What's your favorite fish?

[Seth]

I made a couple videos of our trips on LoZ last year. One was during the infamous Ozark Snagmasters tournament. We were down between the 54-60mm in these videos, which is where I nearly always employ the divers. It lets us cover water much more efficiently and it's a lot easier on the body. 
 

 

 

[MOPanfisher]

Spoonbill and trout, you must use a LOT of cajun seasoning!!😉

[Harps]

I can't decide. Need to do more research.

[snagged in outlet 3]

2 hours ago, Harps said:

I can't decide. Need to do more research.

Me too.  Boots on the ground kinda research😀

[Seth]

4 hours ago, MOPanfisher said:

Spoonbill and trout, you must use a LOT of cajun seasoning!!😉

I eat quite a few trout but rarely mess with paddlefish. The best way I have had them was to cut them into 1” strips, dip in some melted butter seasoned with cajun and then grilled over hot charcoal for three minutes on each side. I’ve hadthem smoked before as well and it reminded me of smoked salmon.

[MOPanfisher]

I smoked some slabs that were given to me years ago, fresh off the smoker they were at best ehhh.  Later after they had cooled they were actually pretty good.  

[Seth]

17 hours ago, MOPanfisher said:

I smoked some slabs that were given to me years ago, fresh off the smoker they were at best ehhh.  Later after they had cooled they were actually pretty good.  

The people I know that really like paddlefish almost always grill or smoke them versus frying. There was one time when I helped out at a church fish fry. We fried up suckers, crappie, catfish and paddlefish. I was afraid all the good stuff would be gone before we had a chance to eat and we would have to eat paddlefish. To our surprise, the paddlefish was gone and they were wanting more! They were all touched in the head as far as I am concerned because paddlefish was the last thing us fryers wanted to eat. 😂

[MOPanfisher]

If you can't make UT tasty by smoking it, we'll it probably isn't fit to eat anyway.  To me fried paddle fish has a very fishy taste,,some people enjoy it, I am not one.  Only thing ever ate that was similar was sturgeon in Washington State many years ago at a resturant.  They thought it was the greatest thing ever and didnt seem to appreciate my comments when asked how I liked it!  Wasn't inedible by any means but their description of the quality and size of the portion didn't live up to the plate I got, of course on the same trip I got suckered into ordering edamamme which turned out to be steamed soybeans in pods, AND IPA beer, them folks have strange tastes, couldn't get decent BBQ anywhere or buy Redman either.  But coffee was pretty good and warm whole wheat bagels kept me alive for the few days I was there.😞

[Al Agnew]

Everybody probably already knows what my favorite fish is.  Smallmouth bass are not the best at anything, but pretty darned good at everything.  They fight well, but there are fish, especially in saltwater, that fight better.  They are stong but there are stronger fish, they jump well but some fish jump more and higher.  They attack surface lures viciously, but so do some other fish.  They offer a challenge to find in the winter and to catch often, but other fish are more of a challenge.  They often live in beautiful country and in beautiful streams but trout live in even more spectacular country often.  They are beautiful fish, but so are a lot of others.  But...in my opinion no other fish has so many good things going for them.  I dislike fishing in saltwater because the scenery is either mediocre or boring.  Hybrids and stripers are limited in when and where you can find them, and aren't in as beautiful places as often as smallies.  Trout from a river are great, but they aren't quite the vicious predators that smallmouth are.  Lots of other fish might fight well but have other shortcomings.

So a river smallmouth is most definitely my favorite fish.  Brown trout come second, cutthroat trout third...as long as they are wild fish.

[Gavin]

I like to cast at anything that swims in a river, or a salt water estuary. Not that interested in lake or offshore fishing. Would do a Halibut trip again, even though I did not enjoy the fishing. You will probably get at least 30lbs of tasty fillets.