That "lake taste" in freshwater fish

[Night goat]

I've had a few days of downtime, and been thinking about heading up to a nice hike in lake I know of that's got crappie, catfish, bluegill/sunfish things, perch, bass, and wild cuts....

Been watching a lot of redneck outdoorsy stuff lately and my curiosity is getting the better of me.

However I absolutely hate that freshwater lake fish taste, but 20 million rednecks can't be wrong and I hear those panfish can actually be made to taste good. I've had some days on that lake you can litterally just coon em dawn to dusk and I know there's some biguns in there.

I'm so picky on that lake taste, except salmon from the river, I avoid freshwater fish like the plague, however I'm also starting to believe it might just be me
And how I'm preparing things

Any advice?

A Cajun poboy has really been sounding good and I'm willing to give it a try

[acrocker]

Have you pulled the lateral line and pin bones that go down the verbs of the filets? That makes a huge difference....

[Jonathan_S]

Bluegill, crappie and perch. You'd have to take an actual dump on them to keep me from eating them. And even then it might matter if it was before or after the breading/frying.

[brokentrail]

I eat a ton of freshwater fish and I do not know what "lake taste" you are speaking of tbh.  Bluegills, perch and crappies are my go to fish anytime I want to eat fish.

Can you try and explain the "lake taste"?  Are you filleting them or eating them whole?  How do you usually prepare them?

Funny, I don't care for salmon due to the "fishy taste". 

[Mfowl]

I'm not sure what the "lake" taste the OP is referring to actually is but I do find that both rainbow trout and largemouth bass take on a muddy taste from warm water lakes in the summer time. I don't eat LM bass anyway but also don't really try for trout in the warmest months because of that. I do often try for perch/crappie and they seem to eat well anytime of the year. Walleye are also a standard good eater.

[Parasite]

Lake taste is probably the muddy taste. Walleye, channel catfish, smallmouth and largemouth bass come to mind for fish that I wont eat because of it. If I recall correctly, soaking walleye fillets in milk for awhile helps to remove that nastiness.

[MADMAX]

.

[huntnnw]

Lake taste is probably the muddy taste. Walleye, channel catfish, smallmouth and largemouth bass come to mind for fish that I wont eat because of it. If I recall correctly, soaking walleye fillets in milk for awhile helps to remove that nastiness.

walleye and nastiness? never needed to soak walleye

[Parasite]

Lake taste is probably the muddy taste. Walleye, channel catfish, smallmouth and largemouth bass come to mind for fish that I wont eat because of it. If I recall correctly, soaking walleye fillets in milk for awhile helps to remove that nastiness.

walleye and nastiness? never needed to soak walleye

To be fair, the walleye I ate were from the Great Lakes region (Lake Huron) and that could be the reason they tasted that way. I have not had any from WA waters.

[Skillet]

Walleye and perch are every bit as good as lingcod if taken care of properly.

Catch, bleed immediately (best to cut gill arches on both sides instead of cutting the throat latch), and get them on ice. 

It doesn't matter is you catch them out of still water or a river.  Or if you catch them out of 50 degree or 70 degree water. It's all about how quickly you take care of them properly.

[Night goat]

I mean….. i exclusively eat saltwater fish with the only exception being maybe a river caught salmon from time time time or high mtn trout

There is a definitive flavor difference between a salmon from the  salt vs one from the river,

late season high mountain creek trout is crack though, but that’s cold fast moving water with tons of oxygen


These lake fish all taste like mud to me though, I’ve always regarded shallow water lake fish as tasting like an ugly chicks butt. high mountain lakes trout are better but any low land lake fish to me just is gross. Tastes like mud and pond weeds

[DaNewb]

Walleye and perch are every bit as good as lingcod if taken care of properly.

Catch, bleed immediately (best to cut gill arches on both sides instead of cutting the throat latch), and get them on ice. 

It doesn't matter is you catch them out of still water or a river.  Or if you catch them out of 50 degree or 70 degree water. It's all about how quickly you take care of them properly.

This right here...

Bank fishing or boat, I bring a cooler and gut and clean every fish as it's caught, then into the cooler on ice. Then they come home and get vacuum sealed asap. They come out of the freezer months later looking like they were just caught.

I see so many people with a stringer of fish sitting in 6 inches of hot, sunny water at their feet next to shore and just know that fish is going to be nasty eating. No wonder it tastes 'muddy' or 'lake-ish'

Mottled and discolored, rigor mortised into all many of shapes...live fish swimming on a stringer next to dead fish, no thank you.

