Bodeen said:
That picture actually is from a mag....but that doesn't change the fact that its me holding the fish
Nice . . . fish! You and I have similar humility extents, and congrats! I have pics of me in mags, rags, but--Lord no--too old/possibly intellignet for silliness now--music mags, rags, V-Voice, Spin, American Songwriter . . . bla, bla, etc. Mepps' Sassy Shad is excellent; make some good in-line spinners, Worden’s r-tails, but I prefer live bait.
I for one do not care for crappie. I have not been able to cook it where the meat is not soft. I have tried crappie from all different times of the years, from many different bodies of water, and using multiple cooking styles. I have come to the conclusion that crappie is just not firm enough for my taste.
Ya ain't had my crappie nuggets. 
Walleye, perch, bluegills are the top of the list for me. Of course there is nothing wrong with catfish, bass, and stripers, but when I have a freezer full of walleye, I can't see keeping something that will be passed over for walleye.
I think local walleye are some distant relative of sauger. I've caught what passes for walleye on Lake James, but they aren't real walleye, which suppose I've never had--these taste way to muddy to be walleye and flesh is not pink: they do have big eyes, but Marty Feldman did too. True, can't beat a mess, and do mean a mess, of b-bill or bream. Now, shellcracker takes less of but . . . heck, I fillet a bream. Love smallies, channel cat at around 2 lbs. Best cats ever caught/ate came out of cold mnt. streams. Smaller but great tasting fish--nearly black to blend with color of rocks. Grimpers are great bait: don't care for rainbow trout. Can't figure what takes like: water? Browns are just better. Lakes too, but rainbow just . . . a thing? But to each his/her own. Pawpaw caught a carp once and told Mama--she was maybe 15--to clean it, fry it. Damn, my grandmother was so po'ed at him. The smell. Lingering smell.
BTW, is your signature a reference to Jim Tom? Just hit me. I via, my grandfather--the one telling his daughter to, as a joke, fry a carp--took me on a little ride once (or twice). Met Popcorn Sutton. I didn't know! Just a bunch of winding mountain roads, lotta dirt roads, some hiking through woods. My mother was almost livid but it was her father so . . . I had a cool grandfather! Moonshiner, fisherman. At least he had fun the short while he was here!
WalkGood said:
Interesting how we all like different seafood, for me it’s in dis order:
- Snook
- Dolphin (Mahi-Mahi)
- Yellow Fin
- Roosterfish
- Grouper
- Swordfish
- Red Snapper
- Yellow Tail
- And da list can go on and on, mainly fish I grew up catching but these days I rarely get out fishing other than my back yard which I catch and release ...
Had me at my fav fish, Ramon: snook. How you resist that temptation at night in summer is beyond me, "catch and release" spawning snook? Yes, it's illegal but . . . and yes, have hooked, fought, sadly released, but not worth the enormous fine for keeping one in spawn. Now,
were it my backyard . . . just being honest. Nice group of fish! Rooster? Where did you catch and eat? Eat? Roosterfish. Thought they were inedible. More info? No reds? No redfish? Red drum? Pretty good fish, but see, everybody has an opinion and taste in fish. (Roosterfish?! Do tell! Really never heard of anybody eating them.) Mangrove snapper are
wow in bays, SW FL!! Just as name implies, gotta keep 'em out of roots or uh . . .
But anybody don't like snook, I wonder; but bet some folks don't. Bay guides might be the first on that list of those who do not, as everybody down there wants to catch snook.
Sawyer said:
For fresh-water, you'll never catch me buying catfish. If I catch a blue, channel, or especially flathead, I'll keep it, but I'll never buy it, either in a restaurant or at the grocery. [ . . . ] I've eaten enough catfish to last a lifetime.
Ditto, not me, no way do I buy any fish in any g-store, anywhere. Never have, with exception of shark steak in Austin, which is pretty "landlocked" and got that at seafood market I trust. They pass off vermillion snapper as red snapper and what's the deal with Vietnamese catfish?
