Worst tasting fish

[Fishmission]

Devils lake crappie supposedly are yuck mushy. This comes from a guy that normally loves them. Could it be a diet of freshwater shrimp causing the yuck? The perch are yummy on a shrimp diet. Maybe different species are more prone to tast good or bad depending on diet

 

[Kurtr]

No i throw them in the live well and treat them just like the walleye. Maybe coming out of oahe makes them a little firmer but even in the ponds back east i never had that problem

 

[fly2cast]

I'm surprised by some of the responses. The biggest reason a fish tastes bad is from the water it is caught in or more specifically the environment in the water that it lives in. A salmon from Sakakawea tastes like crap but one from the ocean is one of the best tasting sushi you can get. A pike in the summer tastes worse than a pike in the winter from all of the swamp water it swims in, in the summer. I've eaten damn near every fish you can catch, including goldeye, carp and buffalo. A trout caught in the summer at McDowell dam still tastes worse.

 

[Kenneth]

I never have caught a crappie out of devils lake. I suppose they're easier to target in the winter?

 

[Fishmission]

Finding them is tough. The crappies I mentioned were caught in the winter over sunken timber

 

[guywhofishes]

Dunno guy. LOVE me some fried bluegill/sunfish. Totally different than crappie IMO.

Totally agree - crappie is very very tender and way different in texture but taste is as good as any fish. Crappie is the most tender of all the fishies IMO - sorta like orange roughy.

Deep frying at 365F with a light dry coat (egg wash and corn meal-based "powder coats") achieves excellent results.



3 crappie = 42" last weekend :;:rockit

 

[martinslanding]

Fish like anything else are a product of their diet and environment…so cooler cleaner water fish tend to taste better…hot slimy dirty slough fish, well taste like raw coot.
Cleaning and preparation also have a lot to do with fish taste…leave any amount of skin on a walleye fillet and in the fridge for a week and it will taste like crap
Bullhead are quite good early spring, fried right you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between that and southern catfish.
Carp are very oily and fatty which makes them a prime candidate to smoke
With all that being said out of the local varieties of fish I would have to say smallmouth bass, especially any with any size to them from the month of July on are probably the worst tasting…even if getting all the red meat off, it still tends to be a very mushy fishy tasting fish…Largemouth are right in that same category

 

[Bfishn]

My biggest question is why do you guys subject yourself to the cruel and unusual punishment of eating some of these fish? I'm not exactly a fish snob, but when there are copious amounts of walleye, perch, cold water pike to catch, i have never even considered eating a rough fish. Are you guys really that hungry? I think i would have to be Starvin Marvin before i would even consider eating some of this shit.

 

[Duckslayer100]

I'd take crappie over gills any day. I find crappies to have a delicate, fresh flavor not unlike walleye. Gills tend to taste fishier. Not as fishy as bass, but definitely more so than crappies.

 

[guywhofishes]

Red River catfish are nasty and I've tried them all seasons and many methods. A clear oil appears when you filet or steak them - and even when trying to avoid the oil or remove it - the result is always the same. Tastes fishy/oily every time. Hurl. Even smoking them is lame.

And this is from a foody who loves to venture into the fringe (sushi, sashimi, tentacled critters, shellfish, crustaceans, yadda).

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I must admit bluegill is my favorite - mostly because of that precious little belly flap that turns into the most savory delicious crunchy chewy "chip" in the hot oil.

 

[snow]

Interesting,for years I 've been shooting carp and buffalo fish,80% of the time I'll bring a load to little Saigon in st paul,the hmong just love'em,sometimes we trade for lunch or dinner,other times I just drop'em off,they usually use them in soups,if the soup didn't have the eye balls and egg sacks in it I would give it a whirl.

Large mouth bass outdo warm water is nasty,however cooler water they are good,the secret is to fillet out tye black laderal line which gives the fillet a muddy taste.

 

[guywhofishes]

"muddy taste"... ha ha ha. I've had the displeasure of tasting actual mud many times in my day (yard work, field work, hunting, fishing) and none of it tasted as bad as crappy fish do. Who invented that term anyway?

 

[Davy Crockett]

Usually bottom feeders are Fyda but when I was about 15 my Dad came home with two wash tubs full of suckers and said clean them. What a slimy mess it was, worse than Northern slime but I turned on the water hose and got busy. We smoked a few batches in an old electric oven outside and they took the rest somewhere else and smoked them. It was real good from what I remember , I know the "Old timers" bragged it up.

 

[snow]

well as far as crappies go,yes very good eats as are gills here in Mn when the water is clear and cold,however exceptions are the BIG slabs,and I'm not talking about the small slabs in that 11" 13" mark,when you get a fill a 5 gallon bucket with 12 crappies where the tails tun up and the bucket is 3/4's full you'll have muddy and mushy fillets pan fried,to thick,deep frying helps but just not the same.

Years back I started a stringer mount,all crappies are 16"s and up,it was either the wall or they went back after that winter~

It all started here 1st couple of 16"+ slabs.

 

[Account Deleted]

Crappies I referenced were from the Winnibigoshish system. Not yummy.

 

[Enslow]

Smoked paddlefish is aweful.

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Is everyone else seeing screwed up avatars? I see juanr's avatar on every post.

 

[Account Deleted]

Lucky you.

 

[Kenneth]

Smoked paddlefish is aweful.

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Is everyone else seeing screwed up avatars? I see juanr's avatar on every post.

Probably because he seems to post every 2.5 minutes

 

[Hornhunter]

Have a friend that mentioned something a while back. Catfish from the Garrison tailrace that eat smelt are very fishy tasting. After thinking about it, I realized he had a point. Worst tasting cats I have ever had are from the tailrace. Normally I like them from other bodies of water if taken care of and am picky about preparation of any fish I eat. The walleyes, etc from the tailrace/river, I like.

Tailrace is the only place I eat catfish from. And I don't believe there's such thing as a bad crappie

 

[Fishmission]

He's taken over the site. Juggs are now on everyone's mind:;:smokin