Spotted/Kentucky Food Fish

[fishinwrench]

34 minutes ago, snagged in outlet 3 said:

How'd the yard sale go?  

Way better than the Spoonbill breeding operation.  The only thing left is a 600lb. entertainment center that I refuse to ever move again.  It's going to be set on fire right here in the driveway in a couple days if Sugar britches can't Facebook it away before it gets rained on.

 

[Browning Guy]

15 minutes ago, fishinwrench said:

"if Sugar britches can't Facebook it away before it gets rained on".

 

If you need a place to stay for awhile let me know. Gotta feeling the couch at your house won't be offered. 

[fishinwrench]

Our couch is a POS anyway.   I want a sectional with reclining ends, but have you priced those ?   Good grief, I could buy another boat or truck for that !

Wait, what were we talking about here?  Oh yeah, "breeding spotted bass for the sake of selling them as food"....  Yeah I don't think it'll fly, but it wouldn't surprise me if they get funded to try it.  And let's be real here...THAT is the only true goal.

[Quillback]

2 hours ago, skeeter said:

And that's exactly why I won't eat Agent Orange Catfish from Nam at any of those joints.  We've stopped patronizing any of those restaurants. 

There are still plenty of American Catfish Farmers to buy from but the contaminated crap that is raised/fed on god-knows-what from Nam is always cheaper.....and not good for you.

Catfish Cabin in Eureka Springs prides itself on serving only U.S. raised catfish. 

Always check the origin of the catfish you consume and reject the junk from SE Asia.  Recently, the USDA has discovered those imported fish are loaded with Antibiotics that the growers use in large quantities.   

And it should be clearly labeled on menus.  If they are serving Viet catfish, the menu should say so.

[jte54]

14 hours ago, Johnsfolly said:

I personally would like to to see an alternative to farm raised tilapia and catfish. I am frequently disappointed at the flavor of these species. If you are able to raise a good tasting fish and demonstrate that it could be profitable more power to you and your research. Maybe it a simple issue with water quality but it seems that the quality of the taste of the fish suffers as farms scale up their operations. To get over people's hang up with eating bass you might want to sell under a pseudonym like Kentucky kingfish☺!

Good luck!

One of our ongoing projects is that we're selectively breeding bluegill to be a pound and half in 18 months.  We are doing this to try to develop a market for farmers to raise bluegill as food fish instead of just for pond stocking.  We have had many bluegill exceed it, but would say on average ( just ball park ) without tracking down old data that our average was around 300-350 grams (about 14 months old).  We have had many fish reach the 490's and a few in 500's and that is only 14 month production cycle.  This last year we had hoped to give out some fish to farmers to raise against their own but we are being pulled in other directions and didn't get to this year.

[MoCarp]

2 hours ago, skeeter said:

Exactly my thought.  Rather than spend some outrageous amounts of money (probably from some tax-supported, ding-a-ling Government "grant" ) trying to raise and sell a game-fish, go cast your nets in the Mississippi, Missouri or Illinois Rivers and take all you want of the Silver and Bighead invasive Carp.  Or...even better tasting....raise Bluegill to the size where you just put the whole fish in a meat grinder and then deep-fry the results which cooks out all the scales, bones and other undesirables.  

If one was to raise any Micropterus species for food the The spotted bass (Micropterus punctulatus) would be a good choice because of the more useable flesh for the same length. selectively breeding for faster growth would be the goal as they wouldn't be shooting for max size like a sport fishing application..stripers are pond raised for the table now, so spotted bass are not as much as a stretch as one would first think.

1 hour ago, fishinwrench said:

Oh man, you have stepped in it now !  😉

How have we benefitted from the spawning of Paddlefish?  That operation costs taxpayers Millions annually ("I read that somewhere") and what do we get out of it?   Spoonbill snaggers bring nothing to the table in comparison to what is spent to provide them with the opportunity.  After the short season the banks are littered with dead sub-legal fish that have had their sides ripped open, and you can't do anything with the eggs or you'll go to prison.   Ecologically they do nothing to control plankton and the shad population.  The whole idea and operation borders on insanity. Let's just piss away millions of taxpayers hard earned dollars for the hell of it while we ignore important things, like honestly protecting more valuable native species.

