I have an old friend coming to the lake for a visit. He was once a very good bass angler but now fishes for Walleye. The next four days will be spent fishing for toothy fish. Lots of Walleye in LOZ but few fish for them. We are hoping to put a few in the fryer and some in the freezer. I catch a few but it will be nice to fish with a dedicated Walleye angler and pick his brain. It's not that they put up a good fight but the fact that they taste so doggone good.
Wizard
Very true Wiz.
We have plenty of walleye here and I suppose they are only second to trout as far as popularity.
I dont target them but I do catch a few here and there while bass fishing. I keep most of the legal ones to fry up. My family loves a fish fry and thats one of the few fish I enjoy eating.
Your also right about the fight they put up. Not much.
If you get a good one its like pulling in a log other than your line moves sideways.
In my opinion Walleye is the best tasting fish. I eat very little fish but when I do if I can have walleye that's what it will be.
Ron
God made that fish to be eaten, from the delicious flaky white flesh to the nice dorsal groove that allows you to easily filet the fish. I've only caught one (accidentally) at Potholes reservoir in Washington State, but man, that was the best tasting freshwater fish ever!
Next to Crappie I would put Walleye on the list for a fish fry. I haven't been walleye fishing in years. I use to go to Canada every year to catch some but then they lowered the limit you could bring home and then it got to expensive so I stopped going. Good luck Wizard and hope y'all find a bunch of them.
I average about 150 a year on my boat. Some go home with my friends. The rest i have a fish. Fry at work and for the family..
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Quote from: sportsmansfriend on September 27, 2017, 09:44:53 AM
In my opinion Walleye is the best tasting fish. I eat very little fish but when I do if I can have walleye that's what it will be.
Ron
Yep!! #2 would be northern pike IMHO!!! Lay several pats of butter in the body cavity with your favorite herbs,I like Rosemary or French Tarragon, red onion slices, minced garlic, salt and pepper, wrapped in foil and baked for 10 or 15 minutes.
Rodney
Quote from: Oldfart9999 on September 27, 2017, 03:14:52 PM
Yep!! #2 would be northern pike IMHO!!! Lay several pats of butter in the body cavity with your favorite herbs,I like Rosemary or French Tarragon, red onion slices, minced garlic, salt and pepper, wrapped in foil and baked for 10 or 15 minutes.
Rodney
That's the way I cook Mackerel.
Sorry to say that is one of the species I have never caught.
I've never had them, we don't have Walleye down here. I wonder if Chain Pickerel are tasty? Those we have down here, not many but they are around. I think they are the southern smaller cousin of a northern pike.
Chain Pickerel (what we call a Jackfish) are very good eating, but they are full of small bones. The way we have always done it successfully is to scale and fillet the fish leaving the skin on. Then, with the skin side down, about every 3/4 inch, you cut the meat to the skin. Once you fry it the bones are gone.
Brad
Interesting! Sounds like you've got a good technique for them.
Jackfish and pike both have the "y" bone off the back bone. Love the white flakey meat. You can cut out the Y bones, but it is hard to do.My PB pike was 36 1/2 inches in canada
Oldjim
Man I love this thread. It strikes a perfect balance between fishing and cooking!! Steak of the lake, crappie and northerns, never tried jackfish but that sounds like a great technique Brad. I need to go fishing.
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I used to work with a guy that pickled pickerel, said it was really good. We have folks who smoke carp and say it is very good. My fishing buddy and I go perch jerking this time of year, I let him take all we catch, last time it was about 40 perch, big ones, his daughter got them all and it only made one meal for her, the husband and 2 sons the eat them like popcorn! lo
Rodney
A friend of ours back in FL. used to cook jackfish somehow and the bones would get soft and edible, she would then make patties out of them and fry em, made some kind of white gravy that tasted fantastic. I used to take whatever I caught and she would share when she cooked them.
Jim and I caught 14 Walleye yesterday but no keepers. 18 inch minimum length in Missouri. We just came in for breakfast an have 2 keepers so far. Jim is cleaning them while I make breakfast. Both about 3-4 pounds. If you think bass anglers use their electronics a lot, you should see what a Walleye angler does with them. Electronics are everything for them. Probably 70-80% of time on the water is eye balling the finders. We are trolling with worm rigs. Most of Jim's fishing is trolling on most lakes. At LOZ, we will troll 100% of the time. It's because LOZ is a clear cut lake with few bottom features. We will try a different area of the lake each day. Today we caught our Walleye off the reef at the mouth of my cove and off Chimney Point. There were bait schools, small Walleye schools and bass schools. The bass were on the shore side of the schools and the Walleye on the channel side. The two species didn't appear to intermingle.
Wizard