We know that wild trout have a different taste than farm-raised trout. Is the same true of wild BG versus fed BG? Anybody noticed?

It is true for CC - lots of material on that.

I can tell you this. In the spring when it's nice and cool here that's around mid March or so. I have caught and ate 3 types of fish in my pond.

1. HSB
2. BG
3. LMB

The first 2 get fed pellets the bass do not eat pellets. IMO the first 2 taste much better than the lmb. Although you could argue they would either way even if they were not fed pellets.

Another good question to this would be how do pellet trained LMB taste versus wild bass. That would be interesting to know as well.

RC

I have no HSB, but heard they are great fighters & excellent table fare. Personally, I enjoy BG more than crappie or even CC.

As for LMB, our Hong Kong exchange student showed us a way of steaming small (around 12 inches) ones that was fantastic. Whole fish, scaled but not skinned, soy sauce ginger & garlic!

Cool!! And yes HSB fight like a fright train!! Hate to say it cause I love my LMB but pound for pound HSB will smoke em every time!! If HSB came up and danced on the water like the LMB no one would have LMB in their pond... lol HSB fight a lot more like a catfish if you will and pull man they can pull!!

RC

You should feel how a Snook pulls and see how a tarpon dances...........HAHA

i know that feeding high quality feed makes the bluegill oily when you filet them. my friend took 15 bluegill home yesterday to eat, he told me this morning that they sure were greasy when he dressed them. i have noticed that for years, but had never mentioned it to him. he noticed it without me saying a word. he is an outdoorsy kinda a guy and has dressed tons of fish over the years.

about the taste, i only noticed an odd taste a few times with my bg. each time the pond had a strong "pondy smell" right before i caught the fish. probably some type of algae bloom. it has happened at both of my ponds.

Intersting Scott. What brand chow are you feeding?

That is curious. I haven't noticed any oily filets when I clean fish.

Ate a lot of HBG and YP last night. They tasted great. Mine are fed, but the readily chase down FHM, and who knows what else.
Some day I will actually catch one of my HSB and I'll know how they fight, and how they taste.
I feed Optima. Didn't notice any greasy appearance of the meet. Or any extra fat for that matter. I was surprised at how good the HBG tasted. Previously we'd eaten only the YP and I thought everyone was spoiled on it's good taste, but the HBG were cooked at the same time, with nobody noticing any difference.

I have never had this greasy issue either? I feed AM600. Course if your real picky about that kind of stuff and you eat a lot of wild fish and then you eat some fed fish maybe the difference is slight enough we don't see it?? I don't know.

RC

i mainly feed am 600. i do use some optimal from time to time. right now my feeder is set to go off 3 times a day, i did have it at 5 times a day about a month ago. might be too much feed causing the oil.

The most important thing for anyone who is taking fish to eat is to kill them with hypothermia. What this dose is that it is natures way to try to save the fishes life by pushing all the blood to the organs to save it. This is like hanging meat up for 28 days.

You will always have good flaky fish.

agreed, cold water caught or fresh to ice fish will always have a better texture and flavor in my opinion. I usually have a pair of 1 gallon jugs of frozen water floating in my livewell on the boat when fishing for table fare. When ice fishing I'll pack fish in a plastic bag full of snow, water and ice chips.

Going to try this. (Hopefully). I just can't get them cleaned fast enough sometimes. I have a basket I keep them on, as opposed to a stringer. Maybe with a long rope on it I can throw it out to deeper water. If it's near the bank, the water gets too warm. Not good for YP..

I don't see how it could not change the taste. Everything wild tastes different than anything farm raised. Maybe supplemental feeding wouldn't change the taste too much. I would think feeding 3-4 times per day to grow monsters would be another story.

All I have experience with is trout and the difference I have seen with them is huge. I don't even want to eat them until they have been off the fish truck for a few weeks.

Have a big cooler full of ice when you take the basket out. Put them all on ice at the same time and let them die on ice. It will be the best tasting perch you have ever had. Just like shrimp.

I've got to try it. They already taste pretty good anyway.
Thanks!

I've caught bluegill my whole life and they seem to me to be a fish whose flavor is unaffected by things that degrade a lot of fish. I've caught them from some pretty crappy shallow water in the heat of summer and they tasted fine. Like all fish I've eaten, they taste better caught out of colder water but that is due to the same effect of putting them in an iced cooler to die. I can tell no difference between my pellet fed bluegill and wild caught but it might be fun to catch some of both and compare them side by side.