Cross another off the species list!

AllenOK

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Oct 27, 2014
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Jackson, MI
Got cut out from work a little early last night.  I was kind of expecting it.  I was prepared  :) , had my map book of this part of the state, and headed out to check out a spot I hadn't been to in over 10 years.  Never fished it before, so I didn't know what to expect.  I was hoping for Smallies, but all I caught were some Rock Bass.

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hookup

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May 22, 2012
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VA
We call them gogle eyes or peckerheads

Fun to catch though. Explosive bite, then reel in

These fish run in schools, so where there's one, there's more
 

AtticaFish

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Attica, OH
AllenOK - You are checking off the species on cooler water norther fish list in a hurry. Come fall and winter you can start getting trout up your way too. Rockbass can be fun but are know for having eyes bigger than their stomach. I catch them pretty frequently walleye fishing with 5" long swimbaits or stick baits. They thump it and make me think it is a walleye.... set the hook HARD and then only have the weight of a little guy.

Bucho - We do have a variety of good eating fish over here but also many more that people try to convince me are good. Rockbass are very good to eat when you get them large enough to clean. I have eaten smoked carp ...once... and not even a smoke bath can help them. There are a few who talk about eating sheephead (freshwater drum) as a 'poor mans lobster'. Claim you can boil the meat and then dip it in butter. As ugly as drum are, i have stayed clear of them. They sure are fun to catch though.
 

Jig Man

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May 19, 2010
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Out here...
Bucho, Attic nailed it... There ways to prepare most fish to make them digestible. But Crappie and walleye are at the top of the list for taste! IMO
 

JUNGLEJIM1

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Mar 23, 2010
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Saint Louis,Mo
Goggle eye here. They will eat anything that will fit in their mouth and like my Yorky, it has a big one. Bluegill tacos are are there with crappie and walleye with me.
 

Kdog

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Apr 26, 2013
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SW Ohio
better list, Fish ohio and these are all edible not that I would, but I kinda set in my ways

SPECIES MIN. SIZE

Blue Catfish 35 inches
Brown Trout 20 inches
Bowfin 23 inches
Bullhead 14 inches
Carp 28 inches
Channel Catfish 26 inches
Crappie 13 inches
Flathead Catfish 35 inches
Hybrid-Striped Bass 21 inches
Largemouth Bass 20 inches
Longnose Gar 34 inches
Muskellunge 40 inches
Northern Pike 32 inches
Rainbow Trout 28 inches
Rock Bass 9 inches
Sauger 16 inches
Saugeye 21 inches
Sucker 20 inches
Spotted Bass 15 inches
Sunfish 9 inches
 

hookup

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May 22, 2012
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VA
geez how many edible (!) species of fish do you people have over there?!

For me fishing is for sport - I rarely eat anything I catch. Especially bass - not that I don't like them, it's just I've studied these fish so much they are like my pets.

But yes, we are very fortunate to have a huge variety of fish available to chase. In the panfish community alone, there's a bunch of fish I've caught - red breasted panfish, blue gill, ozark bass, roanoke bass, red eyes, redear, and many more.

Soon, I'm venturing up north - if I get a walleye or three, they'll be saved for hot butter & oil - but small mouth, pike, and any lake trout will be returned for another day
 

duffy

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Eastern WA.
Had a old Vet in our collage automotive class that could smoke up carp that tasted like trout/salmon. He had quite a process and from what I can remember he would filet them, take off the skin and cut out all the lateral line. Then soak overnight in a baking soda mixture, rinse well, season and smoke. He also said you could soak in a salt water mix. He brought some over to class and most of the guys thought it was salmon. :D It was pretty good but still had just a little "mud" flavor to it, but so does trout sometimes. On time Infisherman magazine was showing how to catch and prepare sucker's to eat. That's one I don't think I could try. Have a hard enough time getting them off the hook let alone eat one. I'll stick with perch, walleye and bass.....the other white meat. :)
 

hookup

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VA
Asian do a good job on carp - but I guess if you add enough garlic & chili oil to anything it'll taste good

Growing up were were poor - Dad was an E-4 or E-5 and we would keep everything. Mom use to make whatever we caught and good/bad/ugly we'd eat it because we were hungry

I remember once I foul hooked a carp in a Rod-n-Gun club pond in Germany and we ate for almost a week off of that. Mom was an excellent cook and prepared it differently each day.
 

AllenOK

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Oct 27, 2014
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Location
Jackson, MI
Many of the Facebook groups I'm on here in MI talk about Smoked Sucker. They refer to them as "Michigan Tuna". During the run in early Spring, you can catch a bunch. Hopefully next year I'll be able to get into some. Most folks fillet them, brine them overnight, then smoke them. After that, they get turned into a dip and folks eat the dip while watching sports.....

I've heard that Carp is very good. You just have to know how to clean/cook it. I've seen some videos on Youtube. Never tried it myself.
 
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