Rock bass easy to please

[Hamilton Reef]

Rock bass easy to please
Fish will feed on almost any bait, make tasty meal

A few years ago we were visiting friends in Canada, and while everyone else went off to a local street festival, I grabbed a rod and went fishing.

The friends lived on a lake that had a good smallmouth bass population, but my first cast with a four-inch crankbait was intercepted by a big rock bass. So were the next half-dozen, and I started switching baits to see what these super-aggressive members of the sunfish family would take.

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080814/SPORTS10/808140416/1058

[deep6in]

make a tastey meal


I've always considered these to be a nuesance when pan fishing they do however fight like a great catch on light tackle when you get into one. I never considered keeping them to eat....Are they really any good to eat??? Do they even hold a candle to gills??? I have gotten in to some monsters in the past, but always put them back with the belife that they are not very good tasting.

[Falco]

Several people told me this spring that Rock Bass are a tastey fish. So I kept a good sized one and fried him up this summer. Tasted good to me, it's worth keeping one and finding out for yourself if you like them or not.

[Percha Man]

Tasty little guys and easy catches as well. I prefer mine from the colder waters in spring time.

[fishinthed]

Same family as bluegills, and feed all over the water column. Don't see why they shouldn't be good eating.

They're certainly fun to catch, especially on UL gear. Aggressive as demons, and great fighters, pound for pound. :fish:

[Halffasthog]

I just started fishing in lakes this summer. I caught these tasty little guys on everything from nightcrawlers to trolling hot n tots. I couldn't tell the difference in a mixed plate of fried up panfish.

[waterfoul]

YES!!! Please eat every one you catch!! Things are a real bother when bass fishing!!! But I did send one if for Master Angler this season! LOL!!!

[FishermanJohn]

Rock bass are fun to catch when you are going after sunfish with ultralights, but annoying when going after bass and other "real" fish. They're not bad eating, either. I've noticed no difference between them and bluegills and other panfish.

[Critter]

We caught some real hogs 12-14" out of Crystal Lake in Montcalm Co last summer and tried to eat one of the big ones. Yuck, stick with the smaller ones 8" or so. Can't tell em from a bluegill after they come out of the cooker.

[dbassman]

I HATE these fish... I'll be bass fishing, see the line twitch or take off... Thinking "There's a Bass!":)... Set the hook & drag in a Frickin Rock Bass. :mad: :yikes: Most of the ones I've caught don't have much fight (or size). I don't think I've caught one over 12"... Most under 8-9" & they usually tear up your soft plastic baits.

These fish have to be the dumbest fish also... As a young kid (11-12yr. old) I caught the same one 10 times! :lol::lol::lol: Yes it was the same one, after I caught him I threw him back & watched where he swam (only a few feet away) put my bait in front of it & it bit again... After about 4 times he quit biting so I changed baits, yep, bit it right away. After doing this a few times & catching the same Rock bass 10 times he finally decided that he'd better quit eating for a while! LOL!

[Boardman Brookies]

I don't really think I would eat one, but I bet there would be nothing wrong with it. I take the old lady to a river that is packed with them and she has a blast catching the. Some of them get big too.

[Swamp Monster]

I've caught some giants in Lake Mecosta. I too consider them a nuisance fish really. They are super aggressive, which leads me to believe they put the squeeze on the food chain for other game fish such as smallies and largemouth, etc. The small ones are allright to eat, but anything with any size is like eating a rubber innertube.

[jakeo]

Had a bass fisherman watching my son and I a few years back fishing for gills and he asked if we wanted him to keep the rock bass for us. I said sure because we werent doing very well. Took them back to camp and enjoyed them very much. Keep on Ice tho!!

[axisgear]

A big mess of them fried up REAL good out of Higgins last week. They tasted as good as the perch!

[RobFromFlint]

Keep on Ice tho!!

EXACTLY. That is the trick to making these fish taste IDENTICAL to gills. I tricked a friend into eating these with me along with some bull gills. He couldn't tell the difference. I told him what they were, next thing I know I see him in one of my spots on the Cass. Keeping them on ice is definately a muct though.

[Critter]

We ate a bunch of them again this year during our trip to Crystal lake and they were as good as ever. If it hadn't been for them we would have had a slim fish fry, couldn't get into any good amounts of gills at one time. We cleaned them as soon as we hit shore and froze em til the fish fry. They all tasted good this year. Most of their bellies were full of crayfish.

[UltimateOutdoorsman]

Interesting. I catch them when Im trolling for walleyes. Ive always tossed em back though.

I'll have to fry some up!