Rock Bass

[Windy City Walleye Hunter]

OK guys,

This is the first year that we have kept some of the rock bass we caught while on vacation. I have about 20 of them in vacuum bags and was wondering if anybody had any special recipies for them. I heard that most people just fry them up like perch or walleye. I know that some people refuse to eat them and have heard them called "sewer crappies" on another thread! LOL They were in such abundance and large size this year so I kept a few for a trial fish fry.

Any help or suggestions would be helpful.

Windy

[chillincarp870]

I personally have never had rock bass but i bet if you just put some shore lunch on them and fried them up like you would walleye or panfish they would taste similar to any other fish.

[dan z]

thier oily but shore lunch helps them out. I hope they were not in water to warm that could lead to some strong tasting fish.

[prov1900]

If they are an oily fish, smoking might be an option. That might also kill any warm water flavors.

[SledNeck]

Seriously, Ive heard that you can get sick from eating those sewer crappies. Just because you can eat them, doesnt mean you should!

[straydog]

There usually full of worms.

[PEATMOSS]

Got a cat?

[Deitz Dittrich]

They arent that bad, I have had them before as well.. They are a tad oily like others have mentioned, and the biggest thing for me(why I dont eat them any more) they have more bones than a panfish, which are a pain to eat around.

[merc]

We kept a couple last year just to see what they tasted like. Made them with some sunnies, no worms, the meat was white and they tasted like crappie to me. Haven't kept any since but they were not bad at all. This was in spring with the water being cold and from a very clean lake so I would say it depends on the water temp and lake they come from. But I also like bullheads so maybe the beer over the years has killed my taste buds.

[UdeLakeTom]

We had some deep fried sheephead a couple of weeks ago, they were done with shorelunch. People have told me that sheephead didn't taste good. Either I was really hungry or the shorelunch thing works, but they tasted good.

A little tartar sauce, lemon, or whatever works and any fish taste good.

[Ralph Wiggum]

We had some deep fried sheephead a couple of weeks ago, they were done with shorelunch. People have told me that sheephead didn't taste good. Either I was really hungry or the shorelunch thing works, but they tasted good.

Yeah, sheepies are good!

[Windy City Walleye Hunter]

We took these out of Cass Lake at the end of July, the lake was about 5 weeks behind schedule and water temps were right around 73 at the highest, don't know if that would lead to the stronger taste. Lake was very clear as well.

My thoughts would be to agressively season them, maybe cajun spices etc to offset any strong fish taste, rather than treating them like walleye. I do this with northern and that seems to do well.

Windy

[Wookiee]

all you have to do with northern windy is make sure you trim a ll that deep red meat off if you fillet it reall close to the skin and they are just fine.

[TroyMcClure]

I use the Andy's Red breading or the Cajun Shore Lunch for frying fish.

I have never had rock bass, but I would eat my own leather belt if it was put in Andy's red and deep fried. I would probably enjoy it too.

[merc]

I agree with the Andy's red batter. Everything is good in that. That's what I use on chicken when I bake it.

[Swill]

Can you say compost for the garden! How fun were they to clean?

[blue_healer_guy]

Windy, I see you tried the pickled northern thing. I have pickled rockies and they turned out great. An option for you.

[Windy City Walleye Hunter]

MJ,

I got 4 jars of northern to go thru but I may put that on the list.

Windy

[fishermatt]

Windy, I've eaten rock bass a couple times when I promised my wife a meal of fish and couldn't catch anything else ; - )

What I found is that the lateral line of bones are pretty large and should be removed. You can feel them with your finger if you run right through the middle of the fillet. Take your fillet knife and cut all the way through the meat on either side of those bones, in a straight line from the front of the fillet to the back of the rib cage area, then remove the 1/8 inch thick piece of meat that contains all those bones and discard. Those Rockies will eat a lot better that way how ever you cook them. I do the same thing with walleyes and perch, and larger sunfish, just so my daughter won't get any big bones while chowing down on the fish.

[Windy City Walleye Hunter]

Thanks Matt,

We have been doing that for years with wallys and perch for the exact same reason. We don't want the grand kids hitting a bone on their first fish meals. That could scare a kid away from fish for quite a while. I will be sure to trim up those rockies!

Windy