Anyone ever eat them? I float a stretch of the river where its not uncommon for me to land 50-75 smallmouth in a day but I always throw them back just like I do largemouth. Anyone eat them? How do you prepare them?
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Anyone ever eat them? I float a stretch of the river where its not uncommon for me to land 50-75 smallmouth in a day but I always throw them back just like I do largemouth. Anyone eat them? How do you prepare them?
fillet and fry
Caught a few growing up in PA, just fry them up like a bream, perch or crappie.
Where are you fishing?
Tastes just like LM or spotted bass. It's a pretty versatile fish for cooking.
I float a stretch of the Elk river in Missouri. About 20mins away from my house in Bentonville Ar. Depending on how high the water is we usually do a 6hr float in the kayaks. It's one of the nicest stretches of water I've seen around here. Tons of bluffs and deep holes along the wayQuote:
Originally Posted by CarlF
Just like other posts, fillet and deep fry. After filleting them i let them set overnite in the fridge in salt water, rinse thoroughly then batter, or rinse and put in freezer bag, fill bag with beer and will be amazing when ready to fry. Really good eating. I prepare all freshwater bass this way.
Smallmouth are excellent, we do not have many on my part of the Tennessee River, so I always release any I catch. Btw, smallies are true Bass, whereas all other bass are actually members of the Bream family.
Actually, Smallmouths are in the same genus as largemouth, spots, etc..: Micropterus spQuote:
Originally Posted by bodebum
Bream are Lepomis sp.
White perch, white bass, yellow bass and Stripers (and hybrids) are the "true basses", Morone sp.
Either way, they are all tasty when fried up!
I love catching smallies, that being said I don't know if I ever actually eaten one. Up here, we have a lot of trout and salmon, not to mention walleyes...some of the best eating fish, fresh or saltwater.
I love yellow perch. One of my favorite fresh water fish only crappie an flathead rank higher on my list.Quote:
Originally Posted by BDL1969
BDL I get a few walleye but havent really figured out how to catch them constantly. They run in the part of the river that I'm just not comfortable putting my kayak in or my small flat bottom. Guys with big bass boats seem to try and swamp kayaks and smaller boats
Walleyes can be a bit of a challenge. The guys in the "big" bass boats are over compensating for something....
Quote:
Originally Posted by CarlF
YES! All are in the family "Fryemupis" ;-)
Haha!Quote:
Originally Posted by Pier#r
I'm gonna have to keep you hungry folks away from my fish tanks!
Some years ago I started dividing larger bass and crappie filets into four or five smaller pieces, especially bass. Splitting the filet makes it easier to get the salt and Cajun seasoning into the meat. It cooks faster and to my brood, tastes better. Smallmouth were regular table fare for us when we lived on Table Rock. Fished the kings river a bunch too....never tried the elk river....
The Elk River in North Alabama is a feeder into the Tennessee River and is loaded with smallmouth, largemouth, crappie, bream, flathead, blue and channel cat. I have always wanted to try eating smallmouth but keeping them is sort of frowned on. Most everyone I know catch and release bass but keep and eat the others.
too mushy of meat for me, I am spoiled with the crappie and walleye (maybe at certain times of the year the meat might be firmer )