I’m a Chinese guy.  I also pretty much catch/release. Growing up I’ve eaten many bass.  I still see it at restaurants and my family will order it up. (Funny when they sell it as sea-bass;  yea right)

 

I don’t love it.  I’ve had sine cooked up delicious tho. I’ll try a smallie if I ever catch one.  Walleye, get the fry oil!  Ocean fish, yes!  
 

my family is always, “where’s the fish?  You let it go?!!”  Cracks me up.  Yesterday leaving Clearlake, I noted they have a fish cleaning station. 

Quite often

Any LMB between 2# and 3# has a 50/50 chance of ending up in my freezer - then broiled at some time.

Nope. Never. But then again I hate the taste of fish.

8 minutes ago, They call me “Gaiter Salad” said:

I’m a Chinese guy.  I also pretty much catch/release. Growing up I’ve eaten many bass.  I still see it at restaurants and my family will order it up. (Funny when they sell it as sea-bass;  yea right)

 

I don’t love it.  I’ve had sine cooked up delicious tho. I’ll try a smallie if I ever catch one.  Walleye, get the fry oil!  Ocean fish, yes!  
 

my family is always, “where’s the fish?  You let it go?!!”  Cracks me up.  Yesterday leaving Clearlake, I noted they have a fish cleaning station. 

The sea-bass you see on the menu should be Black Sea Bass or other member of the serranidae family of fish. Doubtful it is freshwater Bass.

 

I only eat Bass that don’t survive catching and landing. Since I have gotten much better at not gut hooking fish and hook removal I can honestly say it’s been years since I have eaten Bass.

I've eaten a few over the years. One year my local lake had a huge year class of 10-12 inch fish and the county made a special under 12 keep 5 a day limit to thin it out. I kept some that year to do my part..that size they were not bad at all. That lasted one season. Since then I've only kept a few that I hooked deep and knew they were gonners. I'm not hating on bass or bass eaters...but I have plenty of places close to me to catch bluegill,crappie,perch,yellow bass and walleye all of which I feel are better eating...so I don't ever go out intending to keep bass.

Once in a blue moon I'll keep a limit of small keeper largemouth caught late in the season from cooler water. They are OK, but I still prefer bluegills and yellow perch caught through the ice. 

 

I did that with smallmouth once...and it will be the only time. I didn't do anything out of the ordinary on how I clean, prep, and cook them from the largemouth, perch, bluegills, and crappies. They were the WORST fish I have ever had. FWIW...I hate crappies and catfish too. I only like the bluegills, perch and occasional small cold water largemouth. 

41 minutes ago, They call me “Gaiter Salad” said:

I’m a Chinese guy.  I also pretty much catch/release. Growing up I’ve eaten many bass.  I still see it at restaurants and my family will order it up. (Funny when they sell it as sea-bass;  yea right)

 

I don’t love it.  I’ve had sine cooked up delicious tho. I’ll try a smallie if I ever catch one.  Walleye, get the fry oil!  Ocean fish, yes!  
 

my family is always, “where’s the fish?  You let it go?!!”  Cracks me up.  Yesterday leaving Clearlake, I noted they have a fish cleaning station. 

Yea wrong, fresh water bass like LMB are not commercial fished in California. Sea bass is usually just that some specie of ocean bass, striped or White Sea bass 90% of the time.

Fresh water fish in California are considered a renewable resource for the public to catch and eat on public lakes.

Tom

   With the questionable levels of contaminanants in the waters where I live, I don't eat bass. When I was a kid, we ate them all the time, but no more.

   Times change, and not always for the better.       jj

44 minutes ago, NYWayfarer said:

The sea-bass you see on the menu should be Black Sea Bass or other member of the serranidae family of fish. Doubtful it is freshwater Bass.

 

I only eat Bass that don’t survive catching and landing. Since I have gotten much better at not gut hooking fish and hook removal I can honestly say it’s been years since I have eaten Bass.

Oh it’s a black bass.  I see them alive in the big fish tanks. 

I eat them from time to time, largemouth rank second only behind walleye for freshwater fish in my opinion. Also, I’ve 100% seen local fish served by restaurants. It’s not legal but it happens, I also know fishermen that give their catch to restaurants 

I rather eat fish I catch from the ocean.

I’ve eaten bass a few times I don’t really care for it. I like crappie and bluegill much better. 

45 minutes ago, ww2farmer said:

Once in a blue moon I'll keep a limit of small keeper largemouth caught late in the season from cooler water. They are OK, but I still prefer bluegills and yellow perch caught through the ice. 

