Eating freshwater fish

[Jeremy K]

My wife has to see a nutritionist regularly and he highly recommended not giving children fresh fish from this area . I'm not even sure if my son would eat it or not but we've never given him any fish. 

[The_Real_TCIII]

20 minutes ago, squirrelwhisperer said:

Guess you never heard of halibut


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Good point lol

[Steuben Jerry]

You know, with a pandemic raging around the globe, risk of lead poisoning of game shot with lead bullets, and biologist's recommendations on little to no NY fish consumption, why would any of you take the chance on consuming any of this tainted fish and wildlife. You could be putting you and your loved ones at great risk!

Because I care so much about the continued good health of all of you, I am willing to collect any fish and game that may be lurking as an undetected hazard in your freezers. 

I can drive up to a couple of hours for pick up and can bring beer for impromptu GTG's. Please keep all fish and game meat properly frozen to minimize the risk of spreading neurotoxins, or whatever "bad stuff" is in there.

I was just thinking that I haven't had any pheasant in quite a few years - I hear those are especially risky to consume. High risk of pheas-atosis. Don't risk it!

[GreeneHunter]

18 minutes ago, Steuben Jerry said:

You know, with a pandemic raging around the globe, risk of lead poisoning of game shot with lead bullets, and biologist's recommendations on little to no NY fish consumption, why would any of you take the chance on consuming any of this tainted fish and wildlife. You could be putting you and your loved ones at great risk!

Because I care so much about the continued good health of all of you, I am willing to collect any fish and game that may be lurking as an undetected hazard in your freezers. 

I can drive up to a couple of hours for pick up and can bring beer for impromptu GTG's. Please keep all fish and game meat properly frozen to minimize the risk of spreading neurotoxins, or whatever "bad stuff" is in there.

I was just thinking that I haven't had any pheasant in quite a few years - I hear those are especially risky to consume. High risk of pheas-atosis. Don't risk it!

Now there's a Team Player !!!

[Eric J]

All due to Mercury from the burning of fossil fuels..... and this mercury builds up over time so larger fish will have more.

[moog5050]

I eat fish from the local waters all the time and I can confirm that my eyesight has improved since growing a third eye.  Lots of concern over nothing.

[Pygmy]

6 hours ago, The_Real_TCIII said:

Good point lol

Hehehehe...I suspect that both TCIII and myself have experienced a few halibut....Pacific, not Atlantic...

[Pygmy]

7 hours ago, squirrelwhisperer said:

Sea bass and tog are my faves near shore. Tuna and tiles off shore. Don’t care for cod, too many worms.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Never had fresh tuna and never saw a tile..You can give me your cod, I'll gladly pop the worms out with my filet knife..

[squirrelwhisperer]

13 hours ago, Pygmy said:

Never had fresh tuna and never saw a tile..You can give me your cod, I'll gladly pop the worms out with my filet knife..

Golden Tilefish

Blueline Tilefish

Internet pics...not me

[Pygmy]

58 minutes ago, squirrelwhisperer said:

Golden Tilefish

Blueline Tilefish

Internet pics...not me

Glad to know you're not the dude wearing the "strap-on".....Hehehe...

I'd hate to have him standing behind me when I'm bending over the rail fighting a fish  !

[squirrelwhisperer]

1 minute ago, Pygmy said:

Glad to know you're not the dude wearing the "strap-on".....Hehehe...

I'd hate to have him standing behind me when I'm bending over the rail fighting a fish  !

Sooo wrong! lol

BTW fresh yellowfin is VERY hard to beat. I actually prefer it to bluefin tuna. Perfect for seared steaks or sashimi/sushi. Have taken a small one and sashimi'd it up right on the boat. Still twitching when I ate it. 

That was the day I became a member of the filet and release club. 

[rachunter]

21 hours ago, squirrelwhisperer said:

Sea bass and tog are my faves near shore. Tuna and tiles off shore. Don’t care for cod, too many worms.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I started finding worms in stripped bass a few years ago.I don't know if there eating cod or seal crap and getting them ether way it turned me off.

[squirrelwhisperer]

1 minute ago, rachunter said:

I started finding worms in stripped bass a few years ago.I don't know if there eating cod or seal crap and getting them ether way it turned me off.

Stripers are getting pretty scarce with the seiners fishing just 100 yards off the beach. Black sea bass taste much better anyhow, so...

I still like to catch them tho (striped bass that is). This season we are getting a slot limit. looks like 1 per man per day @ 28-35". That effectively shuts down spring trolling. 30-35# fish are commonplace at that time with 40+ not unusual. They come in on the heals of the large bunker schools and disappear when the sharks show up (for those that didn't know).

How do they expect you to release one of those big girls after being trolled and have her swim away healthy? I would normally have taken one for the boat and we (me and all aboard) split it at the filet table. Guess that won't be happening this year. Apparently they want us to decimate the next generation of bigguns and kill the breeding stock caught as bycatch. 

Never found a worm in one tho. 

