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Thread: Removing Strong Fishy Taste

  1. #1
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    Default Removing Strong Fishy Taste


    Certain fish have a stronger fishy taste than others and different people have different ways of toning it down a bit. I have had this problem on some very large catfish I've caught over the years. My wife loves smaller cats about 1-5lbs but once they get up in the 20-40lb range she says the fishy taste is too strong and she refused to eat it. Yes I try to cut out the bloodline as I know that carries a strong taste but the larger fish still have a stronger flavor.

    It didn't bother me as much as it does her but I can't be cooking fish my wife don't want to eat so I started asking around and I tried something that was suggested on another site. I soaked the fish in a big bowl covered with Mountain Dew soda, lol. Some people use milk or other stuff but this guy swore by Mountain Dew so I had to try it.

    The result wasn't what I expected!! First off the fish after it was fried did not taste like Mountain Dew. However the soda worked like a charm and removed all the fishy taste from the meat. I mean really it wasn't just in my head it really made the meat taste very good and it wasn't strong at all. My wife loved it and was pretty amazed.

    Was curious if anyone else ran into this problem and what did you use? I know some older folks swear by soaking em in buttermilk and I figure that probably works just as well.

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    Buttermilk works well and so does bottled Italian salad dressing.

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    Have heard of Sprite and rarely Coke, not Mtn Dew though. Buttermilk works, but if it's not good eating, toss him back. Only thing I'll do with a cat over 20 lbs is make a stew or occasionally nugget him if we need fish for a fish fry.

  4. #4
    gabowman is offline Super Moderator * Crappie.com Supporter
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    If you and the wife like eating fish that isnt strong tasting you should try striper. After removing all the red...when fried, you cannot hardly taste fish at all. Unbelieveable! I always thought they would be strong tasting until I started fishing for 'em. Matter of fact, we like fish that has a bit stronger taste so we dont keep the stripers. Instead we'll eat crappie, filleted bass, bream, or catfish.

    Back to your question, we cut larger cats into nuggets after removing all the red. And that's only if we're fish hungry for some catfish. Usually its fresh crappie fillets for us.
    Health nuts are going to feel stupid someday, lying in hospitals dying of nothing.

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    Any fish, of any species, that is trophy class goes back in the water. I catch plenty of fish to cook. Let someone else get the fun out of the big ones. Sorry! I sure everyone can do what they want. But I hate seeing big fish killed when you have to go to extremes to make it taste good.
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    Quote Originally Posted by hunter7711 View Post
    Any fish, of any species, that is trophy class goes back in the water. I catch plenty of fish to cook. Let someone else get the fun out of the big ones. Sorry! I sure everyone can do what they want. But I hate seeing big fish killed when you have to go to extremes to make it taste good.
    In addition, pollutants are cumulative... and the bigger the fish, the more pollutants you ingest when eat them. This may also be part of the strong taste.

    Some people aren't that good at fishing and have to take what they can get when they go fishin' so they can have a fish dinner.

    Other folks are greedy and feel they have to keep everything they catch. You can't really fault these people as long as they stay whithin their legal limits... but the big fish will have their revenge later in these peoples lives because pollutants and toxins are cumulative in people too, and are the cause of cancer and other ailments.

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    Catfish is the most abundant game fish in the world so I'm not too worried about keeping larger fish. I used to fish commercially using hoop nets and we would harvest 2-3 thousand pounds a week. In 11 years I never saw a decline in the catfish population.
    Not saying that you shouldn't throw back larger fish if you want to but I just don't practice catch and release. However I was taught not to ever catch or shoot something you don't intend to eat so if I catch it it gets eaten. We don't waste anything around here.

    I have a good friend who only catches and releases fish. He bought a 20 thousand dollar boat just to go out and not keep any fish. I asked him why and he said he thought it was cruel to kill a fish when food is so abundant at the grocery store. I asked him if he considered that all the meat at the grocery was alive at one time too and someone had to kill it? He said yeah but most of that was farm raised and not wild so it was ok.

    I then asked him if he thought it was cruel to trick these fish with bait and artificial lures and hook them in their mouths and rip them from the deeps and drag them out of the water to show them off and take pics? Also I told him his boat was destroying their natural habitat and displacing oil and other pollutants into their environment but it was all supposed to be ok cause he was throwing them back? I didn't change his mind but he maintains he's not hurting them.

    I sympathize with catch and release supporters but I also sympathize with hushpuppies and french frys with my fish :D

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    gabowman is offline Super Moderator * Crappie.com Supporter
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    There's absolutely nothing wrong with catch and release. I am currently retired and get the luxury of fishing all I want to. There's NO WAY I would ever eat all that I catch now so I release ALOT of fish. I'm not big into giving alot of fish away other than to just a few people that arent able to fish for themselves anymore. My thinking is...keep what I want to eat and let the rest grow even bigger. To each his own though.
    Health nuts are going to feel stupid someday, lying in hospitals dying of nothing.

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    Quote Originally Posted by gabowman View Post
    There's absolutely nothing wrong with catch and release. I am currently retired and get the luxury of fishing all I want to. There's NO WAY I would ever eat all that I catch now so I release ALOT of fish. I'm not big into giving alot of fish away other than to just a few people that arent able to fish for themselves anymore. My thinking is...keep what I want to eat and let the rest grow even bigger. To each his own though.
    yes yes I agree with you. Didn't mean for my post to sound like I'm disagreeing with catch and release folks. I totally support catch and release to anyone who wants to practice it. I was just saying for me personally I have never done it. Yes I do throw back anything too small to keep or anything over my limits. Also sometimes I throw fish back just cause I don't want to clean that many.

    Once again I totally support anyone practicing C&R, but I fish for food. Any fish my family eats means less money I spend at the grocery store.

    Your real problem is not the individual like myself but commercial fisherman and yes I know because I used to be one. I was just a small time guy selling to local fish markets but some commercial operations are much larger than what I did. I know guys that fish the basin and rivers comercially with nets and they have no sympathy for fish populations at all. They will keep anything deemed legal by law and they catch thousands and thousands of pounds a week. I have seen a 6 boat operation running nets and it would boggle your mind at the catfish, buffalo, and gar they catch on a daily basis.

    They catch more in one day than 200 ordinary fisherman catch in a month.

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    Team M & M,
    How long do you let the fish soak in the mountain dew??

    "The greatest use of life is to spend it for something that will outlast it".

    William James

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