Best Tasting Freshwater Fish 2024
airborne_angler reply :
I'm not big on eating fish.if I order it at a restaurant, its usually something like whitefish or cod. I have eaten Catfish and originally I enjoyed it, but I can't really say the flavor does anything for me anymore. Dont care for Trout.The only ones ive ever eaten were stockers and were actually pretty bland.When cooked correctly, I really enjoy Tilapia.
I've heard Bluegill are good eats, and a local lake has a good abundance of them.I just can't bring myself to dispatching them and then I'm worried about the care of the fish and it spoiling before I get home(1.5) hours from the lake.For those that have eaten Bluegill...what am I missing? Are they that good?
I've heard Walleye is tasty too.What's everyones favorite eating freshwater fish? Anyone know of any "sleeper" fish, where the consensus says its avtrash fish but it was actually good eats?
BrettD reply :
1. Walleye
2. Crappie or perch its close
3. Blue gill
All three are really tasty.
A-Jay reply :
Well, for me - Bluegill are very good. Really Sweet tasting.
Up north here, walleye, yellow perch and pike make great table fair as well.
A-Jay
J Francho reply :
In this order:
1. Walleye
2. Yellow Perch
3. Northern Pike
Not a huge fan of trout or salmon, but I've been told the dime bright specimens I bring home for the grill or the smoker are outstanding.
slonezp reply :
Great Lakes perch
I also like blugegill, walleye, crappie, and LM bass on the condition they were caught in cold water. When the water temp gets above 60-65 the meat loses its firmness and depending on the water they came from may get a muddy taste.
Teal reply :
Walleye
Crappie/ perch
Striper
Theres some fish listed above, that i havent had the pleasure of tasting. I do eat LM bass and catfishoften, but they dont make the top three.
MCS reply :
On 3/28/2013 at 11:06 PM, BrettD said:1. Walleye
2. Crappie or perch its close
3. Blue gill
All three are really tasty.
X2
Bankbeater reply :
Bluegill.
tholmes reply :
On 3/28/2013 at 11:06 PM, BrettD said:1. Walleye
2. Crappie or perch its close
3. Blue gill
All three are really tasty.
Bingo! #2 and #3 are are a toss-up, IMHO, with walleye the clear favorite. I'd have to throw sauger (and the sauger/walleye hybrid) in there as well.
Tom
BradH reply :
1. Walleye
2. Yellow Perch
3. SMB but don't tell anyone 
4. Pike
J Francho reply :
On 3/29/2013 at 2:29 AM, BradH said:3. SMB but don't tell anyone
I've had them too. They're good. 
Felix77 reply :
Perch are amazing.
I have had LMB and SMB as well ... not all that great.
xbacksideslider reply :
Last week I caught a small striper, maybe 2.5 pounds, removed the lateral blood line from the filets, very good eating. Less than two hours from water to table.
Scott F reply :
I like to eat fresh water fish immediately after cleaning them. That's when they're the best. After they've been in the refrigerator for a day or two, or after they have been frozen, they are just not quite as good. I won't eat fish from a store. To me, if it smells like fish, it's not good.
Dave P reply :
1. Walleye
2. Yellow Perch
3. Northern Pike
4. White Bass
5. Bluegills and Crappies
6. Small Bass
clayton86 reply :
Walleye
Perch
Bluegill
Pike
I do have a steelhead in the oven as I type this though with some lemon slices butter and a mix of seasonings. It was a nice brite one not to big either just over limit
ww2farmer reply :
#1 Bluegill
#2 Perch
#3 Crappies
#4 Rock bass
And that's all I eat.
Teal reply :
On 3/29/2013 at 10:50 AM, ww2farmer said:#1 Bluegill
#2 Perch
#3 Crappies
#4 Rock bass
And that's all I eat.
My dad would eat dinner with you... he loves "pan fish dinners"
ww2farmer reply :
On 3/29/2013 at 10:54 AM, Teal said:My dad would eat dinner with you... he loves "pan fish dinners"
I have ate bass too, but usually they are mixed in with the rest and I can't tell, other than the size of the fillet, the difference. I will admit, crappies have to come from my home lake, the next closet lake to the east of me, Conesus............blahhh, they taste like garbage out of there.
SirSnookalot reply :
It's a toss up between walleye and Lake Superior whitefish. Whitefish can be a generic term for other species in other waters. I like perch a lot too.
We had cod last night for dinner, it's really good. Dolphin, swordfish, and barracuda are extremely popular here.
