White Bass

[krappieslayer]

So went out yesterday trolling for 'eyes and hit a hole of schooled up white bass.  At first we thought they were wipers, but after doing a little checking definetly white bass.  Ended up catching 9 of them in about an hour.  The bigest was 17 1/2" at 2.6oz, and two others that were around the 17" mark, and the rest between 14-16".   Let me tell you that if you fish these things up with an ultra light, you're in for a fight.  It was definetely a lot of fun. 
We decided to keep them and filleted and soaked them overnight.  There is a little red strip of meat in the middle of the fillet that looks like it should be cut out, any advice on that? 
How do they taste?  The meat itself seemed to resemeble walleye more than anything, and definetely not like a largemouth IMO.   I'll have pics up soon, very nice looking fish.  My dad thinks I should do a double mount of the 17 1/2" & 17", but I don't think they're quite to that point yet.. 
What would you consider a "trophy" white bass?  I did notice on the dnr website that anything over 16" is very rare..

[BBK]

State record is only  3lbs 14 oz so a 17"er would be a huge fish. I think they need to be 16" for an iowa big fish award.
 
I ALWAYS cut out the red strip. The red strip is what makes the it taste fishy.

[RLWagner]

Krappieslayer,

I recomend that when you filet the meat from the skin that you lift the knife away from the skin and leave 1/16th - 1/8" of meat on the skin, then cut out the blood vein. The dark patches are very strong. Cleaning them this way leaves a floured and saute'd filet tasting like a crappie filet. Good luck


RL

[krappieslayer]

Pleasant Creek April 11 09

[H.T.]

I have ate plenty of those fish and they taste fine as long as you remove the blood line. Other then that they taste like a small bass. We catch those up here in ny quite often but not always that big. Good luck.

[BBK]

bottom left, the one with broken lines looks like a hybrid.

[krappieslayer]

bottom left, the one with broken lines looks like a hybrid.

Pleasant Creek doesn't have hybrids...

[BOJIHAWK]

I put a legendary beat down on the stripers at East Okoboji last weekend...4/11....it was awesome.  First cast over the rock pile near our dock and BOOM...chubby 15".   Then I went on to do 7 for 7 on the other side of the dock, then got my waders out and starting strolling the shore line.  I prob caught 50 fish on Sat...you had to violently snap a jointed rattlin shad a few time and then rest it...they would normally hit it on the rest.  I also tossed in a northern, some smallies, and a huge 20+ lb. carp i snagged in the bottom of the gills.  That was pretty nuts but really fun.  But the wipers...wow...not since like 1985 at the spillway into East have I had crankbait fishin like that.  The more wild and jerky the retrieve, the harder they hit it.

As far as eating, I dont even filet off the belly meat.  I take the top cut down to about mid rib cage and run it out to the tail then go all the way through just behind the anal fin.   It minimizes the red meat trimmiing.  Byt the time you get all fussy about the red met removal, there is like one bite of meat below the lateral line.  Dont even waste you time IMHO.