Rockbass

[ChemMechanicInc]

I caught a few of these the other day, and was wondering what the limit is???

I kept 4 for a meal, they were pretty good, I used shore lunch and fried them after doing an egg-nog and beer soak for about 20 minutes.

[Kyle Sandberg]

The limit is 30. Becareful with this subject. Rockbass are very touchy to some people.

I think they taste pretty good as well.

[hoggs222]

Interesting. I didn't know that people ate those? I always thought they were the wormy type of fish. I'll have to cut one open and give it a shot.

[Daze Off]

I always thought they were just good for the "rocky flip" LOL

Daze Off

[CNCMike]

I have never eaten them either, but it seems that I hear of more and more people doing so. I guess I will have to take the plunge and try it myself.

[genegodawa]

Taste like a big bluegill to me....we have been eating them for yrs and yrs and yrs.

(We hardly ever get any wormy ones out of Cass, but smaller ones from out of Windigo have been wormy).

[Questor]

I can't see why anyone would have objections to keeping a few. They're certainly abundant enough in some waters.

I've tried them, but in most waters I've caught them in, they tend to have a lot of parasites, so I don't keep them.

[Coach1310]

In my experience, they have been wormy more often then not, so I don't keep them. They sure put up a fight though! And they are heavy on the hookset!! One funny story....when I was a kid we were staying on Rush Lake by Perham and the folks in the cabin next to us were talking about all the big crappies they were catching. Well one night we were in the cleaning shack at the same time and they were cleaning rockbass. A friend of my dad's asked, "So just those tonight?" The guy responded, "Yeah, aren't these some nice crappies." Needless to say, he didn't have the heart to tell him

[ocf1]

Lol thats good, I know people who use em as cat food????

[Metzie]

Back in Wisconsin we eat them all the time. Almost as good as Bluegill. As far as the Parasites go once you cook them you won't know they were there and they won't hurt you.

[outdoor ran]

I don't eat them but I wish more people would. I'm sick of catching them. Seems like no matter where I go they are biting. There a pain in the butt.

[slipperybob]

Wait till you catch a 14 inch Rock bass

(Big fish story just got bigger )

[ocf1]

I throw my xrap out first cast, I catch a rock bass the same length as the xrap, I think there brains cant comprehend size???

[lotsofish]

I've kept and ate rock bass. They are fine. They do tend to get those black parasites a lot though, that's the only thing. Because of that I don't usually keep them either, or maybe just 1 or 2 to test them out if it's a new lake. I know a couple lakes that I have caught them without any parasites so I will keep more from those lakes if I catch them. I know you are supposed to be fine if you cook them, but if a fish has a bunch of those little black spots on the fillets, I don't eat it.

I just caught a ton of rockies last weekend while walleye fishing. A 1-1/2 pound rock bass sorta feels like a nice walleye on the line... which is a little disappointing when you get it to the boat.

[Bluegill1510]

Rock Bass are good to eat they are just like a nice crappie fillet. I know many central minnesota lakes that contain rock bass will have worms in them so I usually won't keep them especially in the summer, but when I fish in northern minnesota I've fished some lakes where they are really clean, and very few parasites or worms. But my rule of thumb is I keep and eat them in the winter cuz of the cooler water temp but when the water warms for summer I usually let them go. Another little trick I do is try to keep 5-10 nice rock bass to clean with a meal of bluegill 1/2-3/4 lbers and throw the bigger bluegills back. That way when you get to shore and nosey people want to see how you did you can show them you got a bunch of red eyes with a few bluegills, and you won't have followers to your spot or people bugging you where you got those "BIG" Bluegills. Sorta funny how once you get a few nice bluegills everyone wants to come fishing with you or follows you to your hole or watches you to where you go and when you leave snipes in and tries to get a limit. Nothing aggrivates me more than a guy doing that, especially an out of stater.

[BillP]

Not as good as bluegills but certainly edible. I think they taste better from colder water. I always laugh when someone tells me they caught smallmouth from a lake I know has none. You can bet it's the ubiquitous "rockey"!

[Bubbadust]

I'm a little late to this post...

I was up north over Memorial weekend and we kept 25-30 rock bass from Lake Ida and we found only 2 worms between 50-60 fillets.

I would be willing to bet that very few people could tell a taste difference between rock bass and bluegill if they were cooked together.

[TUMBLEWEED]

I've kept them in the past. The bigger fish are kinda mushy

so I usually stayed with the 10 inch or smaller for eating.

Same thing for large mouth bass. The smaller fish, a

pound or less taste okay, while the bigger ones are

really mushy and soft.

If you mixed in some smallish

rockies in with some sunnies, you would be surprised

how you can't really tell the difference.