Really?
I discovered a delicacy in Valencia and Barcelona: scallop roe. Positively decadent! Never found it in States but are in scallops. Were I diving for scallops, the roe is gonna happen with the white meat. John, ya
gotta plan a trip to some coast for fishing, man!
I don't know if crappie is a Southern thing. If they aren't prepared well, they literally do fall apart. It doesn't take long at
all--seconds--to deep fry the nuggets. Or they
will fall apart. Heck, they'll "cook" in lime juice and water in <2 hours! Wanna recipe for "Redneck Landlocked Sushi?" When casting for shad, don't kick/toss/wash off those decayed fallen leaves, kudzu leaves are best, aka "fresh water seaweed" outta the boat. Nooooo. Save them. Wash well, and dry them in sun, then layer to where they plaster themselves together. Let that plaster sun dry or dry in oven. Cut to size. Nori roller. Few garden maters, onion, jalapeño, pickled hot okra, cilantro, little lime juice left over from the "crappie cook" in frig, with olive oil, or whatever to make a sauce, some rice, add crappie, and if ya work fast, can roll up that cleaned, dried, bottom muck that's been crapped on by fish, spawned upon, and use instead of nori; actually is
good. Whip up some wasabi paste, some soy. I know it's
easier to
buy nori but . . .
lol.
Bodeen said:
Not a lot of saltwater in Indiana. If there was, my preference would be different as well. I too never buy fish. If my walleye fishing ever falls short, I can always keep other kinds here. 15 bucks a pound for walleye in the stores. I'll sell them mine for 10 a pound and quit work lol.
But from my days in the restaurant business I can tell you snapper is one fine eating fish!!! I also had a mahi-mahi reuben sandwich before that rocked!!!
I would kill to hit the brackish waters somewhere and catch a mess of mangrove snapper. That and fishing a wreck is on my bucket list lol
Woah: I thought there were only two weird ones who'd had this. Colleague, another GTA at NCSU, went to West Point for undergrad, Italian heritage; people thought we were mad at each other, when just being passionately opinionated, which I respect, called me one afternoon around 5am; we were both grading freakin' freshman essays
, says, "Wanna go to Sam and Omie's because am dying for softshell crab sandwich." I thought for a second, it's a 4 hour drive but after a hundred bad essays, "Sure." We drove to OBX. Sam and Omie's will come up with
weird sh**t late at night with what they have left. Breaded Mahi-Mahi Reuben? With pastrami? Idea was so strange, we had to go for it. I plucked pastrami out of it and wow. Not run into many other folks ever had one. Can't say that I
know it was good initially because was starving, but we ordered two more for the drive back to Raleigh and sure enough, pretty great!
"I would kill . . ." I know a place in a back cove in Lemon Bay, SW FL Gulf, Manasota Key, where ya can hook up in those mangrove snapper. You show me salmon, L. Michigan, I take you to m-snapper. (Sans the killing part.) Been going to same spot since 1990 and got lost, came upon by accident; current swirls around mangrove, nicely spaced out, because of re-routed road long time ago, about 3-4 hours before high tide. Excellent fishing in relatively skinny water. Cast net and got, pin fish and shrimp. They can't help but hit a live shrimp. Ditto on that bucket list. I've been deep sea, but no
good wrecks. Some great wreck locations off Boca Grande and south to Keys.
Everybody have good night!
. Peace, Annie
Man got every seed under sun but I do have some going out to him tomorrow that he doesn't have, thanks to Jason (GA Growhead). Man, this community: I love y'all!
and he can go to store and buy damned Spam or whatever, but I ain't fixin' that mess! I should be more kind/grateful and am, really: C or K rations, entire big crates, couldn't get to his unit for over a week in Korea. Man came home with ulcers. Speaking of "my guy" gonna go drive him to PO now. Just called and itchin' to get out. Hasta el lunes 
Dang, I need to get on water for fall crappie stalk! But when?
