Catch'em and Eat'em 2024

AUTgrPilot reply :

Here's one that might start some discussion.

Does anyone ever take some of the smaller legal bass home and fry'em up??

Show of the new studies show that 100% catch and release can/will hurt the size of bass in a particular lake. The numbers will be high but most/all of the fish will be smaller.

Does anyone take a particular species home and cook'em??

Some lakes don't even have a minimum on Spotted bass trying to encourage anglers to eat'em up.

Thoughts??

Chris reply :

I like to eat crappie, bream, catfish, and sometimes i keep bass. I usually keep some fish once a year.

Mainer reply :

I have no problem with eating fish, but to be honest, I never cared to much for the taste fresh water fish. As far as I'm concerned, the fun ends with the catching! Even a larger (say 3 or 4 LBS) fish does not yield enough meat to make it worth while for me. I guess I'm just too lazy! Now a 75 LBS yellowfin tuna...thats another story!

Pond-Pro reply :

I love panfish, especially bluegill! Evan though they are a pain to clean they taste great. I do approve of keaping small young bass. They also can be tasty, plus it allows the rest of the bass to grow bigger. ;D

Mike H. reply :

The lake I fish dosnt have a whole lot of bass in it. We have some big ones, but not enough over all to make me want to keep them. I have seen people keep some of the few big ones out there, which just ticks me off, seeing how we dont have a whole lot .

EDIT: We do however get stocked trout. We also have alot of pumpkin seeds, and perch. fried perch...mmm.

Big_Bass_Rich reply :

MMM I love smoked catfish, steelhead & salmon!!

I also love fried crappie, perch, walleye, pike and yes even bass.. I keep fish quite often! If you catch some and the livewell's empty, and you're just out there for fun anyway, why not stop and grab a snack for later!

Trivib1 reply :

I prefer to l eat crappy or walleyes, I will not kill a bass, you never know. When one contains the genes to become a monster.

L.D. reply :

I have no problem with selective harvest. My clients kept a total of 15 smallmouth this year that would be about 1/3 of one percent of the total. I personally don't eat them, they are worth more to me alive in the water. I will eat a medium sized walleye if I can keep one.

If I get a legal walleye, I offer it to the client. If the client is total C&R I wouldn't look good for me to keep one and I put it back. So getting one to eat is rare and they taste great.

kajun reply :

I'm with Rich on this one. Nothing to me can beat salmon or catfish. Although I have found that salmon isn't exactly the easiest of species to cook. Over a grill is my favorite. Bass I usually don't keep. Not because I think it's wrong I just would rather keep a bluegill or catfish if I was getting something for dinner.

JHall reply :

I'll eat a bass. I don't mind throwing them back either. But here is what gets me... When people learn I eat bass, I usually get this:

"Bass, ewwww.... How can you eat a bass. I like to eat catfish."

To which I promptly follow...

"You know catfish eat poop."

Then the convo seems to gravitate to something else for some reason.

roadwarrior reply :

I generally fish with live bait on the Tennessee River and EVERY fish is the river eats minnows. We NEVER keep our smallmouth but my partner has a construction company and his men really appreciate fresh fish. So we keep most of the fish we catch, especially catfish and white bass. Commercial fishing is no longer viable on this river (because of the growth in catfish farming) and as a result, there is no way recreational fisherman can put a dent in the population. Still, we don't keep catfish over 15 lbs or white bass under a pound or so.

njvbass reply :

Quote
I have no problem with eating fish, but to be honest, I never cared to much for the taste fresh water fish. As far as I'm concerned, the fun ends with the catching! Even a larger (say 3 or 4 LBS) fish does not yield enough meat to make it worth while for me. I guess I'm just too lazy! Now a 75 LBS yellowfin tuna...thats another story!

I'm gonna agree with mainer here.Freshwater fish just aren't all that great. Now maybe a 10 lb tog or nice striper.Now we are talking.Also their is too much mercury in the water around here not to mention the 470,000 oil spill in the delaware river,talk about heart ache!

IrishJig reply :

A day on Lake Erie and a mountain of perch for dinner. They are not nearly as fun to catch as bass, but I love 'em for dinner with a sixer of brews.

chefxian reply :

No way got to the store and get your aquacultured fish.

KU_Bassmaster. reply :

The occasional crappie or walleye. Never a bass. I really don't care for freshwater fish either, saltwater is the way to go.

Stickling reply :

Used to eat a little catfish but icant now couse its against my religion.

I like salmon and tuna they are awsome.

