White Bass

[mnsnowdaboy]

What's you take on White Bass everything from eating, fishing, and the species itself.

I guess they're not considered "game Fish" but how come, they put up a fight. Taste pretty good too but seems like they're ignored in the fishing world, how come???

Just want to know a little more since I'm a novice fisherman but was amazed at how many you can catch when they do their runs.

[ricqik]

They're not a gamefish???? It's the only true bass, lg and sm aren't true bass and I'm pretty sure it's a game fish. When a fish becomes so abundant and plentiful it gets ignored.

[mnsnowdaboy]

Ooooh I see, yes very true, how can it be special when they are running in packs and even I can catch them left and right.

How about eatin, they taste pretty good, do most people even consider eating them.

Matter of fact does people even try to catch them.

[The Grebe]

Mn...In my experience, the larger they get, the worse they taste. For the past several years, I have been keeping an occassional white bass when I catch them. I try to stay in the 1 foot range, or smaller...kind of like a panfish.

I did a bigger one up about a month ago, even cut out all that red meat along it's sides and it was'nt the best eating wise? Can't quite put my finger on what it was, but it did'nt taste the greatest, not like the sunnie and crappie fillets. The smaller ones are good and it is hard to tell the difference between, the panfish, when the fillets are all mixed up.

I'm sure there is someone out there that has a good method for fixing them up? Me, I'm to lazy to go to any great lengths, I'll stick with the smaller fish.

[Tyler Holm]

Agree with Grebe,

I've kept them on occassion when walleye fishing in the spring. The last time I kept them (early spring), we kept 1 walleye and several white bass. We wanted a meal. During meal time, there was almost no difference in taste. It could have been the cajon batter, but they were some tasty treats.

[JLsTyee]

Back in Nebraska we would target white bass... Walleye were hard to come by, and the fishing methoods were simmilar. So basically we fished for walleye, but caught white bass. We basically treated them like crappie... The size of crappie you'd eat is about the same size of WB you'd want to eat. They get much bigger and it is like anyother big fish... not the greatest...

[Tripleplay]

We used to catch them in spurts on Devils Lake in North Dakota but I can honestly say after eating them one time we moved to smoking them. We basically gutted/gilled them and then went with some real light and clearer type brines for smoking them as the meat is white and couldn't handle the heavier flavors of some recipes. I actually used the same smoking method that I used on lake trout and it worked pretty darn well. Definitely not a throw away fish in my book as they just needed a different method of preparing.

Unfortunately I don't have the recipe anymore that I can find but I'd wing it again in a heartbeat if I caught some of them.

[FOOT]

We use to catch them in the spring below the Silver Lake (Contact US Regarding This Word)(the word is d--m something that holds back water) in Rochester and take them to an old river rat who would pickle them. Don't know what he'd use but they sure were a hit with my dad and his construction buddies, especially after a barley pop or 2. I didn't mind them too much but unless I had the beer to wash them down I couldn't eat too much, and I was too young to be drinking beer.

[mnsnowdaboy]

All you gotta do is deep fry them and they taste almost as good as walleye IMO.

Yes the big ones don't taste as good, my aunts got a recipe that she steams them, man sure is pretty good, but I'm more of a deep fry guy.

[Tofishem]

You've got to remove the mud line when cleaning and soak the fillets in milk before frying. Sounds like a lot of work to me. I ususally just catch and release 'em. But they are good eatin' if you want to hassle with'em.