CTFishTalk.com: Are you all releasing your catch? - Connecticut General Topics ( CT General Topics ) - A Community Built for Connecticut Fisherman.

Mr.Cranky · Joined: 26 May 2012 Posts: 57

So........as I'm reading all the posts in the various forums, I'm not seeing anyone posting about how much they're looking forward to chowing down on the their catch.
I'm always happy to catch fish and do release many for various reasons, but I do enjoy eating much of what I catch. I'd like to hear how some of you all treat your fish for the table. I'm pretty much a "fillet them all, roll in crumbs and pan fry them"
type of guy. I find, particularly later in the summer, that they can taste a bit "muddy" if I leave the skin on. Plus scaling creates a hell of a mess! But with filleting, I never have that bottom flavor no matter what the water temp.
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NWDarkcloud · Joined: 23 Apr 2012 Posts: 474

Ya im a total release guy unless I realy damage 1 and it wount survive got a lady down the road kills for fresh fish so i hook her up from time to time .....I Love fish but I have mercury issues and cant take the chance Sad

But when I could eat the i allways filet them out unless it was catfish then it was on the bone batterd and deep fried
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SAP284 · Joined: 07 Jun 2011 Posts: 655 Location: Central, CT

I probably keep 50% of the keepers that I catch...give or take. Recently the past two weeks I've released them. Depending on the type of fish as well. A lot of my family lives in the same town as me, so on weekends between 3 of my aunts and 4 of my uncles we get together and eat. Sometimes my aunt will stuff them, or sometimes my uncles will fry them in a deep fryer with the bone...the meat comes right off. My family is from an island so fishing and eating fish is part of our culture. I haven't really tried a fish that I haven't liked..
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DirtyDawg10 · Joined: 27 May 2009 Posts: 2238 Location: Granby, CT

I love eating fish and should probably keep more than I do. I end up releasing most of the fish I catch. There are a lot of places in CT though that I would never eat a fish out of.

MikeOkay · Joined: 04 May 2012 Posts: 76 Location: Naugatuck

I don't eat fish so I release almost all of them. If I'm going for trout and there are some people looking for a meal and getting nothing I'll give them one or two; or if I'm with my brother in law, he'll eat the trout. But for bass I like to throw them back and hope they get bigger to catch another day.

fishfinder · Joined: 19 Jun 2011 Posts: 1672 Location: Naugatuck, Ct.

Mainly a releaser here. Il keep a few Trout a year and like 1 or 2 Striped bass but not too much of a fish eater
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chud059 · Joined: 29 Mar 2011 Posts: 413 Location: Manchester

I don't like to clean fish so I just release them. Hopefully they get bigger or a kid fishing for the first time catches it...if people want to keep them to eat I have no problem with that.

PECo · Joined: 06 Oct 2009 Posts: 5203 Location: Avon, CT

As much as I like eating panfish, I hate filleting them. I'd rather fillet one big fish than eight little ones. If I could catch keeper walleye or had vouchers for schoolie stripers, I'd eat them. I got four portions for a light dinner out of a 23 inch walleye, but it was the only keeper that I've caught this year.
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Michael · Joined: 28 Jan 2012 Posts: 3823 Location: Bridgeport

All depends on which fish it is.

2 to 4 Bluefish under 8 pounds I keep. 2 filets on the baking tray in the oven.

Keep my limit of legal stripers. Same with fluke.

An occasional sea robin I'll take.

Panfish that show enough meat I keep. Some I filet and others I save the main body, depending on their size. Filets I panfry after dipping in flour.

Day's limit of trout 10" and bigger I keep. Smaller filets I panfry. Bigger ones I put in the oven on a baking tray.

Day's limit of keeper walleye I keep.

Keep 1 or 2 occasional stocked channel catfish.

Other freshwater fish I throw back. I don't bother keeping largemouths, smallmouths, pickerel, pike, white suckers, brown bullheads, carp, and others.

Fisherman100 · Joined: 22 Nov 2011 Posts: 140 Location: Meriden, CT

yah, i already kept 15 trout this year, caught 31 realeased 16
still have 2 or 3 in my fridge. man they were good. one was fat. it had a 6 inch rubber worm in its stomach with a red like new hook in it.
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x182dan · Joined: 19 Mar 2009 Posts: 329 Location: Seymour, CT

I try to catch and release all my bass, I'm not really a big fish eater. However if I go for trout I might keep them depending on that situation.

anointed130 · Posted: Thu May 31, 2012 1:28 pm Post subject:

Generally speaking I almost always throw it back unless i am with my wife who loves to eat fish but hates to clean it Confused

Last time i kept fish was on a porgy fishing trip which was for the express purpose of catching to eat.
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fishfinder · Joined: 19 Jun 2011 Posts: 1672 Location: Naugatuck, Ct.

Porgy is a fish Ive never aimed to catch but have heard they are excellent eating so I may have to try and go for some of those this year! I have a ton of gear for catching them as all last year where ever I went to fish for blues I would find these rigs all over the place! LOL. Can someone pm me telling me when that season usually starts getting good please? I know where to go for them just not really when.
_________________
There's a fine line between fishing....

and standing on the shore like an idiot!

anointed130 · Posted: Fri Jun 01, 2012 9:21 am Post subject:

Someone correct me if i am mistaken, but i would say september and october are the best months, and I believe there is a limit of 40 at that time.
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"Come after Me, and i will make you to become fishers of men"

Can i be a fisher of fish too?

~Tony~

SAP284 · Joined: 07 Jun 2011 Posts: 655 Location: Central, CT

40 on charters, 20 for private anglers.
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Steve