Do you eat the bass you catch?

[cableguy031]

I eat them, too.

I Love Animals, they're delicious!!!

[river rat316]

Why the **** would it be my job to teach them anything? How about people take it upon themselves to learn the language when they come into the country, instead of us cottling them? If I went to another country to work and live I would darn sure learn the language. This is the only country in the frickin world where they allow people to get away with not knowing the language and get all the rights of a full citizen, ITS NOT MY JOB TO TEACH ANYTHING, if you can't read and write English and can't figure out what your doing stay home, Ignorance of the laws and regs is not an excuse to break em, I wouldn't give fishing liscense's or Drivers Liscense's out to non english speaking people, so no I dont "feel sorry" for people that can't understand the laws and regs.

[river rat316]

Quote from Cable GUY "So in final, I can't say or tell you what to do about making your phone calls. You have your own personal traits and that is perfectly okay with me, nothing wrong with that. The only thing I ask is instead of making your calls to turn someone in, wouldn't it be a bit gentler to approach and converse in a professional manner in order to address the issue at hand rather calling in the authorities immediately? I believe that by presenting your reasons in a mature and orderly fashion rather than using them to hide your jealousy and frustration, your point may come across farther and strike deeper than you would expect it to. May I also suggest that you try the above mentioned method just once and look at the terrific feedback you might get in return? I promise you it won't kill you or take away your pride or tarnish your family name at all."

[PoorWordUsage] would I be jealous about? That people are keeping illegal fish? Im not jealous I'm [PoorWordUsage]ed that they can't follow the regs like everyother person that fishes the waters, and as far as being nice and walking up and talking to people, you ever try that? 99% of the time it hasn't worked, I will call as much and as often as I can, the regs are there for a reason and I feel its part of my responsibility as a fisherman to help protect the resource, its to bad that alot of other people don't feel the same way,

Im gonna quit now before I get myself in trouble, have a nice day and I hope someday I don't have to make the call on you!

[river rat316]

Quote from Cable guy "What about those folks that are honestly fishing for dinner for their family and unknowingly stumbled upon your "home" waters? Will you turn those folks in to the DNR? Should they have the book thrown at them and put behind bars and made to pay a stiff fine, or all of the above? How would you sleep at night knowing that your phone call may or may not be the one that puts this person in this precarious position where one may not have the funds to obtain legal services? What about legal decisions that may adversely affect a person's career/life down the line"

Yes I would make the call, the resource is not there for them to take home for supper, its Catch and Release, which means you catch them and immediately return them to the water, no exceptions. There are tons of areas to go catch your precious meal of bass, don't do it in a catch and release area or your gonna get pinched

This isn't rocket science, the regs arent open to interpertation, when it says C&R thats what you do, no matter what, every time, and by the way Ive never had a bass gut hooked on a crankbait and just cause theres blood doesnt mean the fish is dead, theres area's inside the mouth that will bleed alot when stuck there but it doesnt mean anything, if the blood is coming from the gill area then thats a little different.

[cableguy031]

Sad Day. Thank you for proving my point, you have a good day, too.

J.T.

P.S. Let it be noted on record that while expressing my opinion, I never once did use or refer to using foul language of any sort.

[Lunker]

No I do not. I have no problem with selective harvest, but i do not.

I like panfish, craps, and small pike.

[cableguy031]

How do you prepare pike? I've never tried to eat it, just curious.

[katoguy]

cableguy, you would owe me a Big Mac!

I have ate hundreds (if not thousands) of fish. Mostly panfish.

I grew up fishing for northerns and crappies. I thought crappies were the best table fare ever. Nope, not even close. Compare them with perch and gills. Side-by-side. I am not saying crappies are not good, just not as good. (soft almost mushy meat - yes, texture makes affects the palate)

I certainly don't care for bass as tablefare (or bullheads).

A gator that goes about 3 pounds may taste great (nice and firm flaky white meat), but I don't like dealing with the slime (stink) or the y-bones. You can cut the bones out, but you waste a little meat.

