better tasting ?

[chef]

On a recent fishing social we had Perch cooked on the bbq fantastic taste so was wondering what other fresh water fish taste better than trout?

 

[Shrek]

Zander is apparently very nice too, but then I suppose it would be seeing as it's part perch anyway.

Gudgeon pie used to be quite a delicacy too.

 

[Ron 'The Hat' Clay]

I have eaten most of the common British freshwater fish in my life.

Here is my list starting with the best:

1: Zander - wonderful
2: Eels - a firm nutty taste
3: Perch - excellent.
4: Seatrout - really good
5: Rainbow trout. Naturally grown on fish are very good. Supermarket fish are rubbish.
6: Salmon: Freshrun fish are the best but not easy to get.
7: Pike: Small ones are OK.
8: Tench: quite edible - better than carp.
9: Gudgeon: not bad but too small.
10: Carp: Small ones about 4 lbs only. Big carp over 10 lbs are like eating tasteless pulp.
11: Grayling - can vary. The chalkstream fish are the best.


The rest are not worth talking about

 

[Ron 'The Hat' Clay]

By the way Adrian, zander are a seperate species. Not a hybrid beween pike and perch.

 

[chef]

Tried zander pike and eels(hot smoked )just wondered what else i could catch on the fly that may be worth eating

 

[Shrek]

How bizarre. I always thought Zander were a Pike/Perch hybrid, at least that's what I'd always been told.

 

[Keith Orange]

Adrian, I think Pike Perch was a name coined by anglers in the Victorian era, mainly because the fish is supposed to have features similar to both pike (Esox lucius) and perch (Perca fluviatilis).

Of course, zander is a distinct species (Stizostedion lucioperca). I interpret the scientific name as meaning that it is from the family Stizostedion, and lucioperca sounds like the latin for, guess what, pike perch !

There is a similar species in North America called Walleye (Stizostedion vitreum). There is only one known walleye recorded from UK waters - one of 11lb 12 oz taken by F Adams from the Delph on 3/3/1934.

Fresh water species I have eaten and like are:

Trout and Salmon
Grayling
Perch and zander
Eels, although they are an acquired taste.

Worst fish I've eaten - pike !

 

[Shrek]

Thanks Keith, cleared that one up for me.

 

[Richard Baker 4]

I have eaten Roach I've caught abroad. Shallow fried roach fillets are nice.River fish are best. However, I've not eaten any in ages because river roach of an eatable size are just a crime to knock on the head. There such a lovely fish.

 

[Ron 'The Hat' Clay]

No-one would eat a roach today Rich, althought I have seen them on the slabs of fishmongers in the Sheffield market.

I have eaten roach in the past and found them tasteless and watery. Mind you if I think back they were still water fish from Clumber Park.

I've alway wondered about that Walleye taken in 1934. Was it a Walleye? Why only one recorded? They are so close to zander in appearance that I wonder if someone didn't get it wrong.

Not only that but that fish was a big one for its species.

 

[Ron 'The Hat' Clay]

World record Walleye - 25lbs

World record Zander - 25lb 2oz - Sweden

Close isn't it?

 

[Alan Tyler]

A.F. Magri- McMahon, in his book "Fishlore", reckoned dace to be the only british cyprinid that was anything like edible.

 

[Ron 'The Hat' Clay]

You are probably right Alan.

I cannot ever remember eating a dace.

 

[Big Swordsy :O)]

I have eaten chinese dace (tinned) O.K

Roach very nice but boney
pike wickedly boney

Thai catfish not bad

What I want to know are the small clams around the tidal Trent (Laneham and below) Edible. They closely resemble surf clams.

Then again would you want to eat anything from the Tidal?

 

[Ian Cloke]

Following on from Lee, are fresh water mussels edible?? As they are abundent in a water close to me.

 

[Keith Orange]

Ron, according to Len Cacutt's "British Freshwater Fishes", Walleye were released into the Great Ouse in 1924 in the mistaken belief they were black bass !

Why only one walleye was ever recorded as being caught is a mistery.

 

[Ron 'The Hat' Clay]

Thanks Keith for that information.

So they did try to stock British waters with black bass years ago.

There is of course a lake near the Mildenhall in Norfolk that is stocked with small mouth bass. Apparently it's for the excusive use of officers in the US Airforce. The fish were put there just after WW2. I would love get get more facts on this water.

 

[Richard Baker 4]

Is there actually any difference between a walleye and a zander? they look so similar that I wouldn't be surprised if they were slightly different strains of the same species.

As for Bass I love em!! I'd gladly have them in UK waters. A hell of a sporting fish. In many ways an identical quarry to our perch. a scavenger/predator that fihts well and can be tackled on a variety of methods. Makes you wonder why waters don;t stock more perch?

 

[Ron 'The Hat' Clay]

The two dorsal fins on a Walleye I believe are separate, not joined like a zander.

Also, a Walleye has bars or stripes down its side like a perch, although they are not as pronounced.

I too love bass Richard and have caught thousands in my life, both small mouth and large mouth.

Around 1976 I corresponded with **** Walker on the subject of stocking rainbow trout. He was keen for me to get some of the Sam Holland (of Avington fame) ova to see if we could hatch it out in SA. We found out that such importation was against the law.

The subject changed to other species of fish. I mentioned to him about smallmouth bass and what a fine species they were, not only on the end of the line but sizzling in the pan.

I suggested that maybe smallmouth bass could be stocked into British waters, land locked ones of course.

He replied by return of post saying that it was not a good idea at all. The reasons he gave was that the protein conversion of bass was not as good as a rainbow trout. Not only that, but if the species escaped into rivers, it would "chomp every small fish in sight" - his words. He mentioned that at least with the rainbow trout there was not the chance of them overrunning our waters as apart from odd places, they don't breed naturally in Britain.

Bass are certainly prolific breeders and there is no doubt they would do well here, as they have apparently in the very private lake at Mildenhall.

Small mouth bass are also found in Swedish, Norwegian, Danish and Dutch waters.

 

[Richard Baker 4]

I do wonder just how many waters ranbow trout do breed in. I know the three official ones are the derbyshire derwent, the Missbourne in buckinghamshire and the Derbyshire wye. I'll bet there are more though. In the naturally cool waters of the chalk streams, where the gravel is clean the conditions must be perfect for the rainbow to breed. the same goes for many of scotland's lochs fed with feeder burns.

What do others think about this. In my experience nature usually finds a way.

Regards

Rich