guys is commenting on eating other species, despite title of this thread ---- what about shad? and all the bones.... my uncle used to smoke shad, and even tho i ate that when i was very young --- wow..... i don't remember about the bones....

i've never even thought about eating a lmb. i'm there to catch 'em, not eat 'em.

3 hours ago, gim said:

Studies have shown that it is beneficial to harvest a percentage of smaller bass from a body of water in order to increase the average size of each fish. Every fish needs a specific amount of resources and the term for this is carrying capacity. Each lake or river, depending on size only has so much to offer. So the idea here is that if you thin a few of the smaller ones, that availability of resources can be filled by a single bigger version.

And when I say smaller bass, I mean 12 inches. Not 3 or 4 pounders. Up here in the north, it takes a bass 10 years to reach 20 inches/5 pounds because of colder water. Replacing just a single fish like that takes many years.

Only problem there is keeping 12 inch bass is illegal almost anywhere I can fish

3 hours ago, fishhugger said:

guys is commenting on eating other species, despite title of this thread ---- what about shad? and all the bones.... my uncle used to smoke shad, and even tho i ate that when i was very young --- wow..... i don't remember about the bones....

i've never even thought about eating a lmb. i'm there to catch 'em, not eat 'em.

Gross……… apparently their roe is valuable around the mid Atlantic. I saw “buck shad” for sale at reddington terminal in Philly, bout puked just thinking about eating it

4 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

Only problem there is keeping 12 inch bass is illegal almost anywhere I can fish

I understand, gotta follow the rules. Does that include white bass too?

Nope! Which is why I eat tons and tons of white bass. Black bass are even better but have length minimums

I fish small to medium private waters. In a pond it's best to remove 20 lbs. of bass per acre a year of small bass to help the overall average size. Also, these are mostly very clean waters. They taste better and are healthier to eat than the crappie from big lakes with boat motors, fertilizer runoff, water treatment plants and sewage spills. One landowner makes me keep whatever I catch.

So yeah, I eat them. I never keep one larger than about 3 lbs. Once a bass gets to 3 lbs. it's much more likely to break through to the 5 lb range. And once it's 5 lbs it can eat whatever it wants and can be the largest bass in the body of water if some fool don't eat it. And that's what I want to catch. It's a numbers game at that point. So I do eat them and I am interested in conservation. Getting dinks out of water so the 3 pounders can grow is management.

I don't normally keep many fish to eat. Mainly while up in Canada each summer. We like to put our catches together and have at least one good fish fry during the week. Occasionally two.

Up there, the quantity you can keep is pretty limited and the size slots are tight. Most catches are over the slot so we usually have to keep various kinds to have enough to fry up.

And yes... Smallies are often part of the mix. Normally the mix is some Walleye, Sauger, Northern, maybe a couple Perch, and often a few little Smallies. Walleye/Sauger slot is something like 13.5 - 17.5 and Smallies are like 13.5 - 15.5".

On 2/2/2026 at 8:37 PM, TnRiver46 said:

Nope! Which is why I eat tons and tons of white bass. Black bass are even better but have length minimums

paraphrasing here but i remember hearing something along the lines of "not much better than a 15 inch brownie" 🤣

On 2/2/2026 at 4:20 PM, TnRiver46 said:

Gross……… apparently their roe is valuable around the mid Atlantic. I saw “buck shad” for sale at reddington terminal in Philly, bout puked just thinking about eating it

Have you ever tried shad roe? I"m talking Hickory and American shad... this is not the same kind of fish as gizzard or threadfin shad.

We call it "redneck caviar" and I can't wait until March rolls around and I can go catch some. Lots of guys I fish with eat it too. I fry it in bacon grease and some garlic... and eat it with grits, bacon, and green onions. It has a unique, briney taste.

Once you get past the thought of eating "weird food" you might love it as much as I do! Other guys I know cook it with sausage and eat it with eggs for breakfast.

On 2/2/2026 at 1:18 PM, fishhugger said:

guys is commenting on eating other species, despite title of this thread ---- what about shad? and all the bones.... my uncle used to smoke shad, and even tho i ate that when i was very young --- wow..... i don't remember about the bones....

i've never even thought about eating a lmb. i'm there to catch 'em, not eat 'em.

Your uncle had the right idea smoking it. The meat itself is very tasty smoked but it is a lot of work. I use my charcoal smoker and the hardest part is taking the time to pull the meat off the bones... but it makes some of the best fish dip you'll ever eat.

Shad is a very important fish in the history of our nation. George Washington was a commercial fisherman, and shad fed our troops at Valley Forge that were on the brink of starvation.

As far as LMB is concerned, I've ate a few that were pretty good, but I've also ate a few that tasted like mud. I don't eat them anymore, too many other tasty fish out there (like shad)

I don't eat fish in general, but by all means eat the bass if you like them. I'm more against pro tournament fishing that kills a lot big fish for a guy to take some pictures with them at the weight in.

20 hours ago, Carolina Pines said:

Have you ever tried shad roe? I"m talking Hickory and American shad... this is not the same kind of fish as gizzard or threadfin shad.

We call it "redneck caviar" and I can't wait until March rolls around and I can go catch some. Lots of guys I fish with eat it too. I fry it in bacon grease and some garlic... and eat it with grits, bacon, and green onions. It has a unique, briney taste.

Once you get past the thought of eating "weird food" you might love it as much as I do! Other guys I know cook it with sausage and eat it with eggs for breakfast.

Your uncle had the right idea smoking it. The meat itself is very tasty smoked but it is a lot of work. I use my charcoal smoker and the hardest part is taking the time to pull the meat off the bones... but it makes some of the best fish dip you'll ever eat.

