Eating fish?

[Crm7290]

How many of you guys on here eat fish, and how many just let em swim?

Does everyone eat them?

[fiskyknut]

I eat the tastey ones. BIG Purdy ones I let go.

The fish are out there.

It's all about selective fishfries. CPR is en vogue.

Our resource and you would'nt ask if you did'nt mean well.

It's renuable buddy and waaaay Yummy.

Read up here or there and enjoy fresh fish.

There's always your local grocery store too but most fish are tastier freshly caught and released into the grease.

Or plain seasoned and baked. Poached flaked then formed into patties with season and spice and so on to ones taste.

Just plain 1 pan Walleye Hash recipe for the next days morning....

Fry some bacon in the pan and get it mostly cooked, remove bacon and dump grease, fry some sliced/cubed taters till cooked thru, add onion if you like onion, Lay the fish fillets over the cooked potatoes and pile on the cooked bacon and cover the skillet till fish fillets are poached just right. Season to your taste. I like Perch but Walleye will do. Some folks like a scrambled egg cooked in this breakfast/brunch conglomoration.

Fry em, bake em, broil em, batter em. Whatever take care of em.

More than anything the care and prep of these darn animals will make them top shelf on a plate.

[FrontenacPike]

About a week ago we had a discussion on recipes...here is the link Fish Recipies

Like stated in previous post I let the big ones go. The bigger they are the more of the game-ie, fish taste you will get. I also let the bigger ones go because they are the adults who produce the most spawn. Most days are catch and release for me unless I and the family want a fish fry that night. I also will keep any fish that has blown his swim sack. If you look down their mouths and see what looks like a white balloon in their throat, they are goners anyways. The fish that are fatally hooked end up in the freezer until I have enough for a fry.

Give it a try you might just like it, but only keep what is legal and what you can eat.

[paceman]

I eat a lot of fish.....Yum!

[Jim Almquist]

I love to eat what I catch and try to eat it while it is fresh. So many fish and so many recipes. Panfish are usually dusted and fried in hot oil while walleyes may get the same treatment we love them baked or grilled. Salmon and trout will get baked most of the time but I will smoked up a salmon every now and then.

[Kyhl]

I only ice fish a couple times a year. I eat what I can on those trips.

In the summer time, I only keep fish once every couple of months. The rest are released.

[GotALunker]

Still have halibut in the freezer from Alaska and some crappie left over from last season.

I like eating fish, but the wife doens't, so that kinda puts the kybosh on it most times.

But hey...nothing like a fresh shore lunch!

[Acemac]

I love fresh fish

I hate cleaning up after cleaning fish

I hate the way cooked fish make the house smell for days after

I Hate frozen fish (prob casue its a hastle to plan ahead)

long story short I eat fish about 2 times a year mostly when the wife is out of town (she wont eat it anyway)

[popriveter]

I do 90% of my panfish fishing in the winter and I eat a lot of 'em. There are a lot of little, overlooked lakes that are packed with moderately-sized panfish. I choose one, and fill a bucket. I rarely put any fish in the freezer in winter, because they'll get eaten fast and I have a great excuse to go get more when I run out.

I make a trout and salmon trip each spring.

In the summer, I don't keep many fish. I keep some pike here and there and any walleyes I stumble into (usually I catch 1 or 2 per summer outside of Mississippi fishing C&R) and I keep all the small to moderate-sized catfish I catch for smoking.

Ultimately, if you like eating fish at all, it seems silly not to practice selective harvest through the winter season when everything tastes this good. We just have to be responsible to take only what we'll eat and let the big fish go and we get to share an awesome resource.

[pushbutton]

would say on average eat fish 10 times a year, maybe. the only time i keep a limit is when spending money on a longer destination trip and they end up in the parents or in laws freezer. favorite by far is smaller gills, a pain to clean, but simply the best texture and flavor. do not think walleye are special and group them in with crappie, perch, northern, and cool water smallies and catfish. do not like the fishiness of trout and salmon. every year i have a roughfish smoke/fry and have a fun coming up with ways to make bullhead, catfish, suckers, sheepshead, largemouth,( dog fish, pout if i stumble on them) taste good. been doing this for close to 5 years and every it grows, up to over 40 people, many of which are excellent cooks and not just carolina hillbillies.

[Harmonica Bear]

I would eat fish 2-3 times a week if I could, YUM!

Its more like once every two weeks in the winter, once a month in the summer. I hardly ever cook it for myself, usually its a fish fry party where everyone contributes a fish or so.

[Chode2235]

I think the CPR mentality has slipped a bit. I see a lot more talk on this site and others about keeping and eating fish than I used to when I first started coming here.

