white bass

[jcaptm]

i have caught several white bass and havent kept any of them. does anybody know if they are good to eat? Are they easy to clean like a walleye? where is a good place in minnesota to catch them?

[IaCraig]

I thought they tasted good. One of the many times that I was catching them at Saylorville lake, I kept 3 of them, filet them out and fried them up for supper that night. No one in my family complained.

Sorry, never caught any in Minnesoto so I do not know where you need to go.

[Rat]

You are missing some good eats if you have not been frying these babies up. Not only that, they are prolific and are a very renewable resource so you won't be impacting the population. Yes, you fillet them the same as a walleye. Obviously they will be much smaller. I recommend removing the skin with a fillet knife.

The one thing to remember with them is that they are an oily fish and must be kept fresh. Keep the live box running or better still put them in a cooler right away with lots of ice. Make sure you keep them cold while you are cleaning them as well. Take one or two out of the cooler and return the fillets to the ice right away before removing the next fish.

Try them, you will not be sorry.

[Steve B]

Another tip for white bass is to trim away the red belly meat when filleting them. They will taste better with the red meat removed.

[Walleye Express]

Jcap.
I can't vouch for the taste of whites taken in Minnisota. As you know, sometimes fish will take on their on flavor in certain waters, especially if the waters are polluted. But in Michigan they are fantastic in the pan. I've even found a neat way to clean em fast. I take a Box knife, start at the top of the head and cut half way around the gill. Then right straight down the middle to the tail. Then along the top as if you were filleting. The shoulder meat is all there really is anyway, as the belly is mostly ribs. I then use the regular knife and fillet the shoulder slab off and remove the skin. Wash fish off and put all the fillets in a pan and sprinkle a layer of Iodized (table) salt on them. Leave in frige 3 or 4 hours. The salt pulls out all the blood and breaks down (and floats away) all the fatty tissues. No need to remove red meat. I also have a killer recipe, but thats going to cost ya. Capt: Dan. www.walleye-express.com

[Arkie eye jerker]

If you like white bass you should be here today. I work at a nuclear power plant and we allow fishing 200 yards from the plant on the discharge canal. I noticed at lunch there was four boats in the canal at our limit sign. I walked down there to see what they were catching. The whites were running and they were bringing in a white bass on every cast using chrome rattletraps. It looked like they would go up to 2 1/2#. Our limit here is 25 per person and I know they had to have all limited out. This has to be cruel and unusual punishment, having to work on a beautiful day and watching people catch fish one after another. I was off yesterday and it rained all day. I must not be living right.

[dummie]

All that eating sounds goood. What do you catch them on. Never tried fishing for them. Tahanks, God bless.

[Arkie eye jerker]

When they are running like they are now, you can catch them on most anything. Rattletraps work great, I have caught 2 at once on a rattletrap, one on each treble hook. They also hit jigs under a bobber good. Tie 2 jigs on and catch them two at a time. Just put jigs 2' to 3' below the bobber and work it back to you in short pulls while letting it set just a second between pulls.

Good luck,

[FiN]

White Bass are now in Alice Lake located in William O'Brian State Park. This is the first year they were stocked but they averaged 1 pound each when they went in.

[The Eyes_Have it]

dummie, the good thing about White Bass is you can catch them on just about any lure when their feeding. The other good news is White Bass are always feeding, you just have to find them. look for schools of shad. When they start busting shad on the surface it gets wild real fast