i might eat a few (this year).  my wife loves a Cantonese dish where the fish is steamed and covered with scallions and ginger.  

 

i dont think a LMB is particularly yummy.  how about the other two common around me?

 

smallmouth bass, or the Spotted bass.   this one giant lake near me, could use a few bass taken out, and the water is relatively clean.  i'm not eating anything out of Clearlake.    i like having only two nipples.  

 

i imagine WHEN i take a fish plays a role in deliciousness?

All about the same if in the same lake. Variance from lake to lake is bigger than fish to fish. 

I've heard smallmouth is tasty

I've always heard spots are the best, but haven't tried them myself. Like @casts_by_fly said, they all taste about the same if they're from the same body of water. My understanding is that spotted bass tend to have a high natural mortality each year, so that would be my choice if I were you. River smallies are notoriously slow growing, so I would avoid them. 

I think they all taste a lot like greyhound...

 

I prefer walleye, crappie or bluegill.

I have eaten all three.  Though I rarely eat them I like spots the best.  I quit eating smallmouth when I learned that it takes 10 years for them to reach the legal length in my favorite lake.  Our largemouth smell like frogs so I don’t eat them.

6 minutes ago, Jig Man said:

I have eaten all three.  Though I rarely eat them I like spots the best.  I quit eating smallmouth when I learned that it takes 10 years for them to reach the legal length in my favorite lake.  Our largemouth smell like frogs so I don’t eat them.

Ironically everybody I know who has tried Frogs, has loved them.  

Might want to eat those Frog smelling Bass 😁

The couple times I’ve eaten largemouth it’s been out of very weedy lakes, and the fish very much smelled and tasted like stinky seaweed. The one time I’ve eaten smallmouth it fried and tasted just like a bluegill or pumpkinseed. 

In Lake Lanier Alabama/spotted bass are my choice of table fare.  There are no SM and LM are much less tasty than Alabamas.  We eat them a couple times a month caught the same day.

I rank them gross, gross, and gross.

Agree ☝️☝️

hahahah...some would argue that means you are the bad cook.

 

but yea..LMB is so mushy to me. 

IME - it does not taste like chicken.

A-Jay

I do a fish fry a couple of times of year and LM and spots are fantastic.

44 minutes ago, Darth-Baiter said:

hahahah...some would argue that means you are the bad cook.

 

but yea..LMB is so mushy to me. 

If it's mushy soak it in some salt water to firm it up. Under 2 lbs are recommended

If LMB is mushy something went wrong. Firm flaky white deliciousness 

 

if you labeled LMB as walleye, people would say it was wonderful. It’s all in your heads 

Back decades ago I ate just about anything I caught. Bass were ok, pickerel tasted good but had too many bones. My favorite freshwater fish to eat were wild trout, salmon, and I loved hornpout. Saltwater-- flounder, cod, and haddock.

The LMB from our deep clear cool water reservoirs gave firm white meat and taste good, but still have a distinct bass flavor.

Never eaten Smallmouth and can ‘t tell the difference Spots vs LMB.

The water quality and prey source affects how fish taste. IE Rainbow trout from Big Bear lake caught during the warm summer months are a algae taste but during colder water periods are excellent eating.

Texture is important and if the bass in your area are mushy don’t eat them.

Keeping any fresh caught fish to eat put it on ice quickly after catching it.

I prefer ocean fish over fresh water fish for eating.

Tom

1 hour ago, Darth-Baiter said:

hahahah...some would argue that means you are the bad cook.

Or it just means I hate eating fish and seafood altogether. 😉

They all taste great as long as some else cleans and cooks them.

Like all fish they taste really good when you fry them up and put some salt and butter and lemon on them.

All 3 taste the same. Do you think black crappie taste different that white crappie ? Does a sauger taste different than a walleye ? Same genus same flavor is a decent rule of thumb 

6 hours ago, WRB said:

The LMB from our deep clear cool water reservoirs gave firm white meat and taste good, but still have a distinct bass flavor.

Never eaten Smallmouth and can ‘t tell the difference Spots vs LMB.

The water quality and prey source affects how fish taste. IE Rainbow trout from Big Bear lake caught during the warm summer months are a algae taste but during colder water periods are excellent eating.

Texture is important and if the bass in your area are mushy don’t eat them.

Keeping any fresh caught fish to eat put it on ice quickly after catching it.

I prefer ocean fish over fresh water fish for eating.

Tom

 Tom, I’m with you 100%. I vastly prefer fishing fresh vs salt. But eating? If it ain’t salt, I’ll pass. 
 

I used to love a mess of pan-fried bluegills with butter and lemon, but haven’t had them in decades. 

 Not a fan of warm water bass of any type.

 

We go to Ontario every summer on a family trip and like to have a fish fry one night of the week. The lake we fish has very tight slots of what you can keep. Most we catch are above the slot and not able to be kept.

 

To get enough to have a fish fry we often have to keep anything that fits the slots so you might have some Walleye/Sauger(13-17" slot), Smallmouth (13-15"slot), Northern, or maybe a few Perch or Crappy mixed in. Hard to beat that fresh fish with some fresh cut fries and some pork n' beans!!!

 

In my opinion, that cool Northern water makes them all taste better. Northern taste best IMO and hard to tell a difference between the rest other than by the shape of the filets.

I’ve eaten bass from 85-90 degree water in a southern Alabama swamp for 25 years, they are absolutely delicious. I even take them home and fry them for people, they usually say it’s the best fish they’ve ever had 

 

this one was 5 lbs even from there, very tasty and flaky, the opposite of mushy 

 

If you don’t believe it, try some. Perception does not equal reality