eating bass
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Yannick Loranger
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I find smallmouth have similar ribs to walleye, largemouth seem to have very thick ribs that are hard to cut through, that's why I suggested going from the back down. If you're cleaning smallies, you can fillet them the same way you'd do walleye...or at least the way I do walleye. down to the backbone, knife flat again the backbone, across to the tail, flip, skin, remove ribs...or check youtube.
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Wallyboss
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With an electric you will not be bothered by the bigger ribs.
Last edited by Wallyboss on Sat Jul 11, 2009 7:57 am, edited 1 time in total.
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If you can't stand behind our troops,
Please feel free to stand in front of them!!!
Experience is that marvellous thing that enables you to recognize a mistake when you make it again
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pikeonthe fly
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- Location: Ontario
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DropShotr
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- Location: At home....waiting for bass season.
I believe in the concept of selective harvest. Fish are a renewable resource.
There is nothing wrong with having a meal of bass.
There's better fish to eat than bass.....that rumor was started by the C&R people. I've been in a lot of company bass tourney and fish frys over the years on Charleston, bass are delicious.
In any species younger fish always taste better than older fish. The laws are quite clear on what we can harvest daily, anything past that becomes moralistic and clear waters muddy up quickly.
Cheer up, at least you didn't ask if musky has "Y" bones like a pike.
Enjoy your bass,
DropShot'r
There is nothing wrong with having a meal of bass.
There's better fish to eat than bass.....that rumor was started by the C&R people. I've been in a lot of company bass tourney and fish frys over the years on Charleston, bass are delicious.
In any species younger fish always taste better than older fish. The laws are quite clear on what we can harvest daily, anything past that becomes moralistic and clear waters muddy up quickly.
Cheer up, at least you didn't ask if musky has "Y" bones like a pike.
Enjoy your bass,
DropShot'r
I once had the priveledge of spending a couple hours with Dr John Crossman one of North America's pre-eminent fisheries biologists who now lives in the Kingston area.
Now I know this will rankle some but he believes we can support a commercial fishery for bass. Bass numbers are booming. If the fishing is not as good as it once was it's because bass are very adaptable and have reacted to increased fishing pressure. I remember the good old days and everybody used to keep their limit then.
Now I know this will rankle some but he believes we can support a commercial fishery for bass. Bass numbers are booming. If the fishing is not as good as it once was it's because bass are very adaptable and have reacted to increased fishing pressure. I remember the good old days and everybody used to keep their limit then.
Bass are delicious, and I have eaten hundreds of them over the years. I am not apologizing for that either. 
As others have said, large bass are not as toothsome as smaller ones, and in fact I do release anything over about 2 pounds, since the best eaters are in the one to two pound range and we need to keep the big fish alive for spawners.
If you have a deep-hooked hog that is going to die, well then you should keep it and just accept that the fish you are going to eat is not as good as the little ones you should have kept instead! And a big largemouth has very thick rib bones, which are difficult to cut through using a traditional filleting method.
Fillet a bass just like you do a walleye, perch, or any other similar fish. You do NOT need to throw out the belly meat like the various American youtube videos tend to show (I just looked at a bunch.......
) If it is a big bass that you had to keep, then you do need to cut out the bones along the lateral line - just cut a triangular chunk of meat along that line (you can FEEL the bones) and discard it.
If Andy L can run a video camera, I will drive up there sometime with a mess of bass and get him to capture it on video. There was some lad from the USA bragging on one of the youtube videos as how he could fillet a bass (with an electric knife) in under two minutes - heck I can do it in well under a minute and not waste any meat.
Bass are delicious, and there are lots of them in Ontario if you want to have a good feed of them. My forefathers did not succed through thousands of years of evolution so that I could eat lettuce.
Doug
As others have said, large bass are not as toothsome as smaller ones, and in fact I do release anything over about 2 pounds, since the best eaters are in the one to two pound range and we need to keep the big fish alive for spawners.
If you have a deep-hooked hog that is going to die, well then you should keep it and just accept that the fish you are going to eat is not as good as the little ones you should have kept instead! And a big largemouth has very thick rib bones, which are difficult to cut through using a traditional filleting method.
