James River Sows

[ozarkgunner]

Whites are prolific spawners. Studies show it is hard to fish them out. I agree with releasing the sows.

[gotmuddy]

i love to catch white bass but return all to the water. in my opinion(not trying to be a troublemaker) they are terrible eating. why not return them to the water and let them spawn? think how many there would be to catch in a couple of years. crappie and walleye are excellent eating and they reproduce in large numbers. i realize the life of a white bass is short(5 years or less) but i still think they taste terrible. just sayin! hope all of you catch a bunch.

cook them right. I grill all mine, they are awesome.

[abkeenan]

cook them right. I grill all mine, they are awesome.

I agree. If you filet them right and get the blood lines/dark meat out of the filets they are just fine. Coat in Andy's Cajun Fish Seasoning, a lil' salt and pepper and throw them in the deep fryer....they are fantastic.

[BATCAB27]

i love to catch white bass but return all to the water. in my opinion(not trying to be a troublemaker) they are terrible eating. why not return them to the water and let them spawn? think how many there would be to catch in a couple of years. crappie and walleye are excellent eating and they reproduce in large numbers. i realize the life of a white bass is short(5 years or less) but i still think they taste terrible. just sayin! hope all of you catch a bunch.

The reason I don't return them to the water is that your opinion is wrong. They are excellent eating. And I believe it's nearly impossible to fish them out. I don't think you realize just how many are in there.

Fish I will keep include: whites, crappie, walleye and the occasional cat or goggle eye while canoeing an overnighter.

[RSBreth]

"Terrible Eating" my backside. The best fish chowder I make has either Walleyes or White Bass in it for firmness - you can't tell which is which when the fillets are taken care of. When they are grilled or pan fried or baked you can, but even my picky wife loves Whites when I catch them and clean them and keep them cold and clean. Just trim out that red line and you're good to go.

[Tightline]

To each his own opinion on taste or catch and release.

From what I have seen with the whites on James this year is that there is a year class missing maybe 2 years, they have good and bad years just like any other fish, (remember Bullshoals several years back) whites were as scarce as hens teeth.

I'll feel alot better about the James when I start seeing lots of pecker heads caught.

Hey BATCAB27,nice catchs, thanks for posting. I was wondering, do you ever keep Bass,LM,SM or Kentuckys,they taste great?

[chub minnow]

Ditto on good eating. Just gotta cut that nasty red meat out then its as good as crappie (not walleye). Better than bluegill IMO. I even like it grilled or smoked.

[Josh Holt]

They are great eating if the red is cut out. Another tip is to cut out the red soak them in 7up over night then cook them the flavor is great and its hard to beat other then crappie or walleye.

[BATCAB27]

To each his own opinion on taste or catch and release.

From what I have seen with the whites on James this year is that there is a year class missing maybe 2 years, they have good and bad years just like any other fish, (remember Bullshoals several years back) whites were as scarce as hens teeth.

I'll feel alot better about the James when I start seeing lots of pecker heads caught.

Hey BATCAB27,nice catchs, thanks for posting. I was wondering, do you ever keep Bass,LM,SM or Kentuckys,they taste great?

No, those fish are too pretty to keep! To each their own, I guess I was just raised to throw this fish back for others to catch.

[tho1mas]

If you do not like White Bass, you do not like fish.