[BigVal]

I've eaten freshwater fish for as long as I can remember, usually a couple meals a month sometimes more. If you ask me I'm just fine. Lol

[wolc123]

9 hours ago, BigVal said:

I've eaten freshwater fish for as long as I can remember, usually a couple meals a month sometimes more. If you ask me I'm just fine. Lol

Same here.  Others may differ however.        

[518BowSlayer]

On ‎3‎/‎2‎/‎2020 at 7:28 PM, wolc123 said:

There are different advisories for different waters and depending on your age and sex.    For example, it is ok for women and children to eat bass from Lake Erie and the upper Niagara river, but not so from the lower Niagara, Lake Ontario, or the St Lawrence river (men over 50 are ok to eat those however).   I am not a catch and release guy (I believe that is mostly just the sensless maiming of a fine food source).  What I do is separate and mark the vacuum-sealed freezer packages.  My wife and kids get the Erie & upper Niagara river stuff, while I get the St. Lawrence river stuff.   I can be on the Upper Niagara or Lake Erie in a half hour from my house and my family has a camp on the St Lawrence, so those waters are where all of our fish comes from.  I much prefer eating (and catching) bass over any other fresh water species, but I save the walleyes and perch that I catch (by accident) for my wife and kids because they like them.     We eat fish from those waters (mostly bass), about twice per month on average.   That keeps everyone happy and healthy and stays within all the state recommended guidelines.  I also mostly target and keep smaller bass (12-15" long) because they taste a bit better and have less chemical buildup in them. 

The reason most guys don't bother with bass is they have no clue how to care for the meat.  You cant just throw them in a cooler and let them suffocate and die, with the guts in them, like you can with perch and walleye.   They have to be kept alive and as fresh as possible (an aerated live-well works wonderful for that, and lets me cull out the big ones (over 15").    The fish should be dispatched with a small club between the eyes, and the meat removed and vacuum sealed while it is still twitching.   If it is not twitching it wont taste as good.  Bass meat has more oil in it than walleye or perch and that keeps it moist when using healthier cooking methods like broiling, or baking.   Walleye and perch are better for frying but that is not such a healthy way to prepare fish.      

you can also cut the gills to dispatch them and they will bleed out leaving the meat perfectly white. works with any fish really

[wolc123]

2 hours ago, 518BowSlayer said:

you can also cut the gills to dispatch them and they will bleed out leaving the meat perfectly white. works with any fish really

I have heard of others doing that with bass and they say it does get rid of the red in the fillets (which I usually trim out of the larger fillets before freezing), after killing them with the club.  I wonder if that would result in that same awesome fresh-fish taste (complete lack of "fishyness") that I get from bass that were very much alive when dispatched, compared to if they were just left to suffocated on ice.  I don't think it would be worth the risk to find out.   I also like the livewell, because it lets me cull out the big ones.           

As far as the taste comparison between the livewell bass and cooler suffocated walleye goes, we did that last week.  I used our last pack of lake Erie walleye (from June 2019) for the wife and kids, and a pack of St Lawrence largemouth (from August 2019) for myself.  My wife baked all of it in the oven.   The bass was way better than the walleye but I think that was more due to the fact that the bass were from fish on the smaller side (12-15"), while the walleye were from fish in the 25" range (thats about what they averaged on Erie last year).  The walleye definitely had a hint of that "fishy" taste, while the bass did not.  

Much like big lake Ontario trout and salmon, those big Erie walleye make for some impressive photos but they are certainly nothing to right home about on the table after they have been in the freezer a while, even if they were vacuum sealed.   I think I will release those I catch by accident this year, if I won't be able to eat them right away.   In 2018 we ate a big walleye the day after catching it, never having been in the freezer, and it was a lot better baked but still not as good as the smaller bass.   

We should be good now until the third Saturday in June anyhow, because the last six packs of vacuum-sealed fish in our freezer are smallmouth bass from the Upper Niagara (caught in September and October 2019).   It will be nice not to have to separate it, for the wife and kids and myself anymore, when baking and serving.   They were not overly impressed with their last fish dinner (big, fishy, 8-month in freezer, walleye), but they will surely love the next few.

Edited March 23, 2020 by wolc123

[518BowSlayer]

3 hours ago, wolc123 said:

I have heard of others doing that with bass and they say it does get rid of the red in the fillets (which I usually trim out of the larger fillets before freezing), after killing them with the club.  I wonder if that would result in that same awesome fresh-fish taste (complete lack of "fishyness") that I get from bass that were very much alive when dispatched, compared to if they were just left to suffocated on ice.  I don't think it would be worth the risk to find out.   I also like the livewell, because it lets me cull out the big ones.           

