My friend and I went camping at our local lake over the 4th of July to do some fishing. We were fishing for catfish and gar, but ended up catching some really nice bass. The biggest bass was around 8 pounds and the smallest we kept was a little under 5 pounds. We put them on the srtinger with the rest of our fish and took them home. We would like to know the best way to cook these bass. Somewhere I was told to put them on a smoker with spices, but we have never done that. I sure like this forum glad I found it. We were using spinners and minnows for the bass and shrimp for the catfish. It was our first time to fish Grapevine and with out a doubt I will go back and fish there all of the time. Are ther any other lakes around here that are good to fish from the bank? We just moved here from Kansas and love fishing. How far is it to the Fork lake from Plano? I want to buy a boat to fix up and start fishing from that soon.

fillet, soak in malt liquor (schlitz) for 45 minutes, roll in a mixture of corn meal and flour, fry in hot grease turn yummy

Troller!

Ok, I'll bite since I have a sense of humor too. But first I would like to know how you were going to cook the Gar if you caught them!

Thanks. I will cook them that way. I just was not sure about smoking the fish. I have ate fish smoked, but have never done it myself. They will be in the grease this weekend. We caught the fish on the creek by the big hotel and boat docks. There were not many boats making waves there and it was easier for us to relax. We seemed to be getting all of our bites around some trees that were under the water. I hooked one on them and drug it in, but as soon as I saw it had a rope and a big block tied to it we tossed it back in the water. In about 1 hour we were getting bites from the trees again. Is ther any small mouth in that lake?

We use the gar for cutbait, but did not get any to bite this time. We have never tried to eat gar. Is there a way to cook them? I understand they can be good if cooked the correct way.

IBTL

Welcome to the TFF chicken gizzard

We seemed to be getting all of our bites around some trees that were under the water. I hooked one on them and drug it in, but as soon as I saw it had a rope and a big block tied to it we tossed it back in the water

Did you take the red balls off of the trees ??? before you threw it back in the lake.

LOL you've got balls to ask for a bass recipe in this part of the forum. OMG I'm still laughing.

Anyway I soak mine in buttermilk, salt, onion and garlic powder, and ice for about 10 hours. Then batter them in a mixture of corn bread mix and flour.

Congratulations on your great outing. Sounds like some pretty good memories were made. Nothing quite like camping on the water and fishing is there? Makes me want to go except I'm not near as brave as you. When I was "younger" I used to camp out all the time in the middle of summer. There's no way my crippled butt could do it now, I'm a big wuss. Don't suppose you have any pics from your adventure do you?

Oh Yeah. Gar are great! But you have to fix them Cajun style and it does take a little bit more effort. It is very important that you DO NOT let the meat get water on it. When you clean it you have to just let it be and NOT wash it. (Also, don't mess with the Eggs, they are toxic. No joke!)
Anyway, gut the fish, don't wash it out though!!!! Take cow manure (ok, I know "very funny") and stuff the fish. (The manure helps to provide moisture when smoking/grilling.) Wrap it in foil and put it on the grill, till done. The foil and the outer fish scales steam cook the fish. Approx. 30 min (depending on the size). Unwrap the foil, scoop the stuffing out of the center, throw away the fish and eat the stuffing!!! Better than moms home made cajun stuffing too!!!

We did not notice any red balls on the trees. This was more like limbs than trees. They were tied in a bundle with the brick on the end. It is a good way to keep the fish around. We used to throw old tires in the ponds we fished in to make houses for the fish. We had a man in town make us a tree out of pvc pipe and it worked really good. We would catch a lot of crappie using that method. We mostly fish for catfish and have not had the chance to fish for bass. I do like fishing for them. We went out monday to academy and got some new equipment to cast with for bass. What we use now is not that good for casting alot.

ROFL, I believed every word of that until the very end. That recipe sounds like a similar one I use for dove.

Dang it.........I had to read the entire thing before I got to the part of throwing the fish out. That was a good one! I almost started to print that to get the instructions on how to cook gar. But the laugh is on me I guess. I did not mean to offend anyone about our bass we caught, we just wanted to know if there were any "seceret ways" to cook them. I'll use what I've gotten so far to cook tham as it sounds just fine. Do you folks not eat your catch here? There are some people in Kansas who do not eat their small mouth. I have only caught 1 small mouth but he was 10" long so he was too small to keep. Our bass don't get reall big back home, so getting a chance to get a srtinger of good ones was really cool. I will not keep any more bass if that is not what to do in Tx. I will keep my catfish, and keep fishing for the bass. I want to catch one like the one at fork lake. I do not have any photos of our stringer, but I will take a camera with us next time and share our spoils. Thank you,
Chicken Gizzard Plano, TX

Bass don't taste good anyways. Stick with crappie and cats. Don't fry these trashfish, just enjoy them tugging on the end of your line and posing in your pics.