Thread: Caught a first last evening

We catch a lot of white bass (silver bass) in Erie. Right now in Brest Bay we have to pick through them to get to the perch. They hit minnows like crazy, also will hit worms. The problem with them is they will take over your lake and you'll catch more white bass than anything else. They are fighters and we catch doubles on perch spreaders. If you get the big ones
(12-13 inches) you get some nice fillets. I always keep the big ones and throw them in with the perch. But - I will also keep the sheephead and I smoke them up to use as dog chews. Back east they sell sheephead in resturaunts but call them drum. If you have a smoker try soaking the white bass fillets in a kosher salt brine and smoke them up as jerky - it's great.

I won't eat White Bass cause I catch tons of Crappie and Catfish. Down here we have loads of good size White Bass 1 to 3lbs. But meat is coarse and have to trim red off fillets..

I've caught a lot of them here in our local resevoirs. Sometimes I keep them, sometimes throw them back. I don't care for the meat as much as they taste kinda fishy to me, although their not too bad. When my freezer's running low I keep a few of them. Also have caught a lot of them fast trolling with about an split shot then down 12" or so to a 1/8 oz rooster tail spinner purple or pink in color.

Thanks for the tips. Sounds like I might just stick with the crappies and gills for food and go for the whites for fun.

Frank, Like you, I have gone all my life without catching them. This spring, I ran in to the tail end of the walleye run and (as everyone who fishes the detroit river knows) the white bass come in. I took my daughter and my dad and caught over 400 of the little buggers. 16 inches is a master angler award and we caught several over that. I too wondered how they tasted so I took the liberty of keeping 5 fish. One in a small pan fish size, one in a larger crappie size, one about 14 inches and one about 18 inches. I too heard they were "fishy" but I like some fish like that. I soaked the fish in Milk for a couple of hours. I have read that the best thing to do is cut out the "red" meat. I fried the fish in hot oil. What I found is that the bigger fish tended to be on the "mushy" side. The smaller fish cooked up well and tasted fine. For me, I would say 10 to 12 inchers as the max. Anything over that tends to get a little mushy. In a fish fryer, I don't think you could go wrong with them. Definately not on my "target" list of fish to catch and eat but, as they are a blast to catch on an ultra light with 6lb test in the river!

late-May/early-June they're all over Lac St. Clair & the Detroit River and a lot of fun to catch with ultralight gear ... if I start catching a lot of them, I'll keep the midsize ones, fillet 'em, cut the fillets into strips, bread 'em and bake 'em like fish sticks ... taste kinda' like Mrs. Paul's to me, .