White Bass

[MikeA]

Made a quick run last night for a few hours. It was a little slow on the fly but a group of gear guys were doing better. That's a little unusual but it happens and when it does it confuses me. Has to be sound or vibration. Most of the time I can finesse these fish with a fly better then I can with a lure. I got enough to make a nice meal this week. The Whites I caught were of good size and I even got a couple Crappie. Going back for more later.

Somebody got a nice mess of fat Crappie this week. I know this because they dumped the head and guts in the water at the ramp. I don't understand the mentality of people around here who think that dead stuff should be dumped in water. This slows the decay process waaaaay down, stinks for months, and can introduce all kinds of nasty bacteria into the rivers we fish, boat and swim on. Not to mention Rutherford county's water intake is less then a mile down river. PLEASE stop throwing dead fish, deer, dogs, etc, etc, into our rivers!! There are more then enough Buzzards to take care of this process.

[Looper Flies]

Any fish I clean, I almost always save the heads and guts in trash bags (doubled up) and put them in the freezer then take them to the trash on Sunday night before the morning trash collection.  That way, there's no smell in the garbage if I fish late in the week.  In the spring, I use the fish guts and heads in my garden.

[grumpy]

.

Somebody got a nice mess of fat Crappie this week. I know this because they dumped the head and guts in the water at the ramp. I don't understand the mentality of people around here who think that dead stuff should be dumped in water. This slows the decay process waaaaay down, stinks for months, and can introduce all kinds of nasty bacteria into the rivers we fish, boat and swim on. Not to mention Rutherford county's water intake is less then a mile down river. PLEASE stop throwing dead fish, deer, dogs, etc, etc, into our rivers!! There are more then enough Buzzards to take care of this process.

AMEN!

[gaspergou]

If you keep a few fish, you might want to try this with the post-filleted carcass rather than tossing most of it in the trash. Ditch the gills and guts, toss the rest in a pot.

http://honest-food.net/2013/04/15/fish-risotto-recipe/

The stock/pickins also make a fantastic chowder.

If you haven't seen this blog before and you like cooking or eating, you might want to poke around a bit more...

[MikeA]

Damn, that looks awesome.

[Steve H]

Thanks for sharing Dave!

[bd]

I guess I'm a fish-head-in-the-water chucker.  I keep it distant from the ramp and put them in deeper water - I'm not keen on piles of fish heads right there at the ramp.  But I don't see where the fish carcasses do much harm - from what I've seen, the turtles, crawfish, and other scavengers pick them clean pretty quickly.  At home, I even chuck them in the same general area each time, and when I've been cleaning fish recently, it tends to draw in the bigger catfish if I want any of those.

As far as the water intake downstream, fish die in the water all the time - I'd be a lot more worried about that landfill looming just a short distance away from the river (also upstream of your water intake). 

Dave's idea of making a fish stock and chowder is probably the best idea of all - I'll have to try that one of these days.

bd