What is the number one reason you don't eat a bass?

I was wondering why no one ever eats bass like smallmouth or large mouth Bass is it because they taste bad or is it mainly for conservation purposes

Because if you eat em, you will never catch em again, duh!

Catfish and crappie for me. Ate bass one time, just wasn't that good.

Guess you've never been to Toledo Bend.....

All freshwater fish are nasty.

Baby bass are so succulent

Because I hate fish.

I was forced to eat them as a Catholic kid. Never again.

I'm too lazy to clean them after fishing all day. They're not quite as tasty as crappie, for a warm freshwater fish, but black bass are plenty good to eat. Many fisheries would benefit from folks occasionally harvesting a few small ones too.

I'd say the number one reason is I forgot to bring my fillet knife.

I suggest spotted bass. At least on Rayburn and Toledo. You can catch a 100 of them and they are better than largemouth in my opinion

I'm lazy after a day of fishing and cleaning fish sucks, plus 5 fish isn't even worth the trouble.

I eat bass pretty often. I think they are better than crappie.

There. I said it.

The smaller keepers do make GREAT ceviche.

This X 1000

For me, better tasting fish out there, but hands down because "they are my money fish" remember the commercial

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQaEWEtc4s0

Debra

Yep!

I've eaten plenty of them, but bream, catfish & crappie are better.

Because its a GD SIN!!!

I do actually. A 2 lb bass fillet is as good as crappie. White and flakey. I don’t very often but a few times a year I’ll keep 2 or 3 for the wife and I.

Too lazy to clean em.

I am too busy catching them to take time to clean them. When I get off the lake at the end of the day, I don't want to mess with cleaning some fish.

Best fish out there for fried fish is speckeld trout. I do enough saltwater to get my supply.

Yep!

We all definitely enjoy some black bass fillets. Baked, smoked, grilled or fried it’s delish.

Too lazy... Plus walleye and crappie taste better... Dan

About 15 yrs ago, my mom got me an outdoor cookbook and it had a recipe for bass and we tried it, then the next time with crappie. We enjoyed the crappie more, so there you go. I dont care for catfish either really, dont like the taste. We eat lots of specks and flounder also.

(1) Catch & Release to support the resource
(2) I'm to lazy to clean them
(3) They are really not that good compared to other fish

If I wanna eat fish I go to Pappadeaux's.

I've eaten my weight in black bass over the years but nowadays the last thing I want to do after fishing all day is clean a fish.

When we catch fish for food we go after the Walleye. If somebody wants to catch and eat Bass that are legally harvested that's their business.

I’m afraid to be labeled and judged by the tourney fishermen.

Actually mostly fish Alan Henry and JB Thomas.

I personally believe it’s too soon to take fish out of Thomas.

On Henry I fish alone most of the time and I’m not gonna dirty the knife for 2 spots as I have no desire to filet an 18”+ fish.

When on Amistad we typically keep 2-3 14-15” fish per fisherman for a fish fry 1 night.

On OH I’ve we usually catch enough whites for a meal. Don’t think I would ever put a knife to a smallmouth on any of the lakes we catch them on.

So depends on the lake I’m fishing.

Because I saltwater fish for my fresh fish. Speckled trout, redfish and flounder. I haven't ate a fish I haven't caught in the saltwater in years. Unless I caught it, cleaned it and cooked it I don't eat it very often.

I eat every legal bass I catch. That being said, I do release those 4 pounds and larger. Saying that keeping bass to save the resource is wrong. Look at Fayette County. The fishery is completely out of balance. That's why TP&W is changing the slot, so more fish can be removed.

I don’t like having to pack an extra cooler with ice

If fishing waters that have too many small bass, and the owner has requested I keep some smaller bass, I’ll double gill and release (preferably over some deeper lay downs where I know some big bass live)

All those saying Bass taste nasty but like Crappie- They’re freaking Sunfish just like Crappie! Bass taste great! Smallmouth are even better.

Too lazy
Don’t want to clean up the mess
Too tired after fishing
Easier kust to buy fish from yhe grocery store.

I even throw back crappie

I'm too tired to clean them after fishing, so I usually leave them in the cooler overnight. My chickens like to eat the heads and I use the remains for fertilizer.

Depends on the lake. Biologist told me that lakes like Rayburn that are in peak shape, every fish could be released. It can support it

+1 and frankly it is cheaper to buy them in the store!