Bk4 reply :
Striper, Catfish, Crappie
SuskyDude reply :
Walleye, perch , crappie, bluegill are all delicious.
I fish a lake that is full of rockbass and eat several dozen of those a year and they tatse great.
I don't understand why some people hate bass. It must have to do with the water they come out of because all the bass I've ever eaten from up here in NY have been tasty as hell.
I wouldn't worry about them spoiling in an hour and a half, especially if you put them on ice.
mg4u2nv reply :
I've never tried LMB, i've always heard mixed reviews about them. Tilapia are always a good bet for freshwater, I eat mainly saltwater fish down here. Mahi is incredible, grouper is awesome, snook are delicious. I've always heard snakeheads are great table fare as well. While i do catch them, i do always see the bodies of water i catch them from. i think i would need a hazmat suit to clean the fish, haha.
Matt
DelfiBoyz_One_and_Only reply :
Most amazing freshwater fish are northern snakeheads number one. The Potomac River is full of them. Flaky white meat yum yum.
Jay-
GeorgiaBassBros reply :
I love me some fried blue gill or crappie. Dont get too many catfish since i have about as much patience as a toddler
tomustang reply :
River Crappie, very tasty
Goose21 reply :
Crappie, bluegill, walleye, imo are in a league of their own. Cooked a variety of ways but rarely dipped in grease.. I plan on setting lines when the weather finally warms here, and see if I can't whip up a good batch of catfish.
RyneB reply :
1-walleye
2-crappie
3-bluegill
4-asian carp
5-northern pike
Bluebasser86 reply :
Walleye is the only freshwater fish we have close by that I'll eat and only if it goes straight from the lake to the grease. IMO that is the only way to eat fish. My uncle loves to eat drum. They have a really white, firm meat and they eat a lot of craws and clams in our lakes so they may very well be great eating, but I'll never know.
Crestliner2008 reply :
I much prefer salt water fish to fresh water. That being said, there isn't a lot of species I haven't eaten at one time or another. The walleye is certainly an excellent eating fish. However, after a couple of meals, you can get tired of the taste. I like crappie and yellow perch too, but not something I could dine on all the time either. Catfish isn't bad, but I'm not partial to many bottom feeders - my own food prejudices! I've also eaten eels, striped bass, LM & SM bass, white perch and bullhead. Never tried a carp or bowfin though! 
Hands down, the best eating fresh water fish - in my opinion - is the Northern Pike. Once you learn how to properly filet them, you can eat this fish daily, if you had to and still like it. It's a compromise between tasty and bland. I usually dust the filets with various seasonings to change up the pace from time to time. These days though, being retired and not of a notion to kill & keep my catch any longer, I go more for the salt water species offered at my local butcher shop.
DelfiBoyz_One_and_Only reply :
Did I mention northern snakehead! You will truely be amazed on how good it really is. No gamey taste what so ever. And easy to fillet it!
Jay-
bocabasser reply :
snakehead
Snakehead Whisperer reply :
My top 5 would be..
1. snakehead
2. walleye
3. rainbow trout
4. crappie
5. smallmouth bass
I don't really harvest fish often (other than the first 3,) but I will keep crappie, smb and lmb if they are injured and unlikely to survive.
Darren. reply :
Only freshies that I know I've eaten:
Crappie - not too shabby
LMB (when I was a kid, never since)
To be honest, I'm not a guy who goes out of his way to eat fish. It's rare I dine on seafood, even more so with fresh.
CPR all the way for me 
clayton86 reply :
I rarely keep a fish to eat maybe 1 or 2 a year but if its a legal walleye it automatically becomes dinner.
ww2farmer reply :
On 4/2/2013 at 6:50 AM, clayton86 said:I rarely keep a fish to eat maybe 1 or 2 a year but if its a legal walleye it automatically becomes dinner.
You didn't run out to stand elbow to elbow with guys on the creek banks today for freshly stocked swimming dog turds? LOL.
Rangerphil reply :
I have never thought that pike were good to eat! I always thought they were trashy fish!
Capt.Bob reply :
1) Jumbo Yellow Perch`
2) Walleye
3) Bluegill scaled with the skin on it
4) Pike
5) Crappie thru the ice
iabass8 reply :
Walleye
Crappie
Deep fried catfish (i would be stoned by mid western folk for not including this)
S Hovanec reply :
1. Bluegill
2. Walleye (18"-21")
3. Perch
4. Crappie
RAMBLER reply :
1. Yellow perch
2. Crappie
3. Bluegill
4. Northern Pike
If you are concerned about the travel time from the water to home, take a half gallon plastic juice (or whatever) container, fill it with water, freeze it and put it in a cooler with your fish. That will last all day long. A lot better than bags of cubes.
craww reply :
Striper by far. LMB are okay once in a blue moon, depending on where they came from. I like to take the skin off and grill it with some orange slices/ fresh parsley. We will get store bought tilapia on occasion, its cheap and mild and pretty good with rice. I dont care for any "fishy" tasting fish.