[matthothand]

Bass are a fun fish to catch. There are better fish to eat. Why not just eat those better tasting fish that are just as easy to catch as bass and save the bass to be caught and faught again. Back to the whole arguement/discussion of the fishing on a C&R lake for bass....If you ever hook a bass bad enough so that it dies or might die by the time you can get it back into the water you still can't keep it. I just got back from Upper Red Lake and I killed a walleye. It swallowed the hook and by the time I got it up the hole it was dead. I would have loved to have broken the rules and eaten this dead fish but I shoved it back into the water with the ice scoop so I wouldn't get fined even though the fish never made it. It's a bum deal but what else can you do except follow the rules.

[Jackpine Rob]

People should consider eating more bass, especially out of lakes such as Mille Lacs or Rainy with restrictive walleye slots. The whole "bass taste icky" theme is simply a ruse employed by the C&R crowd to convince folks to throw everything back.

I have been on lakes where folks think nothing of catching and keeping their limit of bluegills and crappies that are barely larger than a good sized minnow, yet insist on throwing back perfectly good bass. It should be the other way around. Think how many large bluegills and slab crappies are killed for food that could be saved by filleting a few bass instead.

Save a walleye - eat a bass!!

[Jackpine Rob]

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How do you prepare pike? I've never tried to eat it, just curious.

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Just like you would a musky!

Cold water northerns are great eating fish - fried, baked, broiled and smoked can all produce a wonderful meal. Its a little more work to remove the y-bones, but the process gives you an absolutely boneless fillet that I dare anyone to differentiate in a blind taste test.

I did some lake trout and northern in foil over the campfire on a spring Quetico trip, as well as fried on another night, and my partners agreed that you simply couldn't tell the difference unless you looked.

Warm water slimers tend to get a bit soft, and I avoid them as a food source.

[Deitz Dittrich]

Jack-

I'm not positive on this.. but I dont think bass eat too many walleye.

[metrojoe]

My personal opinion is there are better tasting fish. I also agree their a fun fish. I throw all mine back, but we occasionally fry up a couple that the kids catch. My brother and his girlfriend think their the best eating fish and he'd get a little ticked when I through mine back. Oh well, to each his own.

[Ray Esboldt]

Save a walleye...eat a bass. I don't get that one either.

Hey, I am 99.9% C&R on bass, but I have no problem with a person keeping a couple bass here and there, small ones would be my preference. I have kept an occassional buck bass in the winter. Out of cold water they eat pretty well.

A semi-funny story regarding the consumption of bass - I was on a trip in the Quetico several years ago with a bunch of buddies. We day packed it into a fairly remote lake with the idea of keeping a few walleyes for dinner. We caught smallmouth only. Needless to say, we needed a few for dinner. Knowing that I was pretty ardent about releasing the bass up there, the guys made it point to make me clean the fish and photographed the scene. I think they still hold the photographs in case they ever need anything out of me.

[TurnUpTheFishing]

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Save a walleye...eat a bass. I don't get that one either.

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a joke... release walleyes and keep bass.

I dont eat bass either. If we get a smaller bass that doesnt seem like it will survive my Dad usually takes it for the neighbors and tells them its walleye

[river rat316]

I have no response for you.... all I can say is read your reg book.... and hope to see ya on the water

[cableguy031]

When can we fish together?

[Ihateriversnags]

I grew up fishing for bass and pike in the shallows on a really clear lake. We used to cook up bass all the time over the fire coals with some butter, lemon, garlic and go until they were flaky. I have not kept bass for a few years mainly because i got lazy and didn't want to clean them but not to say I wouldn't I don't mind the taste at all and think they are wonderful.

[Lunker]

For the question on preparing pike, I keep small(20-24") fish. There are ways to filet them boneless, which I do, and pan fry just like panfish. They are firmer,and very tasty. Some people pickle them too, but I don't bother, I like eating them like panfish.

[bassman222]

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My brother and his girlfriend think their the best eating fish and he'd get a little ticked when I through mine back. Oh well, to each his own.

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I love when "average joe" anglers get [PoorWordUsage]ed at popular fishing areas when I release a bunch a fish(of any species) in front of them that they would have kept.

To stay on topic, No! I always release bass, the fun they provide fishing for isn't worth cuttin em up IMO.