Hi I have heard that sand bass has a very heavy fishy taste and was wondering if anyone had a preparation method or recipe that would help with that .

Thanks in advance

In my opinion you have been led astray on the taste issue but try soaking them in milk b4 you batter and fry them or try a thinned mustard coating and then fry them or pat them dry and sprinkle Cajun seasoning and cook them in a non stick pan or rub them with olive oil mayo and coat with seasoned bread crumbs and bake them, last one pour a bottle of zesty Italian dressing in a pan and cook them until they flake and remove with slotted spatchula okay one more pour a large jar of good green salsa in a pan heat it up add fillets heat till they flake and add a bag of frozen (thawed) okra Cajun seasoning serve as is or over brown rice

Soak them in buttermilk before you bread them.

Cut all the red off; that is where your fishy off taste comes from. I also prefer them fresh over frozen.

i never thought they were any more fishy tasting than any other fresh water fish. but you might try smoking some. we do it with king fish, we also use the fishyer tasting fish in fish cakes and fish balls, seems like the fishy tasting stuff is better when mixed with the spices and veggie filler.

I too had heard they were strong tasting and not worth bothering with. Consequently, I usually gave them away to any takers or just put them back in. After reading many comments on this forum I decided to fry up a few just to find out for myself. I must say I was surprised to find out they are EXCELLENT table fare. The first batch I cooked I soaked in milk overnight, rinsed and patted dry and then slathered in yellow mustard before rolling in the fish fry mix. Outstanding! I did not cut out the red strip either. I also fried up some crappie so I could compare the two. I have to tell ya that there was not much difference at all. The next time I fried up some white bass I did not do anything at all except roll them in fishfry and fry them up just to see if there was any difference. Not enough to go to all the trouble to soak and slather. I now always keep some white bass to eat and give away any that is over what I want to keep for myself. I have to tell ya though that they are much better fresh. If you freeze them then plan on using them within three months. They do get stronger the longer they are in the freezer. Don"t know why they just do. Hope this helps.

In addition, the fish fry I use is either Zatarain's or Louisiana Fish Fry Products brand. I'm sure there are many other fine one's but these are the two I have used to cook white bass. Also, peanut oil seems to be the way to go when frying white bass or any other fish for that matter IMO.

Soak in Buttermilk. 'Bout 2 hrs. Drain. Pat dry. Season with ALL-SPICE.
Place a bit of Mustard. Down the Middle of Fillet.
Let stand. 10 Minutes in the Ice Box. Or Ice-Chest; If your camping.\

At the River or Lake.
DO NOT DRAIN. The ABOVE.
Sprinkle. Pankco-Crubs. To cover Fillets.
To Grill. Place Olive oil. Into Teflon-Skillet.
Heat to High. Sear! Both sides. 'Bout. 3minutes each side.
Served with Rice.
Or???????
FRYING.
Drain. Roll in plain of Yellar-Cornmeal.
Fry in Mrs.-Tuckers, LARD.
Make your Babies Born NEKAD!!!!!!!!!

Soak them in saltwater. Put enough water to cover the fish and then add some non iodized salt. I usually cook about 10 pcs. at a time and put about 2 to 3 teaspoons of salt in the water. Soak overnight.

They are just a more muscular bass.
Cook em and eat em.
They are great.

If you filet them right, they are as good as any fish you'll eat- otherwise they are not so good. Must get the lateral line out as well as trim off the red meat. You won't wind up with a full filet but basically the upper part after you cut out the lateral line. I have eaten many of them and like them as much as any other fish.

Thanks to all your suggestions and recipes I'll try them all.

This exactly. Cut the red out and fry or grill them up. you will be very surprised.

Fillet the fish
Fillet the red meat out of the fillets and slice the fillets thin.
Coat in mustard and Tony Chachares
Fry in hot peanut oil

Way I cook them is....I filet them and leave the skin on and scrap off the scales, sprinkle lemon pepper and lemon juice and melted butter and put them on the grill skin side down and let them cook, squirting lemon juice on them occasionally until done, meat pulls right off the skin and best tasting sand bass you'll ever eat and it cooks out the red line...just don't eat the rib bones.