Many people find fishing Largemouth bass extremely exciting, as the freshwater largemouth bass is one of the top predators in the wild. The fish also has a powerful and lusty body. Nevertheless, most anglers fish and release them into the wild instead of eating them. Why? Can you eat Largemouth Bass? Here are the answers and a series of other amazing facts about this kind of fish.
Can You Eat Largemouth Bass?
Yes, you can eat Largemouth Bass. However, not many people appreciate their flavor like other freshwater fishes’ such as salmon, walleye, and trout. They explain that bass from streams, small rivers, and stagnant ponds often has a rather fishy mud smell, making several people uneasy. Overall, most anglers fish the largemouth bass to eat them.
Is Largemouth Bass Good To Eat?
If you are curious about the big-mouth bass’ taste, you have probably wondered whether they are delicious to eat or not. Most anglers admit that they indulge in fishing them, but they often release the fish, and few keep them to eat. Why?
It is said that eating largemouth is not suitable for human health, but they are fine for humans. Some people even get used to consuming largemouth bass as a habit. Nonetheless, as we mentioned above, the bass’s taste is likely a bit muddy, especially the fish that live in stagnant ponds and rivers. No matter how thoroughly you clean and cook them, you can still get terrified by their awkward smell.
More often than not, the largemouth bass’s taste will be similar to their habitat water. Therefore, it is best to fish for bass in uncontaminated large rivers or lakes if you intend to eat and consume them. Do not eat fish caught in drainage canals or stagnant ponds.
Furthermore, most lakes will be cleaner in the cold season because algae often bloom in the summer. If you are afraid of the terrible smell, we suggest you avoid eating fish caught during the summer due to their awful fishy smell.
As a reminder for healthy and clean food, you’d better find out the pollution level in the fishing area if you intend to catch bass to eat.
What Does Largemouth Bass Taste Like?
In addition to the meat being easily affected by the smell of mud, many people also dislike largemouth bass because of their intestines’ pungent and unpleasant smell. Fortunately, you can eliminate this awful smell in the fish’s body cavity by washing thoroughly with salt and suitable flavoring. Also, the pungent smell of fish will hardly remain after cooking.
To have the best tasty meal, picking largemouth bass caught in clean water would be best. Next, when prepping and preparing this dish, it is also a good idea to learn and combine some of the right seasonings that improve the taste of the bass.
Largemouth Bass Editable Size
The ideal editable size of this fish is about 10-14 inches, do not eat fish larger than 15 inches. Young largemouth bass typically has pretty tasty and tender flesh. On the other hand, Old fish meat will be hard and chewy, even containing toxins such as mercury.
How About Pregnant Women? Can They Eat Largemouth Bass?
Mercury poisoning is one of the common problems in this type of fish, especially older fish. It is best for pregnant women to avoid eating old fish, but eating fish from areas with no risk of poisoning is still acceptable.
Is It Better To Eat Or Release Largemouth Bass?
Many people practice a catch-and-release philosophy when fishing for bass, sometimes to the point that it has almost become a religion. For those anglers, cooking and eating largemouth bass is one of the taboos.
Based on some anglers’ points of view, the catch-and-release philosophy makes a lot of sense. Because of their reputation as game fish, the big-mouth bass is under more fishing pressure than any other fish in the United States. If most anglers killed the bass they caught, this would significantly affect the bass populations.
However, if you don’t take home adult bass, you catch but bring back some smaller bass, that shouldn’t be a problem. Leaving the big ones behind is the right thing to do for many reasons. First, large females often lay thousands of eggs each breeding season. Secondly, they have a much worse taste than the smaller ones.
But since so many other fish are better to eat than sea bass, including crappie, perch, trout, and walleye, we don’t recommend bringing home big-mouth bass. Even anglers who adore eating sea bass tend to agree that their taste is nothing special. In that case, why not let them go, and keep the tastier ones to eat?
The Bottom Line
Can You Eat Largemouth Bass? Well, the answer is yes. As a reminder, even though the taste sometimes makes many people think twice, they are good in terms of nutrition. This fish’s taste will be significantly influenced by the environment in which they live. Hence, it would help to choose fish caught from a clean water area and carefully process them before eating.
I hope the article has brought you a lot of helpful knowledge about this fish. The decision to eat it or not is up to you. But from our point of view, you should release the big fish to the wild and only eat a few small fish because this will preserve the fish population and ensure your meal’s taste
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