Shad is a very important fish in the history of our nation. George Washington was a commercial fisherman, and shad fed our troops at Valley Forge that were on the brink of starvation.

As far as LMB is concerned, I've ate a few that were pretty good, but I've also ate a few that tasted like mud. I don't eat them anymore, too many other tasty fish out there (like shad)

No but my brother has, he lives right next to the deleware river and said it’s good. He has also camped at valley forge many times. We don’t have American or hickory shad here, ours only come in the nasty variety

I keep some out of my pond to control over population mainly in fall when water is cool

On 1/29/2026 at 2:43 PM, king fisher said:

I like to eat bass, but I don't like to keep them fresh, clean or cook them. I release my bass because I am lazy, and tell everybody it is because I am a conservationist.

This describes me well. I haven't eaten a fish I caught in over a decade, but I told my kids we will this year so I guess it's on. I think it's valuable for the kids to go through the experience of eating what we catch.

My thoughts on eating bass:

-selective harvest helps a body of water produce healthier bass populations including larger fish

-a large bass being killed for the purpose of consumption hurts my heart (Legality doesn’t always guide my morality)

-largemouth taste like the seaweed they live in

-smallmouth taste delicious

-when a fish fry is what I’m after, perch, sunfish, and crappie are what I go for

Those are about all my thoughts on eating bass.

I don’t personally care for bass. However, as long as some one is legally harvesting bass. I say eat them.

At least in Central and Mid-Michigan we are getting to the point that we need to be keeping more of them. A lot of our lakes are inundated with 12-16 inch fish.

41 minutes ago, Mbirdsley said:

I don’t personally care for bass. However, as long as some one is legally harvesting bass. I say eat them.

At least in Central and Mid-Michigan we are getting to the point that we need to be keeping more of them. A lot of are lakes are inundated with 12-16 inch fish.

Might be because we have a 14 inch minimum size limit and when a fish gets legal and caught, it's gone?

13 minutes ago, MickD said:

Might be because we have a 14 inch minimum size limit and when a fish gets legal and caught, it's gone?

No one’s keeping bass any more. Maybe around the population centers. We have too many other fish to catch and eat.

I rarely run into other people fishing for bass on the inland lakes. Unless it is a popular lake near the population centers or the Saginaw bay.

As long as the angler obeys the law, and it is a law, with the size and creel limits for the species kept in the state he fishes ...I'm totally ok with that.

Good Fishing

Yes. It's tasty and I enjoy providing cleaner food for my family when I can.

I have my limits though. I only keep spots (lakes I fish have no limit on them to try and curb their invasion) and any fish I hook bad enough it doesn't look like they will make it. It's rare...but it's fishing and it happens. It's funny to me a lot of people say don't take the fish because you want them to grow to giants yet there is plenty of evidence you need a good balance between food and bass #s to get them. If there is too much competition and not enough food you are going to get stunted growth potential. Thin the heard a bit.

Side note: I tried eating crappie for the first time last year and I felt like the effort wasn't worth it. They just have zero taste of any kind. Really don't know what the hype is about.

11 hours ago, Mbirdsley said:

No one’s keeping bass any more. Maybe around the population centers. We have too many other fish to catch and eat.

I rarely run into other people fishing for bass on the inland lakes. Unless it is a popular lake near the population centers or the Saginaw bay.

We have a couple lakes here, housing development lakes, where I think a LOT of bass are being kept and possibly the link to size I mentioned may be taking place. I have no data, just an educated guess.

Nowadays I practice catch and release. When I was still working and visiting Florida once a year, I did keep bass and eat a fish fry before heading back home. That's what was expected of me. No way was I going to upset my host. Very tasty the way they were prepared.

I ate plenty of fish in my youth...mostly panfish...but even carp got eaten. Plenty of bullheads, too. Family of 5 with one wage earner. Fish were welcome on the table.

As mentioned above, you have to pay attention to what chemicals may be in the water you fish. There are 3 lakes connected by short channels behind my B-I-L's home. We never fished in the lake furthest from his home because of the chemicals. Not sure I'd be willing to dip a toe in it either! ☹️

6 hours ago, new2BC4bass said:

I ate plenty of fish in my youth...mostly panfish...but even carp got eaten.

When there were fish markets in the area I ate carp often . There were carp fish fries all the time. Taverns even sold carp sandwhiches. Carp was popular in all the communities along the mississippi river.

1 hour ago, scaleface said:

When there were fish markets in the area I ate carp often . There were carp fish fries all the time. Taverns even sold carp sandwhiches. Carp was popular in all the communities along the mississippi river.

When I lived on the Des Moines river we would have carp tournaments. Afterwards, we would cover them in clay and bury them in the coals of a fire. Cook them while we drank beer and told lies. Good stuff!

1 minute ago, Lottabass said:

When I lived on the Des Moines river we would have carp tournaments. Afterwards, we would cover them in clay and bury them in the coals of a fire. Cook them while we drank beer and told lies. Good stuff!

Sounds like a great time.

On 2/7/2026 at 7:35 AM, FishTax said:

This describes me well. I haven't eaten a fish I caught in over a decade, but I told my kids we will this year so I guess it's on. I think it's valuable for the kids to go through the experience of eating what we catch.

I like to feel like I'm part of the natural order of things. I don't hunt, I only fish. So this means occasionally keeping some fish and enjoying my place in the food chain.

2 hours ago, the reel ess said:

I like to feel like I'm part of the natural order of things. I don't hunt, I only fish. So this means keeping some fish and enjoying my place in the food chain.

I've hunted over 30 years and consuming them has never been a priority. I'm certainly not against it, and I would never waste an animal or bird that was edible, but if that was the only or even primary reason I hunted, I'd probably never go again. There's so many other reasons I do it. But that's another topic for another thread.