Fillet a bass just like you do a walleye, perch, or any other similar fish. You do NOT need to throw out the belly meat like the various American youtube videos tend to show (I just looked at a bunch.......
) If it is a big bass that you had to keep, then you do need to cut out the bones along the lateral line - just cut a triangular chunk of meat along that line (you can FEEL the bones) and discard it.If Andy L can run a video camera, I will drive up there sometime with a mess of bass and get him to capture it on video. There was some lad from the USA bragging on one of the youtube videos as how he could fillet a bass (with an electric knife) in under two minutes - heck I can do it in well under a minute and not waste any meat.
Bass are delicious, and there are lots of them in Ontario if you want to have a good feed of them. My forefathers did not succed through thousands of years of evolution so that I could eat lettuce.
Doug
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almontefisher
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Yeah but Doug...Have you ever tried to hook onto a nice head of lettuce with a top water popper?? What a fight they put upDoug wrote: Bass are delicious, and there are lots of them in Ontario if you want to have a good feed of them. My forefathers did not succed through thousands of years of evolution so that I could eat lettuce.
Doug
Bass are very tasty. They have a very mild taste, similar to Walleye..however, even more mild.
I find that Smallmouth is much more tastier than Largemouth. Probably because smallmouth are a more open water species than Largemouth. As for cleaning Bass.. They are very easy, just as easy as Walleye. I clean smallmouth teh same way as I clean Walleye.
-I cut off the head, just behind the skull, than I follow down behind the gills, and than cut behind the pectoral fins.
-Once the head is off, I run my knife along the spine, than down to the Ribs. Than I push my knife through, to the Anus when the Rib cage ends. Than I push my knife along the spine, outwards towards the tail, making sure that i remove ALL of the meat from the spine.
-I than flip the fish over, and repeat the same process, except backwards (this takes some practise to get it right).
-Once this is done, than I carve my knife along the rib cage, untill the meat and rib cage are seperated. Untill I hit the organs. Again, I flip the rish over and do the same.
-You are now left with a butterfly fillet (both sides of the fillet are attached by the meat of the belly. All that is left is the spine, ribs, tail and guts.
When you get good at it, you can do it in under 5 minutes.
I find that Smallmouth is much more tastier than Largemouth. Probably because smallmouth are a more open water species than Largemouth. As for cleaning Bass.. They are very easy, just as easy as Walleye. I clean smallmouth teh same way as I clean Walleye.
-I cut off the head, just behind the skull, than I follow down behind the gills, and than cut behind the pectoral fins.
-Once the head is off, I run my knife along the spine, than down to the Ribs. Than I push my knife through, to the Anus when the Rib cage ends. Than I push my knife along the spine, outwards towards the tail, making sure that i remove ALL of the meat from the spine.
-I than flip the fish over, and repeat the same process, except backwards (this takes some practise to get it right).
-Once this is done, than I carve my knife along the rib cage, untill the meat and rib cage are seperated. Untill I hit the organs. Again, I flip the rish over and do the same.
-You are now left with a butterfly fillet (both sides of the fillet are attached by the meat of the belly. All that is left is the spine, ribs, tail and guts.
When you get good at it, you can do it in under 5 minutes.
If you want to get good at cleaning bass, bring home a few buckets of crappie. After 20 or so, I guarantee you'll have it figured out. The smaller they are the harder to clean... Bass and Crappie are identical bone structure.
My goal is always 1 piece of throw away (head, guts, skin) and 2 fillets of skinless boneless meat. A sharp flexible knife is key...
Bass are awesome tasting, especially when sitting around a fire pit at camp. I usually eat a few 2-3lbers each summer, release the little ones, and the big'uns... when I can catch them!!
My goal is always 1 piece of throw away (head, guts, skin) and 2 fillets of skinless boneless meat. A sharp flexible knife is key...
Bass are awesome tasting, especially when sitting around a fire pit at camp. I usually eat a few 2-3lbers each summer, release the little ones, and the big'uns... when I can catch them!!