saltwater, I believe that blackfish (tautog) would be my favorite, but I put them no higher than freshwater bass.

Roger

Dude, you are in FL. There are so many good to great tasting fish down there. Blackfish are ok, but it doesn't lend to a lot of preparations. I really dig it fried though.

[Dave Davidson]

Some butter, a little Old Bay, lemon...mmm..mmm. Good!

[the reel ess]

30 minutes ago, J.adam said:

I just tried and ate some large mouth last night. It did have a slight pond taste to it which I've never noticed before yesterday. my 11 yr old son pointed it out to me. I grew up eating LM out of our private lake on farm in upstate NY and never noticed any pond taste. they are easy to fillet and no bones if you do it right. always fried them. Super good fish. maybe the smaller ones are better tasting. mine was almost 3lb that tasted a little like pond water. Stay away from stinky smelling water. over all great eating fish!

The smaller they are, the better they taste. Try keeping some in the 1 lb range and fillet them. They get crispier as well. If you're maintaining a pond, this is also a way to manage it for bigger bass.

 

I find that the cleaner and/or cooler the water, the better they taste. I'd rather eat bass from a clean pond than crappie from a dirty, large public reservoir.