Small Mouth Bass Recipe?

[Milltown353]

Anybody have a good recipe for bass?

I've never had bass, this past weekend I was at a (137 acres) pond and found myself catching a fair amount of bass ranging from not much bigger then the lure to 13''.

If any of you guys have a recipe let me know.

[Hickory]

This works for about any type of mild fish.
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Beer-Batter-Fish-Fillets/Detail.aspx

[Milltown353]

I've never done my own fillets. Is there a size I need before it becomes idea to fillet them? The ones that I caught earlier were pretty good size in width.

[Hickory]

To fillet a fish you need a thin sharp knife.
Cut down the lenght of the spine and behind the gill.
Remove as much meat as possible with the knife,
cutting close to the rib cage to the tail.
Lay the skin side down on a flat surface and remove
the meat from the skin holding the knife flat, as close
as possible to the skin. Put it into a pan of cold water.

When all fish are filleted dry fillets and place in batter.

[bruce drake]

Easiest way to cook Black Bass (smallies for anyone outside of Maine) I found while I was growing up in Dover-Foxcroft along the Piscataquis River (one of the state's best unsung smallie rivers.) was to lop their heads off, clean out the insides and scale them and then wrap them in tin foil with butter and here is my secret, a good helping of tabasco sauce in the foil for each fish.

Stick them in the oven with the butter and tabasco and then bake them until the meat comes off their bones.

Where were you fishing? It's safe, I'm in GA so I won;t take your fishing hole ;)

Bruce

[Milltown353]

Easiest way to cook Black Bass (smallies for anyone outside of Maine) I found while I was growing up in Dover-Foxcroft along the Piscataquis River (one of the state's best unsung smallie rivers.) was to lop their heads off, clean out the insides and scale them and then wrap them in tin foil with butter and here is my secret, a good helping of tabasco sauce in the foil for each fish.

Stick them in the oven with the butter and tabasco and then bake them until the meat comes off their bones.

Where were you fishing? It's safe, I'm in GA so I won;t take your fishing hole ;)

Bruce

Mt. Blue Pond it's sort of near Rangeley. I've known about the pond for years but this is the first time I fished it. We camped out on the island it had from Saturday til Sunday and only saw 4 people who stopped at the landing to look at the view.

I'm more of a trout fisherman, I'm going back tomorrow after my buddy gets out of work and try to catch a big one with my fly rod, should be interesting.

Now how big do they have to be before it is worth it to fillet them?

[bruce drake]

Smallies are like a good brown trout. THey love streamers. Then again, they'll smash a deerhair popper as well.

I used to fillet them when they reached 2lbs. River smallies are thinner than lake smallies. They never develop guts ;)

My personal best was a 4lb smallie 3 miles up from the junction of the Piscataquis and the Penobscot Rivers at Howland. I made of mistake of bringing a Trout Rod with a #6 line - wow what a fight.

I've fished in the Rangely lakes region 20 years ago before I joined the service. Great fishing. I mostly went there for the landlocked salmon but the smallies and the perch helped when the LL Salmon and the lake trout didn't work out.

Bruce

[Milltown353]

I'll have to give them a try, I usually only have to use a caddis when I fly fish. I may have to invest in some bigger flies, or have my cousin tie me a couple.

[bruce drake]

If you are a good nymph fisherman you'll do fine.

Good luck tomorrow.

Bruce

[Milltown353]

If your ever up here and over this way shoot me a PM and I can take you to several decent spots in western Maine. My Gram also has a small camp on Richardson if you fancy a stab at the rapid river.

[bruce drake]

That's a nice offer. I'm heading to Afghanistan shortly, but if you find a young soldier home on leave, take him out and we'll call it even. :)

Bruce

[hoosierlogger]

That's a nice offer. I'm heading to Afghanistan shortly, but if you find a young soldier home on leave, take him out and we'll call it even. :)

Bruce

Get all of the fishing in you can before you go. Thank you for your service and be safe over there.

[GSM]

Scale them, gut them, salt, egg wash, flour, fry in oil (or bacon grease) whole. Crisp the tail if the cast iron pan is big enough.

Could also cut into steaks and do the same - yes, bones will be there, eat around them (suck the spine and around the main bones, mmmmmm).

While it's good freshly fried, it's even better the next day.

I gotta quit reading these food threads....

[bruce drake]

Hey!

How was the fishing with the trout rod? ;) Smallies like to jump, don't they!

Bruce

[Milltown353]

Hey!

How was the fishing with the trout rod? ;) Smallies like to jump, don't they!

Bruce

It wasn't to bad, caught a couple of small ones on it. I tried crayfish on my other rod and caught two good size bass. One was 14 inches and around 2-2.5lbs.

Do I have to worry about the bass having worms this time of year?

I went out again today and caught another big bass on crayfish again, spent at least 5 minutes reeling him in. He was towing my kayak around.

[Lloyd Smale]

add in do i outside on an open fire and you got my recomendation
Scale them, gut them, salt, egg wash, flour, fry in oil (or bacon grease) whole. Crisp the tail if the cast iron pan is big enough.

Could also cut into steaks and do the same - yes, bones will be there, eat around them (suck the spine and around the main bones, mmmmmm).

While it's good freshly fried, it's even better the next day.

I gotta quit reading these food threads....

[waksupi]

Something like this?

[GSM]

Waksupi:

Oh my.

[Lloyd Smale]

yes sir!! but those look like perch or brook trout. better yet!
Something like this?

[Rockydog]

A recipe I've used for smallies: Enough bass fillets to fill a 9X9 or 10X10 glass baking dish,

2 Chicken Boullion Cubes dissolved in a cup and a half of warm water.

Add two tablespoons of cider vinegar.

Pour over bass fillets in a glass baking dish.

Sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon of chopped dill flakes or a teaspoon of fresh chopped dill.

Bake at 350 about 1/2 hour or until they flake easily.

Salt and pepper to taste but be careful on the salt as the boullion cubes are very salty anyway.

Kind of a mild picled fish flavor. Also good over a campfire poaching the fish in a frying pan with this mixture. RD

[Marvin S]

For just a pan fry the Cabelas (Down Home Lemon) coating is very good and fast. Walleye, Gods fish!

[buck1]

This ones easy. Fillet them , dip in egg, roll in crushed crutons(SP?) , Heat oil in frypan . They cook fast.