Quick question. Recently I was cleaning some sandbass and noticed some brown/black spots in the filets. They look like chunks of wood that chainsaw might make. Not all filets had these spots but the filets that did had several. Anyone know what these might be?

If the meat doesn't look right I won't eat. Do you have any pictures?

No pictures. I've cleaned a lot of sandies and never run across this before. The fish looked fine on the outside, but the spots inside the filets looked just like pieces of decaying wood splinters.

what lake could be infection or disease

I've seen a one or two out of the thousands that I've cleaned. Very rare.

I see weird stuff all the time inside sand bass. I just clean around the bad parts. Hate to waste a fish, but if it is too bad I will chunk it. I really dont think it ruins the whole fillet. I dont have a problem eating one that has has some trimming done on it.

The fish in question was caught out of a creek that feeds Benbrook. I was suprized to see it. They were about 1/8 inch in size and looked just like rotten wood, each side had 4 or 5 spots. It was in the filet not in the surface.

They might be the same worms I used to see in Neches river bass. They will look red if the fish is live when cleaned, or hasn't been dead long. Then they turn brown and look like you describe. If it is the same thing, if you cut into one of the spots you will find a hairlike worm. I just cut them out if there aren't too many but I have seen them so thick the fillet was worthless. Probably wouldn't hurt to eat one if it was cooked well, but I'd shy away from sushi!

The fish went from creek to cleaning table in less than an hour. The fish was still flopping when the knife hit it.

sandies are plentiful, you can catch alot in very little time, I would throw that one away and move on..

Hay175 +1