Do You Eat Bass?

[Muddy]

Never, if I want to eat freshwater fish I will catch some crappies or catfish or trout. Bass dont even taste remotely good. You might as well grab a chunk of weeds from the lake and stuff them in your mouth if you like the way Bass taste.

You have no idea of what you are talking about

: 1 to 1 1/2 lb of bass fillets

In a bath of milk and egss, with dash of Tobascco

Corn Flour ( not corn meal) seasonded with salt,pepper,oregano, cyane pepper and garlic salt

Heat a heavy skillet up with vegatable oil in it

Drag the fillets trhough the flour mixture

Place in Frying pan, average size filllet, less than 2 minutes each side

It's great, learned it when I lived in New Orleans

 I practice catch and release, I have friends who don't and I usually get called on to cook em, so I eat some. As long as the were caught leagally and within limit, imagine that what a novel idea, Man fishes for food :exclamation

[fishfordollars]

Once or twice a year.

[J Francho]

I generally don't eat bass, but I had some smallies from Lake O. that my cousin prepared similar to Muddy's recipe, except deep fried, and it was so good.  

[gatrboy53]

i fish some slot lakes and the only way foir the slot to work is to keep the under 15'' bass,so from time to time i do.small bass filleted and fried is excellent table fair.

the only thing that i take precaution w/ is there is high amounts of mercury build up in bass flesh.so limit consumption to only a couple times a month.be sure to fillet skin off as the mercury is highest there.

[FR0G]

I am not too big on the catch then eat. I get disgusted for some reason haha. Anyways, that is not the reason I am into bass fishing. I am in it just for the sport. I have tried smallmouth and it is delicious breaded. but that was out of a lake in Idaho. The water is much more cleaner there. Catch and release please.

[David P]

I am not too big on the catch then eat. I get disgusted for some reason haha. Anyways, that is not the reason I am into bass fishing. I am in it just for the sport. I have tried smallmouth and it is delicious breaded. but that was out of a lake in Idaho. The water is much more cleaner there. Catch and release please.

WHAT!?!? YOU LET BING GET TO YOU!? HE'S TAUGHT YOU THE WAYS OF TAKING 70 BASS PER WEEK TO EAT?!

[FR0G]

Dude, I didn't tell you, Bing is my father. We eat bass every day for breakfast, lunch , and dinner! LMAO

[WRB]

Yes and no. It depends on the fishery, if harvest is needed to prevent over population on smaller lakes and ponds, then harvesting the smaller 2 lb bass is helping. Catch & release has become a cult for some fisherman and isn't always the best choice. If you wound the bass fatally and it's bleeding or the bass has rolled over in the livewell, the survival rate is very low. Why toss it back for turtle food, take the fish home and eat it.

The thought of over harvesting a 20,000 acre reservior by keeping an occasional bass for dinner verses a highly fished 2,000 acre reservoir, goes beyond reason. Watching tournament fisherman release nearly dead bass is troulbing as watching the same fisherman take home a trophy size bass, both are wastefull. Practice selective harvest by eating a few smaller bass and releasing the trophy bass. Practice C & R by taking good care of the bass you put in the livewell; proper DO and temperature levels are essential, not optional. There isn't any reason to put bass in a livewell that you don't plan on weighing in during a tournament or taking home to eat. release the bass immediately, not at the boat ramp.

WRB

[BamaBassn78]

A couple two or three times a year we will stock up on some 15" fish to Filet out. Mostly in the summer time and fall. We try to leave the fish alone during the spawn but there is nothing wrong with taking some smaller fish out of the gene pool.

Any other time I practice C-P-R, but there is times where I catch for table fare.

[GeneinTX]

The more I learn about proper management of a lake, the more I know that we must harvest some bass from a body of water. Selective harvest is the key. I my home lakes I keep whites, hybrids and a few LM bass. Your state DNR is banking on people keeping bass from the lake. That is how management works. As you fish your lake you will see the size that needs to be removed from your lake. This will improve the overall catch even in a small body of water that is stocked.

My home lake is inundated with 12" bass this year. Next year we will have to take some 15"s out to grow a healthy population of larger fish in future years.

