Conference wahoo::fishing

    	There are only a couple other factors but one of the biggest ones
    is how well the person cooking it does (i.e. recipe wise).
    
    	The other factors I can think of are whether the water is clean
    where the fish came from, and how freshly stocked they are. Freshly 
    stocked trout don't taste as good as ones that have been eatting natural 
    foods. The pellets they feed them at the hatchery change their flavor.
    
    	In general, I have eatten a lot of different fish a lot of
    different ways and IMHO, if you want to eat a really good tasting fish, 
    you'll eat something other than a trout.
    
    	RAYJ

	I don't eat all that much fresh water fish because I haven't found
	anything I've liked, 'cept for one.  I have tried rainbow trout, 
	brook trout, and landlocked salmon, and have yet to try bass, pick,
	perch, etc.

	The results:

	. Rainbow:  could not finish it.  It was a stocked variety, and
		    did absolutely nothing for me. Caught in a pond in Woburn,
		    and cooked fresh.

	. Brook Trout:  the best fresh water fish I've eaten, caught in a 
			stream in N.H., and my friend says they were definitely
			natives.   Cooked in bacon grease, they sure were good!
			(A bunch of us were camping)

	. Landlocked Salmon:  from Quabbin, little pink steaks with garlic
			      and butter on the grille.  Did not finish the
			      meal.  Tasted like dirt.


	I thought I'd love fresh water fish, because I can eat and enjoy 
	practically any fish/animal out of the ocean.

	Ken

	Good Note... refreshing to read something other than SOAPBOX Sh*t

	
	This past winter my cousinn caught his first fish ice fishing a 16" 
Brown. They had been stocked in the sping of the previous year as 6-9 ".
The pond is very clean for central Mass.( 16' transparency and 50' deep )
I drilled a livwell and that eveing I cleaned the still live fish and my 
cousin who is a chef prepared it. He put slices of fresh onions and lemon on 
the inside and both sides of the fish and doused with white whine and some 
spices, then wrapped in foil and poached for 30 minutes. 

	Other good ones for fresh water fish are perch rolled in flour and
BBQ'd. Also Bass or blue gill fillets dipped in batter and deep fried.

	Got to go now I am hungry.

	Johnny Roach

    	The best trout I ever had was brown trout caught in Lake Ontario.
    they were about 8 -10 Lbs range and made great fillets.  I marinated
    them and cooked them on the grill they were grest.  I agree with you
    that stocked trout taste like ()*&^*&%^$.  But I do like fising the
    small streams and ponds they stock them in so I usually marinate them
    for 24 hours in a brine solution then smoke them for 3-4 hours.   The
    only problem I have with smoking them is my kids and wife eat them up
    so fast I usually only get 1/2 a fish to my self.
    
    Les

    Oh I forgot to say the family's favorite freash water fish is BASS
    in the small mouth variety.  Being a catch and release guy this one is
    hard to do, but I usually take 1 or 2 meals a summer out of a local
    lake that has zero pressure, I prefer fish just about 2 lbs. Try a bass
    from a clean clear lake, they are GREAT!!!!!
    
    Think I'll go fishing I am Hungry !!!!!
    
    
    Les

I agree that the best tasting trout are the small native brookies.  Fried up
with just butter they are wonderful.  Most rainbows and brookies I catch are
fairly recent stockies, these guys need more than butter to make them taste
good to me.  I'll usualy fillet them and either blacken them or deep fry them.
                                  
I've never had a landlocked slamon that wasn't good anyway ya cook `em.

Another tastey treat is salmon dip.  I suggested it to the wife last year, 
she winged it, and it was great stuff - served on crackers.  The first time 
we made it we used salmon and it was great and had a nice pinkish coloring.  
When made with trout is was much paler and not as visually appealing.  
A touch of red food coloring fixed that by magically transforming it from 
trout to salmon dip.

Bass are good too, but due to the pressures on most of the local waters I fish, 
I release them all.  But when camping in remote areas, I'll fillet up a 
smallie or two and pan fry it with flour and garlic.

Even pickeral are real good eating, however the bones are a pain.  One of these
years I'm going to learn how to fillet them and keep the larger ones I catch.
When done right, pickeral and pike can provide some nice fillets.

I wish we had more walleye around here.  I've never eaten one. They are 
supposedly wonderful. 
    
    donmac - is it lunch time yet?

Massapog in Sharon is one of my favorite lakes!

Tim

    I don't keep many fish but small native brookies caught in fairly cold 
    water early in the season are my favorite. I usually fry them in batter. 
    
    Baked stuffed Salmon is also great. I use either crab meat or mushroom
    stuffing.  

re:           <<< Note 1477.6 by RANGER::MACINTYRE "Terminal Angler" >>>

> Even pickeral are real good eating, however the bones are a pain.  One of these
> years I'm going to learn how to fillet them and keep the larger ones I catch.
> When done right, pickeral and pike can provide some nice fillets.