As far as the taste comparison between the livewell bass and cooler suffocated walleye goes, we did that last week.  I used our last pack of lake Erie walleye (from June 2019) for the wife and kids, and a pack of St Lawrence largemouth (from August 2019) for myself.  My wife baked all of it in the oven.   The bass was way better than the walleye but I think that was more due to the fact that the bass were from fish on the smaller side (12-15"), while the walleye were from fish in the 25" range (thats about what they averaged on Erie last year).  The walleye definitely had a hint of that "fishy" taste, while the bass did not.  

Much like big lake Ontario trout and salmon, those big Erie walleye make for some impressive photos but they are certainly nothing to right home about on the table after they have been in the freezer a while, even if they were vacuum sealed.   I think I will release those I catch by accident this year, if I won't be able to eat them right away.   In 2018 we ate a big walleye the day after catching it, never having been in the freezer, and it was a lot better baked but still not as good as the smaller bass.   

We should be good now until the third Saturday in June anyhow, because the last six packs of vacuum-sealed fish in our freezer are smallmouth bass from the Upper Niagara (caught in September and October 2019).   It will be nice not to have to separate it, for the wife and kids and myself anymore, when baking and serving.   They were not overly impressed with their last fish dinner (big, fishy, 8-month in freezer, walleye), but they will surely love the next few.

I got the idea of cutting the gills while they're still alive from the captain of the charter boat that me and my father go on a few times a year on lake Ontario. as soon as the fish come out of the net he cuts their gills and leaves them on the deck to bleed out for maybe a minute and then throws them in the cooler. meat is super clean. I started doing that with bass and the fillets are really clean and delicious. I would recommend breading or batter dipping bass, walleye of perch and then frying over baking though. freshwater fish fry!!!

[wolc123]

1 hour ago, 518BowSlayer said:

I got the idea of cutting the gills while they're still alive from the captain of the charter boat that me and my father go on a few times a year on lake Ontario. as soon as the fish come out of the net he cuts their gills and leaves them on the deck to bleed out for maybe a minute and then throws them in the cooler. meat is super clean. I started doing that with bass and the fillets are really clean and delicious. I would recommend breading or batter dipping bass, walleye of perch and then frying over baking though. freshwater fish fry!!!

For my first 35 years, all of my fish was fried.  Perch, walleye, and calico (crappie) are better that way than bass, because there is less oil in the meat.    They are also not as good baked or broiled for the same reason (they dry out too much).   Fish oil is very good for you, from a health standpoint, and baking and broiling are healthier cooking methods than frying.   That is why I have been mostly sticking with bass and baking/broiling the last 20 years.   Besides being healthier, they are a lot more fun for me to catch than walleye, perch or crappie.   The older one gets, the more valuable time becomes, so I look to squeeze as much fun into what time remains and I seek to extend that time as long as possible.   These days, I will take baked bass over fried walleye or perch any day of the week and twice on Sundays.    To each their own though, and I am glad that so many folks prefer golf or fishing for walleye, perch, trout and salmon.  That leaves more bass for me. 

I got to admit that trout and salmon fishing on Lake Ontario is lots of fun and I have done a fair amount of it.   The power runs of those kings are great and the aerobatics of the steelhead is always spectacular.  I can be on lake Ontario in a half hour and I would certainly do a lot more if it, were it not for the health advisories against eating those fish and if I could safely feed it to my wife and kids.   If and when I do manage to go again, I will try that gill-cut trick.   I could wack them over the head with a club and let them bleed out in the transom well to keep the boat's carpet clean.   Keeping the boat clean is important to me.   What I like the best about trout and salmon trolling, is having the ability to drink a beer or two during the process.   That is a no-go for bass fishing, because the first thing alcohol takes away from a person is the ability to detect the strike.  That is a non-issue when the rod is in a holder and the fish hooks itself.   Bobber fishing for perch, crappies, or pike also has that advantage (being able to drink a beer).

Edited March 23, 2020 by wolc123

[ncountry]

3 hours ago, wolc123 said:

For my first 35 years, all of my fish was fried.  Perch, walleye, and calico (crappie) are better that way than bass, because there is less oil in the meat.    They are also not as good baked or broiled for the same reason (they dry out too much).   Fish oil is very good for you, from a health standpoint, and baking and broiling are healthier cooking methods than frying.   That is why I have been mostly sticking with bass and baking/broiling the last 20 years.   Besides being healthier, they are a lot more fun for me to catch than walleye, perch or crappie.   The ability to drink a beer or two during the process.   That is a no-go for bass fishing, because the first thing alcohol takes away from a person is the ability to detect the strike.  That is a non-issue when the rod is in a holder and the fish hooks itself.   Bobber fishing for perch, crappies, or pike also has that advantage (being able to drink a beer).

I  like fish the best fried. Not that bakes with butter and some lemon pepper isn't pretty good. To me the secret to fried bass is the ratio of meat to batter. If you slice up the bass to crappie or perch size pieces most people wouldnt be able to tell the difference. 

And how much beer do you drink while bass fishing. Lol. ;).  I dont recall having a problem detecting strikes while drinking beers and fishing for bass  .

But then again, I was drinking. 

Edited March 23, 2020 by ncountry