Truth be told, I keep a lot more fish in the winter than in the summer. First it is easier to keep them fresh (built in refrigeration), and second the species that bite best in the winter taste the best.

But I have made a conscious effort to put more of the bigger fish back, including panfish; and to only keep enough fish for a meal for my family. I used to keep and freeze a lot more fish, but now I only keep what I am able to eat fresh.

I would say that my catch/eat ratio is probably about 30:1.

I like eating fish, but I like catching a lot more.

[Iowabucks]

I release 99% of the fish i catch. Thats only because they are too small to eat anyway.

[that_guy]

About a week ago we had a discussion on recipes...here is the link Fish Recipies

Like stated in previous post I let the big ones go. The bigger they are the more of the game-ie, fish taste you will get. I also let the bigger ones go because they are the adults who produce the most spawn. Most days are catch and release for me unless I and the family want a fish fry that night. I also will keep any fish that has blown his swim sack. If you look down their mouths and see what looks like a white balloon in their throat, they are goners anyways. The fish that are fatally hooked end up in the freezer until I have enough for a fry.

Give it a try you might just like it, but only keep what is legal and what you can eat.

I couldn't agree more, I always try to release the larger ones, but what kills me the most is when you catch a monster EYE that blows its sac, but is in the slot so you need to return it no matter what! That is where I truly hate fishing!

[CrewJones]

I eat alot of fish walleye mostly i usually will let anything over 20" swim though, im not starving to death and I love the fish and want some to be around for my kids

[merkman]

There is absolutely nothing wrong with eating fish, wild game, cows, pigs, or meat of any type that you like.

Our fisheries greatly benefit from us sportsmen properly harvesting and enjoying fish.

No different than the vital role proper harvest plays in wild game management.

Without harvest we would not have a sport.

[thatoneguy]

Other than when I return from my annual Ontario expedition, I never have fish in my freezer - I keep only what I will eat that day or the next. Fish is sooooooooo much better fresh, plus it keeps me from ever taking more than I really need.

[tsande00]

I too try to only keep what I'm going to eat that day or the next except from when returning from Ontario, where I'll have a meal of frozen walleye.

Frozen fish doesn't even compare to fresh. If I want fish for dinner I'll go out and catch some. Much more fun than walking to the freezer.

[Sgt_NellieUSMC]

i usually eat mostly panfish. since i live south of the river. Most lakes its easier to catch the panfish so thats usually what im fishing for. obviously if you fish harder you can find your walleyes and northerns. but in my case i only get up north for the good walleye bite 1-2 times a year. And whenever i have a limit i try to cook 'em up that night. besides its a great excuse to get in the garage, fry some fish and drink beer while the wife is inside with the crazy kids. what could be better?

[leakywaders]

I have to say it is nice to see so much common sense and reason on this thread! Makes me feel hopeful for the future of our fisheries and the sport of fishing.

Like most, I practice selective harvest. My family eats quite a bit of fish and I try to learn as much about the bodies of water/regions that I fish so I can make the best informed decisions on what size/quantity of fish is reasonable to take.

Just had a meal of panfish a couple days ago. 15 average to small (for the Mississippi) bluegill was more than enough supper for my family of 4. That's 10 less than a limit.

[rodmoen]

you should learn how to "vent" a walleye. Mortality rates are still somewhat high, but less than just lettin em go with the airsac hangin out there mouth which is like 100% death rate. I wouldn't vent a fish unless in a slot where it had to be released under any circumstance.

[Crm7290]

I was just wondering, not worried about ethics or anything like that. I think that I am in the minority who just catches to catch fish. I like fishing. I don't eat any fish, store bought or not (although people don't beleive that and try to get me to eat fish constantly). I just like to relax by ruining a fishes dinner.

[merkman]

I like fishing. I don't eat any fish, store bought or not (although people don't beleive that and try to get me to eat fish constantly). I just like to relax by ruining a fishes dinner.

Ain’t nothing wrong with that.

No matter what, we as sportsmen need to protect our rights and privileges to harvest fish, but we have to use our individual choice as to if and how we exercise those rights and or privileges.

[mww24]

I do As much fishing as being a young family man allows. I fish for bass 99 percent of the time in the summer so i very rarely eat fish in the summer. I fish for panfish 99 percent of the time in the winter, and I do eat My share. I don't believe I over harvest since I abide by the laws and fish multiple lakes throughout the winter. I see nothing wrong with eating your catch. It's stories about guys getting caught with a 100 walleyes in their truck and a freezer full at home get me. I have never kept a trophy fish either. Those get CPR. If i though a trophy was going to perish after A release I may be inclined to keep it for a mount. Only if I believed There was a greater chance