That "lake taste" in freshwater fish

[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