Let the big ones go, based on the norm for your body of water. Mortality of hooked fish is another factor; keep them.

[Omaha]

I haven't eaten the bass we have up here (Nebraska), but I had Peacock Bass in Florida a couple months ago and it was awesome. But Peacocks are actually cichlids, so I don't know if the taste would be similar or not.

[flechero]

Y'all are nuts, there is nothing like a pair of 'steaks' off of a fat 8-10 lb'er!   Too much work cleaning the little ones, I only keep the big ones.  

[shimanogloomis man]

No way cause thats 1 less bass you could catch the next time your out on the water....to be honest i hate when people   >  keep bass to eat

[WRB]

Y'all are nuts, there is nothing like a pair of 'steaks' off of a fat 8-10 lb'er! Too much work cleaning the little ones, I only keep the big ones.

Do you BBQ them on your Webber mounted to the rear pedestal post, like most Texans do? You can use one of those beer can cookers and just shove that big pig face down, no need to even fillet it.

WRB

[Omaha]

No way cause thats 1 less bass you could catch the next time your out on the water....to be honest i hate when people > keep bass to eat

Why? Isn't it just like hunting or fishing for something else you're going to eat like catfish? If someone has a taste for bass, why shouldn't they eat it if they catch it?

[ptomacbass]

because they are also animals just like humans and if you keep them, you can never catch them again.

[Muddy]

because they are also animals just like humans and if you keep them, you can never catch them again.

If your fishing for the table.which is as legal and ethical as hunting for the table,why would catching them again be an issue?

[ptomacbass]

I just think keeping fish is wrong.  Lets stop there or else this thread could be locked.

[.dsaavedra.]

not sure if "offended" is the right word to use here, but i'll use it anyway...

i really don't see why people get so offended when other people kill a bass to eat or put one in an aquarium. its not like bass are a sacred animal. as long as its legal (i know sometimes putting a bass in an aquarium isn't) then i dont see a problem with it.

however, i dont like to see people keeping big bass. these should be released so they can reproduce and keep the big bass gene in the lake

i've only kept bass once, and they were delicious! just like striper. i'm gonna have to keep a few more next season, they really are good.

just figured i'd give my input, and i'm not going to argue with anyone on the subject, because when it comes to stuff like this, nobody will change anybody else's opinion on the subject, so its pointless to even argue, and people just make an *** of themselves when they argue over such firmly held beliefs

[Muddy]

Catch and Release definitley has it's values and so does harvest and eat. Ray Scott saw some bad stuff heading his way in days of the early tournaments and he wisely went catch and release.Those early issues of BASSMASTER with the huge catchs, some on stringers would cause a revolution today!

Trophy Hunters and Guides as well as pros all want catch and release for their various reasons

States like it, because they do not spend as much on bass as they do with trout, at least here in the NE, where a lot of aenceis do not even stock bass, as the reproduce so well.

People like to hunt and fish, to eat what they have actually harvested, that is how fishing started in the first place There is no sin in catching fish, within the laws and regulations of the various states and bodies of water,

If we keep it civil, this thread need not be locked and you need not worry about people who have a counter position. You were not even born when this all came about, perhaps reading the history of catch and release and the history of fishing may shed some light on this matter.

OK NOW YOU CAN LOCK IT IRENE

[SuskyDude]

The only bass I eat come from a lake that needs culling. I keep a few 12-16 inchers a year.

Everything else goes back.

[ptomacbass]

okay, I might sound stupid but if I were to keep something like a shark to eat, why should I have the right to complain when a shark eats me when I am swimming?  I know I sound stupid but thats what I think.

[Muddy]

Stating your opinion is never stupid, it is how we get to understand eachother 8-)

[Pigsticker]

Last time I checked this isn't Jonestown and I am not drinking the catch and release Kool-Aid

I do not eat any bass but because most places I fish are right next to saltwater with crabs and other great seafood.

And anything will taste good with Old Bay on it  ;D

I am not gonna get mad at some one if they if not do anything illegal.

If it is in the legal limit go for it, the limits there for a reason.

[Catt]

God gave man dominion over all animals which means we are the top of the food chain.  

Catch & release is the right thing to do but the true sportsman knows selective harvesting is the better thing to do.