[hunter399]

Brine it and smoke it.
That will help .....maybe 🤔

[Sandberm]

I can't say as i have ever detected a "lake taste" or any other bad taste from eating walleye or perch. But I'm not a picky eater either.

I generally do not eat bass, crappie or bluegill because I think it has a fishy taste. I wont turn it away though and occasionally just mix some bluegills with the perch i usually catch in the frying pan.

 

[CastleRocker]

I believe that no matter what it is, you HAVE to bleed them and cool them asap.  From Black Cod and Halibut, to every other species of fish, to deer, elk, and cattle.  We used to have a butcher that whenever possible, didn't shoot our cattle.  He had a 4lb hammer that he smacked them with, and then stuck a fillet knife in their jugular or carotid, and bled them.  There was a taste difference between the ones he shot and the ones he didn't.   

We used to dress Sablefish, and Graycod but I guess they just bleed them nowdays.  We bled all our Halibut and salmon this past week except one, and it shows in the fillets.  Good thing it was small.  We ate the one that didn't get bled, and it was stronger tasting than one of the others that was bled.

[brokentrail]

My fish are usually alive until I clean, them thanks to the livewell, and I have eaten walleyes from Ohio to Washington and never had a bad one, tbh, those are the cadillac of fresh water fish to most, although I prefer bluegills to everything else, they just have a sweeter flavor, at least to me.

[Sandberm]

This thread has turned into a virtue signal to the extents some take to preserve their catch.

[Jonathan_S]

This thread has turned into a virtue signal to the extents some take to preserve their catch.

Let me buck the trend. I've kept panfish whole in a bucket in the fridge for a day before filleting, live in a water bucket, thrown live into ice slurry etc. It's all damn good to eat even if not the ideal preservation

[Karl Blanchard]

This thread has turned into a virtue signal to the extents some take to preserve their catch.

Let me buck the trend. I've kept panfish whole in a bucket in the fridge for a day before filleting, live in a water bucket, thrown live into ice slurry etc. It's all damn good to eat even if not the ideal preservation

Preach!!!!

[Pete112288]

99% of my food fish are largemouth and catfish. With some crappie, salmon, steelhead thrown in. My wife and I both agree the bass is our favorite fish to eat. I normally keep em live till the last moment, then bleed and fillet. However there has been plenty of days where I have had a dead bass on a stringer for half a day before cleaning and filleting. They still were yummy. Funny thing is, I am so acclimated to it that when I eat sea bass or ling cod or such, it takes me a moment to get used to the "ocean fish" taste  still love it, just not used to it. Now the catfish on the other hand if I dont bleed and clean em just right they are super fishy and lucky. But I dont catch em in the cleanest water around let's just say that

[Skillet]

This thread has turned into a virtue signal to the extents some take to preserve their catch.

A virtue signal?  For giving the OP the advice on fish care that he asked for?  I think I'm missing something.

[plugger]

Bluegill, crappie and perch always taste the same no matter the water temp or location. Walleye on the other hand can get an allege flavor to them. I won't eat a walleye from moses or potholes after early may until the following spring because of that. Banks lake and anything out of the Columbia are always good. I don't eat the channel cats i catch so can't speak for them. 

[Buckjunkie]

I am not a fan of trout unless they are high lake or come from a cold stream and I am still not crazy about them. They have to have bright orange or red meat. One exception are the triploids from around the net pens on Lake Roosevelt. They taste great!

[luvmystang67]

We took a road trip through Mississippi.  The drinking water EVERYWHERE tasted like swamp.  Restaurants, homes, etc.  Everyone was serving it, and everyone was drinking it.  Even the soda fountain was tainted.  Everyone looked like us as if we were crazy.  You could smell your glass before you got it to your mouth.  This wasn't an isolated area.

Point being, some people have different tastes, and the 20M people you speak of might find PNW water gross... I'm not sure.  But I am convinced some people don't notice the same tastes that others do, based on what they were raised with.

I also generally cannot stand lake fish, but I keep trying them!

[Reidus]

There's a mental aspect to taste. What you're brain thinks something will taste like affects what you perceive. Most people can't tell the difference between coke and Pepsi in a blind test.

[Karl Blanchard]

There's a mental aspect to taste. What you're brain thinks something will taste like affects what you perceive. Most people can't tell the difference between coke and Pepsi in a blind test.

pfffff! Amateurs

[highside74]

Forget fish taste. There is no way on God's green earth that anyone can mistake trash Pepsi for Coke.

[Karl Blanchard]

Forget fish taste. There is no way on God's green earth that anyone can mistake trash Pepsi for Coke.

That Eatonville water has rotted your taste buds and your brain! Guess that explains why you'd put in for the early desert archery tag