golden shiners

[jasondittrich]

i was reading the thread the other day about the smallest fish cought, and started thinking about a day last summer. we were fishing early season (cold water) and i had cought a couple golden shiners. just wondering if they are good table fare or are they nasty. i had gotten 3 that were over 8.5" just wondering if it would be worth filleting a couple please give me your thoughts

[ricqik]

Never tried them either. But yrs ago I found a nice small local lake that had lots of them. At the time bass was spawning or guarding nests, I took the kids fishing and notice lots of small slender fish swimming around the nest. The bass would charge off after one of them and 3-4 would dart over the nest and shiver around. I had thought at first they were picking the eggs but come to find out they were actually laying their eggs in the bass nest. After some research, it was known that some golden shiners lay their eggs in other nest guarding fish's nest to increases their survival rates. I ended up fishing for the golden shiners and kept about a dozen and froze them for catfishing.

[john.wells]

I would guess they might be good smoked. Everything is good smoked!

[andrew chadwick]

we caught one smelting on friday, and didnt notice we had it in the bucket untill we were cleaning them, I cleaned it just like a smelt, and we couldnt tell the difference between it and the smelt.

[andrew chadwick]

we caught one smelting on friday, and didnt notice we had it in the bucket untill we were cleaning them, I cleaned it just like a smelt, and we couldnt tell the difference between it and the smelt.

[Scott M]

It's rare to find a lake full of goldens. Keep that a secret and go in and collect your own bait...You'll save lots of money.