 

I did that with smallmouth once...and it will be the only time. I didn't do anything out of the ordinary on how I clean, prep, and cook them from the largemouth, perch, bluegills, and crappies. They were the WORST fish I have ever had. FWIW...I hate crappies and catfish too. I only like the bluegills, perch and occasional small cold water largemouth. 

Yellow Perch are delicious and my favorite fresh water fish to eat.

3 minutes ago, NYWayfarer said:

Yellow Perch are delicious and my favorite fresh water fish to eat.

In your opinion how do yellow perch compare to crappie or walleye? I have eaten walleye and crappie I have caught, they taste good but I prefer saltwater fish.

living in the philippines PH for ten years up till 2019 i ate alot of fish from the ocean. I didnt catch the fish, i bought it from the street vendors after the trawlers came in from the seas. I liked it as it was like eating a steak.

 

Now back in the usa and fresh water fishing with the wife whom grew up on fish for breakfast lunch and dinner we were keeping the bass we caught.

Well i dont like the taste of bass, she has cooked it different ways and using spices and still i dont like it. Also i cannot eat the bass i catch anymore because after looking them in the eye i dont want to kill them, I have some weird respect for the bass i catch as if they have become my friends.

 

When i was in the military the chow hall was serving rabbit, the military had a contract for rabbit so you eat it or not. I was hungry and when i was eating the fried rabbit i kept thinking of the rabbits in my younger days running through the yard with big ears and puffy cotton tails and i had to put the rabbit down and never eat it again.

 

 

 

 

 

1 minute ago, soflabasser said:

In your opinion how do yellow perch compare to crappie or walleye? I have eaten walleye and crappie I have caught, they taste good but I prefer saltwater fish.

Perch are worlds better than crappie. Crappie have always been "mushy" and a little bland. Perch are firm, flakey and are "fresh water haddock"....only smaller IMHO. Walleye are similar to perch, but I don't think quite as good, and both perch and walleye are a notch below bluegills IMHO.

Just now, soflabasser said:

In your opinion how to yellow perch compare to crappie or walleye? I have eaten walleye and crappie I have caught, they taste good but I prefer saltwater fish.

I couldn’t tell you. I haven’t had Crappie in decades and never had Walleye. Crazy I know for a Northern angler. I have not hooked one in a very, very, very long time. When I did it wasn’t a keeper.

I used to growing up eat 2lbers occasionally. Not really anymore. It's just not worth the effort to me I don't think they taste that great. Just a generic white fish. 

1 hour ago, ww2farmer said:

Once in a blue moon I'll keep a limit of small keeper largemouth caught late in the season from cooler water. They are OK, but I still prefer bluegills and yellow perch caught through the ice. 

 

I did that with smallmouth once...and it will be the only time. I didn't do anything out of the ordinary on how I clean, prep, and cook them from the largemouth, perch, bluegills, and crappies. They were the WORST fish I have ever had. FWIW...I hate crappies and catfish too. I only like the bluegills, perch and occasional small cold water largemouth. 

I don't hate crappies but will agree they have a very mild almost boring flavor and a texture that leaves something to be desired. I recently kept some wall eyes...they were good but far from a favorite. I'm pretty sure that perch and especially bluegills caught thru the ice are as good eating as you can get from freshwater fish. This works out good for me as I have a buddy I ice fish with who prefers crappie over gills so it makes splitting the fish up after a trip good for both of us.

No. I don't eat anything that comes from the canals and the delta where i live.  

But even If i could, i wouldn't. Always catch and release.  But there might come a day where i will need to. 

Never. I know this sounds weird, but I can't bring myself to eat them because I respect them too much. 

 

I'm 100% catch and release sport fisherman. These fish bring me so much pleasure that I just can even fathom the thought of eating them. The thought of it makes my stomach turn. 

 

And just to be clear, I'm not saying people shouldn't be eating them or anything. That's their right as long as they follow the size/limit rules. 

1 hour ago, They call me “Gaiter Salad” said:

Oh it’s a black bass.  I see them alive in the big fish tanks. 

Illegal in California to transport live black bass or sell them. 

Tom

18 minutes ago, WRB said:

Illegal in California to transport live black bass or sell them. 

Tom

I know this.  But I’ve seen them. 

1 hour ago, WRB said:

Illegal in California to transport live black bass or sell them. 

Tom

Illegal to sell almost any fish in Tennessee but it happens all the time