How Many of you Keep Bass to Eat??

[skooter]

We do not normally eat bass, again due to the taste, but... a friend of the family cooked some up with beer batter and they were good, like Mark says, it's how you prepare them.
I've learned alot about fileting this winter through OOD mag and I think that removing the dark parts of the filte may make them taste better. I'm going to try that this summer with smaller bass we catch.

CD

Have alway's found that bass have that "gamey' taste, ...until last year, out with a new guy we and caught a few in the morning, ...he wanted to keep them. When he filleted them, he cut off the bottom part of the fillets, ....said all the toxins and stuff settle there.
He was right, they tasted excellent and now have no quams about keeping a few for the table.

[RJ]

Spence,

I'm curious as to how waiting in line with a big bag and knowing you are about to get a check for your efforts makes you gain respect of the fish?....seems odd to me.... so if you attend catfest this year....and have a big bag and a cheque...now you love catfish?

Don't get me wrong folks...I love bass fishing too!....

I think we are finding that alot more people eat em than I expected...they are comin out of the closet....

RJ

[big-o]

Ratsotail Wrote:

I have to admit I was very disappointed to see someone at Petrie Island this year keep a 3-4 lb. Bass and then leave it on the ice to freeze . that memory has stuck with me and has been tough to shake...

Well i think you are talking about the Bass That I caught....yes I put it on the ice, it's a in season fish, why would this fish give you night mares....when there were about hundred fish on the ice that day, Crappie, pike, Blue gills Sunfish, punkin seed ...of course these fishare not on a pedistal like the MIGHTY BASS. we have to remember that a Bass is just a fish...like all the rest that swim our waters

[iankrzyzanowski]

I will only keep bass if it is hooked deep and does not have a chance of surviving, as Saskie had said, theres no point in letting it die and go belly up to the surface just to be wasted!

Spence as for your post! I fished bass tourneys for my first time last year and I absolutely loved them. but I am willing to bet that you would get that kind of adrenaline fishing any kind of tourney, not just bass. To me bass are not the most precious fish swimming out there, to me it is muskies and it is because of these big girls that I almost stopped fishing bass tournies! What it comes down to is every fisherman is going to have a different opinion on the species in which they like most!

I dont think you should start respecting a species of fish when they are in your weigh in bag because you tihnk your are going to get a cheque, you should have already had respect and an appreciation for them prior !

[Johnny Bass]

The reason I believe that The Bass and the Muskie have been put on a pedastall is because the sports fishing craze that has taken America by storm.

More fisherman are fishing for sport that like never before.

And A sports fisherman repsects the fighting ability of Big Bass and Musky.

Thats why to me it would be a shame to keep it and deny another sportsfishermans the Pleasure of catching it.

I personally think Pickeral, Perch and crappie(maybe trout) Are the best tasting fish) I hear catfish is a delicacy if cooked properly.

As far as Bacon saying that their are plenty of bass? He must fish the Ottawa river.

I think that there are large bass, but not good size bass.

If you are fishing large bodies of water like Lake Erie, Ontario,st.lawrence,ect...I dont think it would be as bad but if you are fishing a high pressure lake system close to a large population like toronto.

Taking bass out of those systems would can be harmful.

Tournament weigh ins are getting smaller. Except Simcoe had a amazing smallie weigh in this year.

Hopefully due to those giant crayfish that have invaded Canadian lakes.

[Canadian Bacon]

Spence as for your post! I fished bass tourneys for my first time last year and I absolutely loved them. but I am willing to bet that you would get that kind of adrenaline fishing any kind of tourney, not just bass. To me bass are not the most precious fish swimming out there, to me it is muskies and it is because of these big girls that I almost stopped fishing bass tournies! What it comes down to is every fisherman is going to have a different opinion on the species in which they like most!

I dont think you should start respecting a species of fish when they are in your weigh in bag because you tihnk your are going to get a cheque, you should have already had respect and an appreciation for them prior !

Well said..

[Canadian Bacon]

As far as Bacon saying that their are plenty of bass? He must fish the Ottawa river.

I probaly fished 30 different lakes and rivers last year....Funny though I live in Orleans only fished that area twice.

I think that there are large bass, but not good size bass.

Is that not the same thing?

[wolfe]

I think he meant a large NUMBER of bass, but not big sized ones...

?

W.

[big-o]

Again ladies and Gentlemen...I must remind you to stick to the subject of this thread...we DO NOT want get in to the morals...of RIGHT OR WRONG, this thread was asking a Question....do you ,or do you not EAT Bass Thanks for all the great input. I am realy surprized how many people like my self enjoy a feed of bass...

[SkeeterJohn]

To date i haven't kept any bass.

Most of my fishing is catch and release and on those occasions when i do go out with the intent to keep something my target species is crappie.

[U.L.]

Love a good feed of Bass. Excellent tasting fish. However having said that, I reserve my feed of Bass for those that are injured. The healthy go back. Not to do with taste, just for the benefit of the fisherie.

Cheers
UL

[joco]

HI all


Is this gone to finish in a bass outhing and a big bass meal,,,,,,,,fishfry ,,,,,,,,,,,


WE chould just respect wat ever the felow fisherman think,,,its a free world,,,,,,,,,

Just starting by folowing the regulation,,its a big start,,,,,,,,,,,

FOR my part i think ((COMMERCIAL FISHING ON THE OTTAWA RIVER IS THE WORST PART)) and kill a lot of fisheries that could become our children fisheries,,,,,,,,,my 2 cent and its a bit far frome the original question,,,,,,,,but i think we chould do somthing about this,,,,,,,

joco

[steve-hamilton]

i believe icing and keeping a 3-4 pound bass JUST as bad as keeping a 10+ pickerel from BoQ. Actually, its probably worse, as there's more 10+ walleye in Quinte than 3-4 pound bass (anywhere in canada).

keep a pound and a halfer, just like keep a under slot Quinte pickerel. A 3-4 pounder can't even claim that its "too old" and wont spawn. Its a genetically perfect spawning bass.

Oh well. Each to their own.

(dont worry BigO, your still welcome on my boat ANYTIME!!!)

[big-o]

I guess no one is going to stick to the subject....so YES I KEPT ONE BASS ALL WINTER...IT WAS ABOUT 3 LBS...IN SEASON...AND NOW I PLAN TO KEEP MORE THAT I CATCH IN THE WINTER...(WHERE IN SEASON) to you who find this a crime ...get a life, a Bass is a FISH...A FISH, not your child....not the blessed virgin ...IT"S A FISH...

[steve-hamilton]

so BigO, its equally ok to keep and eat a 12 pound Quinte pickerel, because the regs say its ok to keep 1, right?

you'll find the age of a 10-12 pound pickerel the same as a 3-4 pound bass, and the pollution contents the same.

so why is it generally accepted (and encouraged) to release the over-slot limit fish?

conservation my friend. conservation.

maybe bass don't get the respect that many of you are claiming they do?!?!

i mean, in my mind, muskie, walleye and trout are all favoured over bass, in Ontario.