DelfiBoyz_One_and_Only reply :
You will throw away all the other fish once you taste northern snakehead!
Jay
airborne_angler reply :
So I tried Walleye at a local restaurant recently. If that's how Walleye tastes...you can have it. ZERO flavor, even after I applied Salt and Lemon.Like I was chewing on air. The breading didn't even have flavor. Not even sure if it was actually Walleye. It was my first time trying it, I'm willing to try it again...just not from that place. $18 for tastless fish...no thanks.
Capt.Bob reply :
On 4/10/2013 at 11:38 PM, airborne_angler said:So I tried Walleye at a local restaurant recently. If that's how Walleye tastes...you can have it. ZERO flavor, even after I applied Salt and Lemon.Like I was chewing on air. The breading didn't even have flavor. Not even sure if it was actually Walleye. It was my first time trying it, I'm willing to try it again...just not from that place. $18 for tastless fish...no thanks.
You can bet if you had Walleye in a restaurant it was farm raised, half cleaned and feed pellet food for fast weight gain. I won't eat any kind of fish in any restaurant, chances are you very likely were feed white fish! I never had a single person tell me they didn't care for my fresh caught and cleaned frozen fish filleted, as a mater of fact I have never had anyone that never had walleye before tell me it anything except it is the best fish they ever had. One other tip to restaurant fish eaters, if it is any color other than snow white, it was never properly cleaned, and I have never seen properly cleaned fish in any restaurant, fish I eat don't have streaks of dark or brown meat in them. If I don't catch it, it aint worth eatin to me.
SirSnookalot reply :
In 30 years of the fish business my dad sold thousands of pounds of Canadian Lake Erie walleye commercially caught, sold tons of Lake Superior white fish too. People just love those fish, we sold retail and wholesale to restaurants, without a doubt the 2 most popular fish we sold.
If the batter had no taste, I'd put the onus on the restaurant itself, I wouldn't condemn the fish, millions of people can't be wrong or maybe you just didn't care for it. Worst tasting fish I ever had (I can still taste in from 40 years ago, lol) is Finnan Haddie which is popular in Europe.
airborne_angler reply :
I've had a filet o fish from Mickey D's that had more flavor than that Walleye. No doubt in my mind Walleye is likely delicious, I haven't experienced it yet
SuskyDude reply :
On 4/10/2013 at 11:38 PM, airborne_angler said:So I tried Walleye at a local restaurant recently. If that's how Walleye tastes...you can have it. ZERO flavor, even after I applied Salt and Lemon.Like I was chewing on air. The breading didn't even have flavor. Not even sure if it was actually Walleye. It was my first time trying it, I'm willing to try it again...just not from that place. $18 for tastless fish...no thanks.
I don't recall where i saw it, but apparently purposely misslabeling fish has become a big thing in the seafood industry. They take a cheap species a fish that looks/eats like an expensive species, and sell it as the expensive species. Very shadey pracitce.
Walleye is awesome. That is all. 
Capt.Bob reply :
On 4/11/2013 at 4:49 AM, airborne_angler said:I've had a filet o fish from Mickey D's that had more flavor than that Walleye. No doubt in my mind Walleye is likely delicious, I haven't experienced it yet
I believe you, but I will assure you if you stand to eat a fish sandwitch from Mc Donalds and think Walleye is not fantastically better, has never had Walleye. Even farm raised Walleye would more than match that. As for eating fish I didn't catch, it has been years and years since I ever bought fish, in a restaurant or a store, I just couldn't imagine that ever happening. Sea food from a gourmet seafood restaurant once and a while maybe, and would have to believe then it was not what they were advertising most of the time. It is kinda like buying Costa Del Mar sunglasses new for $75.00, you defiantly aint getting what they are telling you you are!!
Ratherbfishing reply :
On 4/2/2013 at 8:50 AM, Rangerphil said:I have never thought that pike were good to eat! I always thought they were trashy fish!
Depending upon how they are cleaned, they are pretty boney but the flesh is really good. I like as much as walleye- if not more.