We had a fish fry last weekend and cooked bass and crappie, all fresh and caught the day of. Surprisingly, all 4 of us preferred the bass over crappie.

Because I don't need to.

The other white meat, crappie!

If you roll bass in shore lunch, pepper it, salt it, shake half a bottle of garlic powder on it, spray it with lemon, add a little olive oil, deep fry it, then dip it in sauce, all the while drinking half a bottle of bourbon along the way, I think it tastes just as good as walleye.

I kid. That's not true. Still not as good as walleye, perch, pike, crappie, bluegill...

Mostly though I don't eat it because the cleaning process is more hassle than it's worth.

^^^^^ THIS ^^^^^

We would catch a mess of small ones , fillet em , fry em the same day , very tasty . To me that is the only way . Freezing fish for later tends to change the taste IMO .

I don't like fish.

There the number 1 fish that swims with $$$ on there backs

I eat small bass all the time.

+1

I enjoy eating bass every once in a while. No bones, clean white flesh, and can be filleted quickly and easily skin on or off.

as to the #1 reason I don't- because I want to catch that fish later in a tourney!! #2 reason- after fishing all day I don't want to clean em.

Because they do not stock them in my lakes near me and rely on reproduction for that species. Walleye and crappie are a lot better tasting....my rule of thumb is I don't like fish that tastes like fish.

Red Lobster.

The number one reason for me is the same as everyone else. They taste like catfish slime.

The day they start making bass that taste like Crappie (i.e. not fishy) is the day I'll start eatin' them too. Till then, they're just fun to catch and release to catch another day.

I unashamedly keep a couple fresh servings in freezer.

I keep bass maybe once or twice a year. I don't like fish a whole lot to begin with. I can't stand catfish and much prefer black bass or white bass.

If you truly what to “support the resource” taking some smaller bass from most lakes will help. Just like trying to maintain a pond, you want a healthy population? Step #1 is usually culling....

I don't plan to eat them, so putting them back in the lake to catch again makes sense to me.

I don't want to clean them and my wife won't cook them so we're both happy when they're put back in the lake.

We eat white perch and if we catch some kentuckies we will eat them also but when we go to keep fish that's all we go for. When we are bass fishing we let it all go.

Yep....my favorite

I can buy fish at the grocery store I don't have to filet.

Bass sammiches are hard to beat, with some cheese and spicy mustard.

Why would I want to ruin a perfectly good fishing trip by having to clean fish at the end of it?

said so

Because Crappie are much better.
Although, bass on the half shell just like a redfish is pretty good every once in a while.

Not on a healthy reservoir like Rayburn. The more you release the better. Tpw biologist words...

They're a panfish. They belong in a pan. Ya'll are brainwashed.

Don't care to clean the fish or deal with cleaning the knives and fillet table afterwards. Much easier to order at a restaurant.

If they are healthy enough to release I put him back so I might catch him again. If not he gets greased.

I eat bass under 14" when they need culling from our ponds.

Absolutely delicious.

The mess of cleaning them.. when I was a kid we meat fished every trip.. I've cleaned a lot of fish.. I quit pan fishing because of the struggle to scale them.. I could fillet bass but it was still a mess. If I need to eat fish, I'll get some salmon..

BD

Salmon ?.....Yuk!

Catch and release was started because fishermen used to keep everything they caught. If you went bass fishing, you kept all you caught on a stringer. C&A is a good practice, but definitely something you don't need to do every time you are on the water, unless you don't like to eat fish. Bass fillet easy as crappie with an electric knife.

Try sauteing in olive old with garlic salt and pepper, add some butter when they are almost done, then squeeze lemon on them when you serve. Delicious!

no one will like you

I happen to like bass very much, as much as a crappie, I rarely keep them, too lazy to clean them, if I do keep some they are no more than 2 pounds .

Just don't like the taste of fish. Any fish.

1-I release them to catch them again when they are bigger.
2-I catch Crappie to eat because they taste better.

Cheaper to buy fish in the gourmet section of a store. By time I do the math the bass I catch are $75 - $100 a pound.

Let me rephrase that, I no longer eat bass, I stick to " Oysters Shrimp Fish "

A few years ago, I went sandbass fishing. My son and I limited out two days in a row with some really big sandies. He wanted to keep 'em and have a fish fry, so I said OK. I cleaned 100 fish.

I haven't cleaned a fish since, and I really have no desire to clean any in the future.