Eating Bass

[paceman]

Last night I served up a mix of bass and crappies. made sure the fillets were the same sizes. Simple shore lunch batter in a fry pan. The crappies were in the 10-12" range and the bass in the 12-14" range. Invited the inlaws over. Didn't tell anyone what I was doing. Lots of yums and this fish is great as they gobbled it up and actually took the few leftovers home. The fish were caught sunday so nice and fresh.

[CANOPY SAM]

Ha ha ha!!! No argument there, mainbutter! If I could catch those in the river in my backyard, here in Northern Minnesota, I'd likely have a few in the freezer as well!

Course, I couldn't let the boys swim back there though!

Gotta add fresh Halibut to the mix, and Swordfish!

[Ballyhoo]

I must be spoiled by being able to eat walleye whenever I want. I have had small mouth out of cold water when we had no choice because we didn't catch enough walleye for shorelunch. I tried it and would never eat it again. The people with me who do not eat fish as regular thought it was great. I also can tell if fish is freezer burnt by the smell of it cooking and again others thought it was great.

Other good fish;

Crappie - probably in tie with walleye

Halibut

Real cod - fresh on the coast

Perch

Trout

Salmon - not a huge fan of

Have tried northern, burbot and would not eat them unless I needed to to survive.

And before you say I don't know how to prepare them you are wrong, have been cooking fish my whole life and have done it several different ways.

* I like and will eat pickled northern if it is done right. A neighbor lady used to make the best pickled northern but have never been able to replicate it after she passed.

[Wabamskee]

had some swordfish last night...new favorite fish!

[trollingforeyes]

Yiiiiiiiiiiiiish! Bass is a rought fish. If you like bass try suckers, dogfish, carp. Bass are also known as grass carp!

[Stick in Mud]

I must be spoiled by being able to eat walleye whenever I want. I have had small mouth out of cold water when we had no choice because we didn't catch enough walleye for shorelunch. I tried it and would never eat it again. The people with me who do not eat fish as regular thought it was great. I also can tell if fish is freezer burnt by the smell of it cooking and again others thought it was great.

Other good fish;

Crappie - probably in tie with walleye

Halibut

Real cod - fresh on the coast

Perch

Trout

Salmon - not a huge fan of

Have tried northern, burbot and would not eat them unless I needed to to survive.

And before you say I don't know how to prepare them you are wrong, have been cooking fish my whole life and have done it several different ways.

* I like and will eat pickled northern if it is done right. A neighbor lady used to make the best pickled northern but have never been able to replicate it after she passed.

Interesting post....I honestly can't tell the difference between northern and walleye (if the bones are properly removed, of course). But then again, I can't tell the difference between Miller Light and Bud Light, so my tastebuds aren't that developed.

[Wanderer]

Interesting post....I honestly can't tell the difference between northern and walleye (if the bones are properly removed, of course). But then again, I can't tell the difference between Miller Light and Bud Light, so my tastebuds aren't that developed.

Nice segway to my pat comment about walleyes: They're the Mich Golden Light of the fish world. People like em cuz they have no taste.

Largemouth are fine and smallies are better. I can tell the difference between northern and walleye and like it.

All time favorite: Whitefish followed closely by properly cooked Lake Trout.

[yaggie]

If you are comparing Walleye and northerns with lake trout I have to ask , how many beers have you had??

[Wanderer]

No beer at the time of the posting.

Really, I've eaten enough walleye this year that my first meal of pike was a welcome change. No bass yet.

Lake trout is great as long as it's not fried. Grilled over charcoal with olive oil, lemon pepper and a few yellow and red peppers will do just fine, thanks.

Just because a fish has flavor doesn't make it bad! The blandest fish I've had this year were our 3 days worth of Canadian shore lunches that were prepared 3 different ways. The cooking was awesome but the fish was still flat. The walleyes from Red Lake and Ely had more flavor.

BTW, I don't like drinking the same beer over and over and over again either. Live a little!

[traveler]

Curious you mentioned that the eyes from Red tasted better...I'd heard that over the years, but until we bought a cabin up there 3 years ago I never really bought into it. Now, I do. They just taste better than many other walleyes I've had...although I don't agree that wayyeles have no taste, I find them all very tasty, just a little better out of Red for some reason.

Funny...I live by superior and really just don't like lakers! And i've tried good ones from lakes in the BWCA. Different strokes I guess:)

Oh, and bass are still nasty:)

[chaffmj]

I like to eat fish. Salmon, lakers, pike, eyes, bass, pan it doesn't matter. Fried, grilled, smoked, pickled, baked, poached or pattied when done right they are all good.

[Stick in Mud]

I suppose it probably depends on how much fish you eat....I've had two meals of walleye this year and that's it. Maybe if I had more I'd have a better sense of taste.

...But now that I think about it, I don't know. I've had plenty of Miller Lite AND Bud Light this year, and I still can't taste the difference.

[deerminator]

Sunfish are our absolute favorite delicacy but a pain to fillet large numbers. We just got back from "up north" and the resort owners informed us you can't tell much difference between rock bass and panfish. We tried it and they were right! I was also going to throw back a few nice sized large bass and they asked "why?" I thought this to be refreshing after seeing all the "Support C&R" signs up there. We're not meat hogs by any means but it's nice to keep some fish and cook them up without people trying to make you feel like you're a criminal!

[sunniewally]

sunfish are our absolute favorite delicacy but a pain to fillet large numbers. We just got back from "up north" and the resort owners informed us you can't tell much difference between rock bass and panfish. We tried it and they were right! I was also going to throw back a few nice sized large bass and they asked "why?" I thought this to be refreshing after seeing all the "Support C&R" signs up there. We're not meat hogs by any means but it's nice to keep some fish and cook them up without people trying to make you feel like you're a criminal!

I'VE HAD ALOT OF BASS THAT WERE MUCH BETTER THEN WALLEYES I HAVE CAUGHT! NOTHING WRONG WITH THEM, AS WITH ANY FISH DEPENDS ON THE LAKE.

[Wanderer]

Curious you mentioned that the eyes from Red tasted better...I'd heard that over the years, but until we bought a cabin up there 3 years ago I never really bought into it. Now, I do. They just taste better than many other walleyes I've had...although I don't agree that wayyeles have no taste, I find them all very tasty, just a little better out of Red for some reason.

Funny...I live by superior and really just don't like lakers! And i've tried good ones from lakes in the BWCA. Different strokes I guess:)

Oh, and bass are still nasty:)

Maybe it IS the water up there! Try this one on for size: After reading people's responses on this forum to, um, let's call them freshwater drum, saying they were pretty good and even great if blackened, I had to try one on our URL trip. The guys I was with kinda wanted to make like they didn't know me when they found out I was serious and made me keep mine separate in the fish cleaning shack.

We ran those drum fillets through the deep frying process AFTER the walleyes were all done. After the taste test we were all satisfied it was a decent fish to fry. We thought they were just like a big sunfish.

I took samples to our fellow campers who were stunned to see someone actually keeping drum to fillet. The response was about the same from everyone: Nothing wrong that! We spread the word around and by the end of our 3 days we weren't the only ones keeping and eating them. I won't say they beat walleye but they were at least as good as bass!!