Jump to content

Eating largemouth bass...


smithy97

Recommended Posts

I am an unrepentant eater of fish. Yes I release fish, but yes I keep fish to EAT.

 

Largemouth bass are DELICIOUS and I have eaten many hundreds of them over the years, from dozens of lakes. I used to go every year to a cottage on Desert Lake north of Kingston, and we would have a community fish fry of all the cottagers, 25 to 30 people, and we would do fish and chips in a propane deep fryer. And "EVERYBODY" loved the largemouth bass.

 

I suggest keeping smaller fish, two pounds or less, since they will be the tastiest. You could batter them, but then what you are tasting is pretty much batter. A better choice, in my view, is to take the skinned fillets, shake them in Fish Crisp, and pan fry them in hot vegetable oil. They are cooked when you can insert a fork easily into the thickest part of the fillet. Drain on paper towels, and enjoy!

 

As for the grubs, just remove them with the tip of your filleting knife. They won't hurt you even if you eat some - you will never notice them in a cooked fillet.

 

If you also catch crappies, they are even better eating. Cook them the same way.

 

That "mud line" to which reference is made has stayed in all of my bass fillets, with no noticeable effect on taste.

 

But all of the above comes with one caveat: if it is stinking HOT, and the water is WARM, take any fish you plan to eat, kill it immediately, and get it onto ice. Under no circumstance should you drag fish along in warm water on a stringer - that will surely cause your otherwise tasty treat to be less palatable and less firm.

 

And don't feel guilty about keeping some fish for a meal or two!!!

 

Doug the evil eater of fish

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

But all of the above comes with one caveat: if it is stinking HOT, and the water is WARM, take any fish you plan to eat, kill it immediately, and get it onto ice. Under no circumstance should you drag fish along in warm water on a stringer - that will surely cause your otherwise tasty treat to be less palatable and less firm.

 

 

 

This!

 

Many people who dislike bass have dragged the fish around on a stringer for hours in 30 degree weather until it was dead and changing color before filleting it. All of my fish get bled and tossed on ice ASAP whenever possible and result is definitely worth having a cooler/ice on board.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

fish are gross....what you need are a few big honking steaks and a pile of chicken wings...now that is eating!

And I imagine the OP is going to find a couple steers and a dozen chickens on the island. And of course he will have permission to kill the steers and chickens. And he will have the equipment and walk-in coolers to deal with the carcasses.

 

or he might just catch his dinner and enjoy a meal or two of "gross" fish. :Gonefishing:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Like Shag said, its all in the care taken of the fish. Whack em, and stick them on ice. That goes for any fish. I eat fish as much as shag, if not more, and I am very picky about the care taken of my fish. Its really the key to eating any fish.

 

S.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've eaten largemouth, never enjoyed it. Smallmouth taste a little better since they're generally in deeper, cooler water but not much better.

 

I haven't found any yellow grub parasites in bass but a few of the lakes I fish, the perch are full of them. Which is a shame since the one lake I fish the perch get really big.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Piling on a bit, but I will eat SMB or LMB, but I prefer SMB. I think its a bit firmer, and LMB can have a weedy (very subtle) taste. agree with the above. Like all fish, they need to be kept alive until cleaning, or killed and iced immediately. I don't bleed bass, pike, walleye. I do bleed trout and salmon though. If I can see a lot of gubs on the fins of a bass, I don't keep them. I will pick out a couple grubs, but if a fish has lots, its too "ick" for me.

 

Pike virtually never have grubs. I think mid sized (2 to 5 lbs) pike is one of the best eating fish we have in Ontario.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Great info on getting the lmb onto ice right away. I know the water temps are up high where we're going, and we'll be in shallower water for sure. We'll be catching and going straight to cooking I'm thinking. Don't think there's any cows on this island lol....hoping to land some nice crappies as well, and trying those for the first time.

Again thanks for everyone's help and suggestions, much appreciated!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm surprised at how many of you know the taste of mud!! Usually fry it up?? :lol:

 

The taste of fish , like animals, depends on their food and their environment. I once caught a pike at the base of a big rapid. It leapt in the air when I hooked it. It was quite muscular with firm flesh, quite unlike those couch potatoes that hang around weed beds waiting for the next easy meal.

 

I grew up catching small brook trout. You could pretty well tell where they came from by their taste.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

For warm water largies it's all in the preparation...

Fillet the fish

Get a cedar board and soak it in water

Oil it well with olive oil and rub it down with your favourite spices

Put the fish on it and BBQ 5-6 mins each side

Remove from the heat

Throw the fish away and eat the board.

:)

Haha that's my carp recipe!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

By the way, the best bass and pike recipe for you:

 

Sprinkle both side of the wet filets with liberal amounts of Old Bay seasoning. Then flour them and fry in a 50/50 mixture of butter and vegetable oil.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

By the way, the best bass and pike recipe for you:

 

Sprinkle both side of the wet filets with liberal amounts of Old Bay seasoning. Then flour them and fry in a 50/50 mixture of butter and vegetable oil.

I've only done this with pike/walleye but it is indeed amazing

 

So is flour/seasoning salt(sounds gross) but once cooked wow

Edited by manitoubass2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Ok, I have another recipe for you that I learned down in Florida for redfish and any other relatively firm fish that you can grill on the BBQ. Soft fish it wont work on. This REALLY works.

 

You pat dry the filets and then sprinkle old bay on them (works with salt and pepper too). Let it sit for about 10 minutes. Then coat the filets with a decent amount of mayonaise. Not salad dressing, and not the "lite" mayo. The good old Helmans kind. Then you grill on the BBQ. the mayo has oil in it that helps keep the fish from stciking, but it browns and grills up nice. It works great on firm fish that can be grilled right on the grates. Give it a try and let me know how it works for you. (I have done fresh GBay salmon and its fantastic.)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm surprised at how many of you know the taste of mud!! Usually fry it up?? :lol:

 

 

As a kid we all had at least one mud pie fed to us. I was the king of mud ending up in my mouth one way or another. growing up. :canadian:

 

 

Art

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recent Topics

    Popular Topics

    Upcoming Events


×
×
  • Create New...