A friend of mine - who basically eats anything that moves - every so often
makes pickerel burgers by grinding the fish with bones-in in a blender, and
forms patties with 'em.  Says they're fantastic.

Nothing like fish from the salt for eating though IMO.

Ken

    
    
    	 I have a camp in So. Vermont that I try to make it up to a
    	few time during the summer. Its not far from the Sommerset Res.
    	In the small beaver ponds up there we have caught brookies in
    	the 9" to 15" range that tend to have a pinkish color inside.
    	These fish are great cooked outside over a hardwood fire!
    
    	JK

re:                      <<< Note 1477.11 by DEMING::TADRY >>>
    
>    Is that kinda like the BASS-O-MATIC advertised on late night T.V. back
>    in the '70's? Sometimes seen on Nick.  8*)

	Hah!  Kind of.  You sort of filet the pick, and the filet will have
	lots of bones (except maybe currently in New England ;-)). Then 
	insert bony filet into blender/food-processor/Bass-o-matic, press "HI"
	or "PUREE" and you end up with soft fish-burger.  Suposedly you don't 
	notice the bones.

       We have visited my wife's uncle in Michigan a couple of times.
       With all that water up there, he only fishes for bluegills. Junk
       fish, I thought.
       
       Well, the first time we caught a bunch of them we brought them
       back to his "camp" (hah! - color tv, microwave...) I got an
       education. He grabs the dorsal fin and pulls it out in one piece.
       He guts them and beheads them, in one swoop. Then he scales them
       with a teaspoon. They're laid in a dish of cornmeal (with salt and
       white pepper) and dropped into a deep fryer. When they float he
       takes them out and eats them like corn-on-the-cob. Only the
       cartoon-like skeleton remains.
       
       You know what? They're delicious!
       
       So I came back to NH and tried the same thing. Yuck! Junk fish!
       Totally different taste. Like mud.

     To me Walleyes are the best - bar none ! I agree about Lake Massapoag,
    I used to fish it in the 70's. It's the best big bass lake (caught some
    trout, too) I've fished in Mass. or NH. Caught a 6 + there, lots of
    4-5's, and (of course) lost one on a chrome bomber that was at least 8.
    
    --The Skoal Bandit

    The wild sea-going trout is THE BEST without any question! Grilled,
    fryed, gravad, smoked... you name it. What's left over after filleting
    can be used for soup, sauce, pie etc.
    
    After one or several years in the sea (i.e. three pounds and upwards)
    they are in very good condition and make excellent eating.
    
    Eki who's_waiting_anxiously_for_the_autumn_season
      

    
I hardly ever look at this conference cuz it's usually about stuff 
back east but even I can comment on this topic!

I've never eaten sea-trout but it sounds great.

The best Colorado trout, as far as I'm concerned, are the high
mountain stream Brookies. The meat on some of them gets as orange as a
Salmon and those are the best. Rolled in flour/salt/pepper and fried
in bacon grease is heaven. It's like candy. If you get 'em in the pan
right out of the water the meat curls right off the bones while
cooking. Of course onion, butter, salt, and pepper on the inside,
rolled in foil on the campfire is also hard to beat. 

I guess I better go eat my PBJ in a sterile office environment.
This is sad.

Bob Luff
I.R.B.F.

    I've never eaten any type of trout but some of what's been described
    sounds wonderful and some horrid!
    
    IMHO the best eating fish is the world is the catfish.  There is
    a on going debate as to which is better the small under one pound
    left whole and rolled in cracker meal and deep fried.  Or the large
    catfish cut into fingers and treated the same way. 
    
    Of course the blue gill described earier are also excellent.
    
    Debbie

    
    
    re... .17   As a hardcore flyfisherman I dont have much opportunity to
    catch and eat the catfish anymore...specially in MAINE...BUT.having
    spent my earlier years (many/early) as a commercial trotline fisherman on 
    the upper Mississippi (Dubuque pool from lock and Dam #10 in Casseville 
    Wisc. to Lock and Dam 11 at Dubuque Iowa, fishing  out of Lynn  Hollow 
    landing and McCartney landing, Potosi Wisconsin)...I can definiely
    agree that the CATFISH (native..river raised) either channel, yellow
    (bullhead) or flathead (Mudcat) when fried whole (under 2 Lb) or steaked 
    (3-20 Lb) with cornmeal coating is beyond any doubt the culinary epicure 
    of the eating fish world....Blows the doors off any trout or salmon I've 
    ever eaten. 
    
      In fact when my family comes to Maine to eat lobsters and "tourist" the 
    coast a cooler of frozen catfish filet is the mandatory fee for parking 
    the winni in my dooryard....yum yum....
    
      Tight lines
    
        ed