When it comes to fishing I almost always practice Catch and Release. I am not against someone eating fish as long as it does not go to waste. With that being said there are 3 types of freshwater fish that I want to take home and eat every single time. Fortunately for the bass, they are not on my list! Lucky for them.
Keeping the Fish FRESH
All fish taste better when they are fresh. The more time that goes by the worst they get. However, there are ways to preserve them to help them taste better longer.
1. Get a vacuum sealer and freeze them. Get all the moisture off of the fish with a dry paper towel. Put the filets (1-2) in the sealer bags. The sealer will suck all the air out to keep the fish fresh. Put them in the freezer and pull them out when it is time to feast.
Pro Tip: Make sure you label your fish. If you are like me and have a variety of fish in the freezer it starts to all look the same. Take a black sharpie and write what type of fish and the date on it. This way you can eat the oldest stuff first.
2. Leaving the skin on the fish does help preserve the meat. If you are fine with eating the fish with the skin on then that is just fine. Or you can cut it off after you thaw it out.
Crappie Do Not Taste like CRAP
Crappie is a fish you can catch in abundance and have a great fish fry. They are a white flaky fish and are also pretty easy to filet. They are also not an extremely boney fish which is a plus when you take a bite.
If you are catching these fish to eat you will want to make sure the fish stay alive as long as possible. If you put them in the live well make sure the water is a good temperature so the fish stay alive for the whole day. You may need to have ice with you to ad to the live well through out the day.
When it is time to filet make sure you throw them in a cooler with ice for like thirty minutes before you are ready to start the filet process. This is better than bashing the fish over the head and causing internal bleeding. It helps the quality of the meat.
Crappie have a lot of health benefits when you consume them. They are filled with Omega-3 which helps fight against the possibility of degenerative diseases such as cancer.
Crappie Recipes
I do not recommend frying all fish. However, Crappie tastes great with the proper fish fry. I LOVE the Louisiana Beer Batter Mix. This stuff tastes amazing.
After frying them I like to squeeze some lemon over them and eat with some good old fashion Heinz Ketchup.
These are also a great fish to sear in a pan with lemon, salt, and pepper and make fish tacos. These filets are a little thinner and will flake apart very nicely.
Trout is the Right Route
Trout are a must for this list. The best thing about trout is you do not necessarily have to be an angler to get your hands on them. A lot of supermarkets sell fresh trout.
What I love about trout is the environment they are in. They are always in running water and at cool temperatures. The meat of trout is delectable.
If you do wish to catch these fish you can simply put them on a stringer and in the cool water of the stream or river all day until you go home. They will stay nice and fresh and you will not have to bring a cooler with you (assuming your commute back home is not that far).
Pro Tip: If you are fishing and plan on filleting your fish at the end of the day try and do it at the river or stream. The clean up is so much easier since you can just throw the remains in the river and have them wash away. Bring some zip lock bags with you and vacuum seal when you get home. Bring a filet knife and filet board or table and go to work on location.
The best trout recipe I have used is the Trout with Garlic Lemon Butter Herb Sauce.
This one can be done on a skillet and only takes 30 minutes from start to finish.
Keep Your Eye out for Walleye
This one tops the list for me. Flaky white meat and a little thicker filet. These are amazing. Mostly known as a northern fish they are starting to be introduced in lakes down south like Lake Lanier.
I personally do not like to fry this fish because the meat is just so darn good. To me, it ranks up there with a red snapper filet (maybe even a little bit better).
Pro Tip: If you do catch these fish keep your hands away from their mouth. These fish have very sharp teeth.
Pro Tip 2: These fish you will not see on a lot of menus. However, Culver’s (popular fast food restaurant) serves walleye. It is fried but it is rather good.
I have experimented with a couple of different recipes for these fish when I am lucky enough to catch them (a little harder in the south).
My favorite recipe is this baked walleye recipe although I do not include the onions on this recipe because I do not like them.
Final Thoughts
Sure you can eat bass, catfish, and bream but I just do not feel like they are good enough to warrant keeping them. My favorites in order are:
Walleye (hands down)
Trout
Crappie
Fish are not very hard to cook at all. If you are NOT frying them you will know when they are done when they start to flake apart and separate.
Get yourself a vacuum sealer and you will save the fish and save room in your freezer also.
Also make sure to have a good filet knife and sharpener.
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