Havent tryed many others.

chad km5qf reply :

Ahhh groceries. Of course I eat em. I do let a lot of bass go, keeping a few in the 3 to 5 lb range for supper sending the rest back to the water. My family eats fish at least once, often twice a week. Catfish, Crappie, Catfish, and some bass too. My fav would have to be bass hands down but i dont keep that many of them. I used to be a catfish nut, still am but when u have all the aforementioned fish on one plate and can compare bite to bite, i changed what my fav eater was.

Well, maybe the Oppelousas catfish is still number one (flathead) but i dont catch em with the regularity as the others. Opps do not eat poop as do other cats. Flatheads are one of the top predator fish in freshwater and only eat live bait. Yes u can catch em on a spoon or such occasionally- to the fish thats still "live" bait. Channel gets it name cause it sits in the channel eating the detritus that floats downstream. Yhea they will eat other stuff but as a rule.... Blues are just blue channels in regards to feeding habits. Bullheads (mudcats) eat anything and everything. Because Opps are predators, their meat is nothing like channels or blues, no where near as greasy, and more basslike in its texture. A prize for the table indeed. Another plus for Opps is that a 20 pound Opp eats just as tasty as a two pound one. That cant be said for most fish.

cgs2004 reply :

I live on 7 acre lake outside of Kansas City and we haven't taken any fish out to eat in many many years. Because of that the bass population is huge but there isn't too much in size. It's not uncommon to go out and catch 50 bass inan hour but your biggest might be 2 lbs. I think it would help out the lake if we did take some out but my family isn't the biggest fan of bass to eat so we release them all. Theres just something thats hard about keeping a bass :-/

Boo reply :

I always throw them back, big or little. Hard to beat fried catfish, the ultimate is Smoked Salmon. I'll eat crappie and walleye also.

BassingWoman reply :

I will eat Salmon, Steelhead, Trout, Panfish but as far as BASS...I won't kill them. To me, they are a trophy to photo when caught, weigh it, then let it go. As others said - you never know if that one fish might grow up to be your states next record fish!

Others want to eat all fish they get but I'll let MY Bass go.

fatbass reply :

I almost never keep any fish I catch. I personally find it a pain to prepare them.

I like to eat fish of all kinds and sometimes with the help of a brother will catch up a mess of wallys or cat and have a fine fish fry but this occurs maybe once a blue moon.

With bass, the only thing I take is a picture.

mikedurrbeck reply :

I keep some. Fillet and Release ;D But nothing beats some bass or crappie fried up, with some hushpuppies, coleslaw and budweiser. But hey, to each there own.

Mike

woodghost reply :

I eat trout, salmon, eels, walleye, crappie and catfish as far as freshwater fish go. Best fish I have ever had was walleye from a Canadian lake, so fresh it was wriggling in the skillet.(Fly in camps are hard to beat)

All this talk of poop eating fish made me wonder- who here eats lobster? What do they eat again?? ;D

AOY reply :

Bass are tasty to me--I usually only keep ones over 5lbs since you get more meat. I usually throw the eggs away if they have eggs. JUST KIDDING! DON'T BOOT ME OFF THE BOARD!!!

I will only eat them if they are about 1-2 lbs. and they are overpopulated. I like to fry them but I only keep a few for a fish fry or something. I haven't kept any in a couple seasons. They are tasty though!

roadwarrior reply :

Now, come on...That was funny. AOY, you had me hooked...Thanks for the quick release...

NJ_Stump_Grinder reply :

I gut hooked a 3lb LM last summer and it was bleeding bad.

I knew it wasn't gonna make it no matter what I did so I cooked it up.

I consider myself a good cook, and rarely get complaints........ but even though I seasoned the hell out of that bass and baked it up to perfection, it was bland and tasteless (if not a little poor tasting).

I don't see any reason to keep em for cookin unless they aren't going to survive if released because of injury during the catch.

However, my neighbor has kept a few hybrid stripers from our home lake and he says they're much better than LM.

Maybe I'll try one this year.

roadwarrior reply :

Stripers have a firm texture which makes them perfect for grilling. People who don't like them probably haven't dressed them properly. There is a red line that MUST be removed, it's not tricky, it's quite obvious.

We catch lots of small fish on the Tennessee River and keeping a few 10 lb stripers has absolutely no impact on the population. A 10 lb fish will yield about 2 lbs of fillets. Hybrids probably are the same, but we don't catch many of them.

AOY reply :

I agree--stripers, hybrids, and whites are all great to eat if you get the bloodline out! They are usually school fish and keeping them doesn't usually hurt the population--even big ones--cause there a LOT of big stripers and hybrids to be eaten!

AOY reply :

At least there are a lot around here!

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Catch'em and Eat'em 2024

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