Thursday, July 31, 2008

I don't know what it is, but it sure is delicious!

First off, I had a much more enjoyable fishing experience on the Yahara today. I only caught 26 bluegill, less than half as many as last time. :) I also caught 1 rock bass, 2 smallmouth, 2 green sunfish, 5 pumpkinseeds, a PR drum at 13", and what I think is a hybrid striped bass, which was 12". If it's not that then it's a white bass. I also caught this bluegill thing in the first picture below. It has coloring on its face like a pumpkinseed or green sunfish. Do you think its some kind of hybrid? The black spot is kinda long and pointed upwards, is it a hybrid with a longear sunfish. Help!



When I caught the drum, the hook got burried in his gullet. He wasn't going to make it, so I did the responsible thing and kept him to take home. I've been wondering if they taste good like people say on the internet.



I took my gear down to the first bridge going over the Yahara and cast into the middle underneath it. That's where I caught this hybrid or white bass. I was pretty pleased to have caught a new species, but once again the hook was buried in the gullet. That seems to be a problem when I fish with worms on the bottom. The fish swallow all of it before I get a chance to set the hook in the lip.



I took both of the fish home. Here's what they looked like before...



... and here's what they looked like after! I soaked the fillets in lemon juice, and then dipped them in egg and covered them with italian seasoned bread crumbs. Fried in butter, they were dee-e-licious! I was really impressed with both of them. They tasted very different but were both very enjoyable. I'll consider bringing home more if I catch good sized ones again.

6 comments:

Jeff Douglas said...

Looks tasty. I would call that a white bass, but I've certainly been known to misidentify fish. Lake Mendota is loaded with nice white bass. Sometimes you'll see guys trolling very fast out in 20-35 feet of water using shiny metal baits and they'll just load up on white bass. I've heard that Governor's Island is a hotspot for that.

Thos sheephead are pretty decent to eat, I think. It's a good fish to take home and eat because people don't want them in the lakes anyway.

Ben said...

This is the best side by side comparison I could find.

http://www.americanfishes.com/bigimg/oe6.jpg

My fish doesn't have the deep body that the white bass has in the picture (the top fish), but mine could just be small and hadn't developed that shape yet.

I don't understand why drums are so undesirable. They fight extremely hard for their size. A 13" drum definitely fights more than a 13" bass. And they taste GREAT!

Ben said...

They do look pretty goofy though... lol.

MIZLAN DARKARTCASTER said...

nyam..nyam look so good to eat..make me hungry..he2..whata fish..someday i will fishing with you Ben

T. Brook Smith said...

Hey Ben.

That top fish is a bluegill-green sunfish hybrid and Jeff is right about the white bass.

...and if you're going to start guessing weights on fish we need to get you a scale. ;)

Ben said...

Thanks Tim, you're definitely the expert when it comes to ID-ing fish.

About guessing weights, you must be refering to my largemouth on the 24th. Let's just call him 5 lbs because it was my b-day. :)