My favorite fish is probably rainbow trout cooked with butter and lemon juice over a charcoal grill.
wademaster1 reply :
Bluegill, crappie, redear......they're all delicious....
Brand0n reply :
bluegill
catfish (only if you let them sit in water with salt for hours to pull the blood and/or bad taste out of them) usually channel cats to me are the best
smaller bass
rainbow trout filets-marinated in italian dressing, then parmesan on top in a 375 degree oven until done mmm!
weekendwarrior reply :
1. Walleye without a doubt the best tasting fish fresh or salt water
2. A good mess of crappie is a close second
3. Bluegill
SirSnookalot reply :
The sign of a good tasting fish is how it tastes baked or broiled. Much of the flavor of fried fish comes from the breading or batter and oil, no wonder it tastes so good, I like it myself. Being in Florida I don't eat much freshwater fish anymore, prior to being here I was from Michigan and my family was in the fish business, besides being avid anglers, ate most of the common species. Lake Superior whitefish is something I really miss.
tritz18 reply :
Lake whitefish anyone!?
CPBassFishing reply :
IMO, a fresh caught trout tastes the best.
alexczarn reply :
1. Perch.
2. Wild rainbow trout.
wuchr20 reply :
perch
scaleface reply :
LMB , SMB , Walleye , Yellow Perch , Crappie , Bluegill .
Largemouth bass is very good. My dad always said he didnt like them. I have no idea where he came up with that. He gobbles them up when I fix them. If you fish a lake with a slot limit , keep a limit under the slot. You will help the fishery and have excellent table fare .
Jtrout reply :
White perch
Catch and Grease reply :
Rainbow trout is definitely up there....
BasshunterJGH reply :
Walleye. Had it once in nebraska, by far the best tasting freshwater fish I've ever tried.
BasshunterJGH reply :
Rainbow trout and salmon are #2 and #3 for me.On 3/12/2015 at 1:04 AM, Catch and Grease said:Rainbow trout is definitely up there....
Pz3 reply :
I never use to like freshwater fish until I started cleaning them and cooking them. The trick is all in how you clean it.
No fishy taste.
No bones
No slime.
The skin is actually pretty good.
Jar11591 reply :
My favorite to eat is fried Crappie.
Catt reply :
Crappie
Catfish
Largemouth Bass
Bull Bream
Alonerankin2 reply :
Flounder, lol
bassinnoobie reply :
I actually dont like fish and my dad smokes trout and is awesome on woven crackers like triscets
J Francho reply :
Walleye, perch, northern pike, bullhead all taste good to me.
Big C reply :
Mudbugs.
Khan of the Res reply :
Chain Pickerel, Yellow Perch, Large Mouth.
Penguino reply :
Rainbow Trout and Walleye. Pickerel are actually pretty good once you start fileting them well.
lordhell reply :
I've never had the opportunity to try Walleye, but I heard they were excellent. I do like crappie very much, especially pan fried.
Catch 22 reply :
Freshwater==springtime cold water bluegills scaled,pan fried in butter.
Many salt species striper,sheephead,tog,triggers,flounder
desmobob reply :
Looks like the Walleye is a very popular to eat. I rarely take fish home (except when I'm ice fishing), but if I catch a legal Walleye, it's going to end up in the frying pan!
1. Walleye
2. Yellow Perch
3. Bluegill
4. Crappie
Tight lines,
Bob
A-Jay reply :
Wait -
What about Goby Gumbo ? ? ?
A-Jay
spoonybay reply :
Sirsnookalot--sorry to hear you don't care for finnan haddie, smoked haddock. A staple in the fishing communities of Scotland, whence comes the name I'm sure. My family lines are Scottish fishermen so I was served quite a bit of finnan haddie as a lad. Get a hankering for it often but it's not available any place I've been. We used to be able to buy it in our local supermarket in San Diego, maybe Safeway or Piggly Wiggly but that was in my youth, maybe 50-60 years ago. As far as good tasting fish I'd have to go with salt water fish. It beats anything from freshwater that I've ever had. Unless it's salmon and is that fresh or salt?
SirSnookalot reply :
I can still taste that finnan haddie from 60 years ago, no thanks lol. My dad was in the fish business, there also was a wide variety of fish available to us. I just love cod, too bad Atlantic cod are getting fished out but plenty of Pacific cod.
My absolute favorite is smoked sable which is Alaskan black cod if I'm not mistaken, about $40 lb.
Freshwater lake Superior whitefish is high on my list along with Lake Erie Pickerel, (same as walleye), commercially caught out of Canada they were referred to as pickerel, at home we stall call it that.
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