I just tried and ate some large mouth last night. It did have a slight pond taste to it which I've never noticed before yesterday. my 11 yr old son pointed it out to me. I grew up eating LM out of our private lake on farm in upstate NY and never noticed any pond taste. they are easy to fillet and no bones if you do it right. always fried them. Super good fish. maybe the smaller ones are better tasting. mine was almost 3lb that tasted a little like pond water. Stay away from stinky smelling water. over all great eating fish!