Bitter Lake

[HonkerDown]

Headin out to bitter lake for the weekend any info on were to go for perch and maybe some eyes would be greatly Appreciated I have never fished it is there any truth to the merc warnings or the poor taste reports.

[Chef]

Yes, the Mercury warnings are posted in the SD regs booklet.

Bitter is a flooded junk yard-FYI. If you're looking for a meal, I'd go to Waubay for the Perch and Walleyes.

If you're intent on fishing Bitter, just fish in 18-22 FOW with a rattle spoon and minnow head for 'Eyes and Jumbos.

[Eyez]

I don't eat fish from Bitter, not worth it. Makes for a good catch when they're biting though.

When I drove by last sunday, most people were towards the north end, but I only say maybe 6-7 shacks that had people fishing.

Dusty

[Tyler Holm]

I don't have any reports, but I can comment on the fish.

I've eaten heaps of fish from that body of water. There is a murcury warning, so make sure you don't eat over the suggested portions. As for taste, I bet you can't tell the difference. In fact, I don't think there is a difference at all. I'm convinced of that. Everyone one in my family has eaten Bitter fish, and never once mentioned an ill taste.

I don't know much about the toxins (if any) in the water, but I do believe that the fish taste like any other glacial lake fish. Ummm!

[BigTen]

I have to agree with Tyler, but with a stipulation. I have eaten walleyes from bitter, and to me they taste virtually the same as walleyes from any "prairie" lake. I grew up just across the MN border from Bitter, and the fish in those lakes tasted just like Bitter fish, and they tasted good to me. However about 4 years ago I moved north, and now fish mostly in the Ottertail County region when I'm in MN, and now I can really tell when I eat fish from Bitter for example. As a matter of fact, I don't keep fish anymore from Bitter and other prairie lakes. I'm not belittling those lakes, its just the reality of the water being dirtier, warmer, blah, blah, blah. In a way it sucks because I've become finicky about fish I eat. I just choose to keep fish from the deeper, clearer, colder lakes of MN than the prairie lakes, whether they be in MN or SD.

With that being said, if you live in southern minnesota or the glacial lakes region, these shallow lakes are what you've grown up with, and that's good if the fish taste good to you. I wish they still did to me........later.

[Mike Walerak]

Funny this should come up because I have had very bad tasting fish out of Bitter. We were fishing a tourney there last year and kept 3 fish for dinner. We had a hard time choking them down! These fish came from 2 feet of water so maybe that had something to do with it.

The taste we had resembled somewhat of a real strong bass flavor

If I were to keep some for a fish meal again, I would target fish from deeper water. I guess it would be worth a try.

mw

[Chef]

The big taste difference in Walleyes I've seen is due to the age of the fish--bigger fish taste much stronger than smaller ones.

I don't keep any Walleyes over 18 inches-FYI.

The other big factor is how the fish is handled and stored once it's off the hook. If it's kept alive until it's cleaned it tastes better than one that has died and turned into a piece of "driftwood" prior to cleaning. I'll keep a gut-hooked fish that I know will die before I can fillet it--I'll ice it in a cooler I keep on the Boat so it's as fresh as possible.

How a fish is cleaned and packaged affects taste as well. I've seen many who fillet their fish on really dirty surfaces (blood/guts), rinse off the heavy slime and then toss the fillets into their empty bait bucket to carry them home--no ice, etc. This is probably the worst thing to do to any fish fillet--they will taste bad handled this way.

[BigTen]

Actually my opinion is for the best tasting fillets, you should "bleed" them in your livewell. This seems to remove some of the fishy taste and the meat is whiter.