Although I love to catch Hybrid Stripers, the breeding and stocking of them is no more beneficial than the spoonbill stupidity, and may actually be detrimental to the ecosystem as they try, and often succeed in breeding with the native White Bass and screwing up the native gene pool.....so there's even more money wasted there. And a creation of a potential problem that can never be reversed.

You can't compare any of that rediculousness to the Trout program because trout anglers are way more numerous and each one of them bring more than their fair share to the table economically.  The trout program is a smart one.  The others are nothing more than ignorant BS created by a bunch of douchebags looking for projects to secure the future of their phoney baloney jobs.

 

Now whatcha got?  😎

http://www.fishandboat.com/Transact/AnglerBoater/AnglerBoater2003/JanuaryFebruary/Documents/paddlefish.pdf

35 minutes ago, fishinwrench said:

Our couch is a POS anyway.   I want a sectional with reclining ends, but have you priced those ?   Good grief, I could buy another boat or truck for that !

Wait, what were we talking about here?  Oh yeah, "breeding spotted bass for the sake of selling them as food"....  Yeah I don't think it'll fly, but it wouldn't surprise me if they get funded to try it.  And let's be real here...THAT is the only true goal.

for some reason intelligence offends you, the scientific process has given you the very means you put food on your table, and a roof over your head, the laymen such as yourself many times doesn't understand the process that scientific advancements are made in all fields not just fisheries biologists, to get a masters or a PHD you must have a project...some lead to wonderful discoveries.....I can post all kinds of cleaver pissy slams, but since intelligence makes you salty, ill keep making you google words you don't understand

[MoCarp]

3 hours ago, BrowningCollector.com said:

Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait............ grubs? WTH are we talking about? Yellow grubs? I have a friend who eats A FEW Kentucky in the winter and I may have participated in eating SOME when I wasn't thinking as clearly back then (2 years ago).

Can somebody please explain yellow grubs? or maybe I don't need to know. 

http://www.seagrant.umn.edu/fisheries/parasites

[jte54]

3 hours ago, snagged in outlet 3 said:

I thought you were only raising spots???

We will be doing some rainbow trout, maybe brooke......idk and hybrid striped bass as well.  Due to not getting our state match we are forced to look into other ways to supplement our program and student workers.  Also the above stuff isn't yet set in stone.  Most of our work has been with selective breeding of bluegill and nutrition.  We also have done some work with crappie and we've been able to feed train them but one trouble is taking feed trained crappie out to a pond setting and getting them to stay on feed.  Also a few years ago we did a study that dealt with over wintering fish in ponds bc  several farmers lost a bunch of fish during the winter months.  We looked at feed intake during the winter months and we had fish in cages.  

[dblades]

"Then make sure you only eat fish you catch." 

 

Either me or someone I know. I'd also prefer my catfish out of the White River Arm, but that's just me. However I will say back in the 80's I had access to some pond raised, never frozen,  catfish out of Mississippi that was some of the best I've ever tasted. 

[jte54]

3 hours ago, skeeter said:

Exactly my thought.  Rather than spend some outrageous amounts of money (probably from some tax-supported, ding-a-ling Government "grant" ) trying to raise and sell a game-fish, go cast your nets in the Mississippi, Missouri or Illinois Rivers and take all you want of the Silver and Bighead invasive Carp.  Or...even better tasting....raise Bluegill to the size where you just put the whole fish in a meat grinder and then deep-fry the results which cooks out all the scales, bones and other undesirables.  

Skeeter,  funny thing you mentioning Bluegill because we have been working with them for the last 11 years and I have been with the program for 9 years in October.  Unfortunately, our bluegill will be taking to back seat to these other species.  I feel Bluegill are best served on the round. Give me flour and give me grease.  Pickled Bluegill taste great too.