Black bass are delicious. Anything from the freshwater sunfish family is delicious. I very seldom keep a limit of anything. And even practice responsible harvest on bluegill and redear. (We don’t keep any perch smaller than 6 or bigger than 9.)

For LM I suggest season with Adam’s All Purpose Rub, sauté in butter with mixed vegetables. Then wrap in romaine lettuce with, rice, guacamole and pico de gallo.

Depends on the lake. Lakes like Toledo and Rayburn benefit zero from bass being removed. They can support every bass that swims. Unfortunately a tremendous amount of fish are getting removed and we aren't talking about 1-3lbers...

You are very correct about East Texas reservoirs in particular. I have fished across several Southern states and have never seen the likes of meat fisherman (for bass in particular) like I have seen on those two reservoirs in particular. It goes far beyond the occasional fisherman keeping a few smaller fish for a fish fry. I have rarely kept a bass as there are other fish that are better table-fare, but do not have any angst over someone keeping a few "eatin' size" fish. This goes far beyond that on those lakes in particular. Smaller bodies of water (especially private ones) do often benefit from removal of younger year class fish. That's not what's happening on S.R. and T.B. I'm sometimes amazed there are still fish to catch.

Largemouth and smallmouth (black basses), rock bass, bluegills, crappie...are all in the sunfish family(Centrachidae) and all have firm white flesh and all are delicious. Personal preference but I also prefer any of these and members of the perch(Percidae) family(walleye, yellow perch, sauger...) to catfish, sandbass, stripers.....any day. Guessing “MrRoache” was fishing private waters based on the stringers, fish in the bed of a pickup...... for those that are taking it upon themselves be the judge and jury.

This is the type of answer I was really looking for. It seems like no matter how many sand bass and crappie are harvested, even more are in the lake the next year.

I never clean fish when fishing on the boat, but fishing at the tank in AR, we clean almost every catch. Just bought a new Rapala Ion cordless fillet knife. Can't wait to use it. Fish is good!

If it's legal to keep, I keep it and eat it, rest assured, if it was bad for the population, it'd be illegal.

And you have to coat everything in corn meal. Good stuff. Brings back a lot of memories.
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Me and my fishing buddy never keep largemouth or smallmouth unless they get gut hooked or for some reason look like they wont survive. Sandbass are very good eating IF you remove the red meat. I've eaten both plenty of times and I don't believe you would know the difference if properly prepared.

People don’t keep bass because they are trying to let them grow bigger. If you are fishing a tournament and you have kept 5 fish out of one hole, those fish aren’t going to be there the next time you need to fill out a limit for money. Bass are excellent table fare. I ate fresh bass 4 days last week. Don’t let anyone fool you into thinking they aren’t top notch eating. I will take them over any fish but crappie.

I don't like largemouth. We use to eat them when I was growing up and I always felt like I was choking them down. White bass and small yellow cats were my favorite. Today I just eat a few saltwater species. When i fish the bayous we catch slot reds regularly and will usually keep one or if I catch a founder. I suppose if a bass died in my live well then I would throw it on ice after gutting it. But it hasnt happened.