hit chesterfield friday morning for the first time my uncle, father, and i have ever fished it. Ice was 10+ inches think and sturdy. Caught 4 fish right off the bat including a 3# 22inch bow that gave up a good fight. Then the fishing died (for us at least) caught about 7 more from 9-2 in the afternoon, missed a few bites, but there was a guy about 100 yards to the north that didn't go five minutes without catching a fish, he probably caught 10 fish an hour for the whole time we were (honey hole)
I harvested the 3# rainbow and cooked him up and he tasted literally like dirt and we could not bear to eat it due to its taste. Has anyone had this problem with fish out of chesterfield.
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Thanks for the report. I haven't eaten any fish from Chesterfield this winter. The kokanee I caught from Devil Creek were good though.
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Yea, I heard that before, I think it comes from the moss in the lake. Did you notice what was in it's stomach when you gutted it? Thanks for the report and way to go on the nice bow. WH2
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Did you felet the fish and skin it? I have found that when you do this the fish taste much better. I have eaten fish out of Treasureton that where even good. If you didn't do that I would suggest giving that a try.
C&R
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i just gutted it and baked it. It had nasty brown runny stuff in it stomach with a sea shell too. Maybe it has to do with the lake not being very deep, because back a few years ago they drained this reservoir called porcupine and when the water was low we were catching and keeping the fish because they were going to die anyways and they ended up tasting like crap as well. How deep does chesterfield get anyways?
thanks
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Not sure I would ever again eat a fish out of Chesterfield. I made the same mistake you did. We took a few home to fry up, they tasted like seaweed. I don't think all of those open sores helps out either.
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there was not any open sores on any of the fish we caught, just tasted like crap
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Next time try and fillet them. It is the skin that gives them that bad taste. If you remove the skin they will taste good. I learned this the hard way with catfish.
C&R
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I caught a nice 24" out of Daniels this last fall that same thing. I didn't fillet it just gutted, bacon/garlic. Tasted NASTY! there was a lot of moss in the water like Strawberry, but never had a bad tasting fish from Strawberry, but then again I don't keep them very often to eat. Just sounded good for dinner while camping at the "D"....my bad!
My favorite eating fish are the Uinta's. Not big, just pan size, but dang they are good.
I have heard, even if they have the sores, that cooking them pretty much kills any bacteria....is this true?
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Even smoking them doesn't seem to make them any better tasting.
I 've tried smoking them out of Daniels and Treasureton and I won't be doing that again. Glad I only wasted one fish per lake.
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I've caught cutts and kokanee out of strawberry that taste like moss, it only happens late in the fall when you see all that green algae in the water but they taste nasty. I don't think the skin has anything to do with it and I doubt skinning them would help. I've caught big rainbows out of Newton years ago that were feeding on snails and they also taste very bad. I wonder if Chesterfield has snails in it? That might explain the shells found in the one that was described above.
I have heard the same thing about cooking the fish, it will kill any bacteria, at least that is what the utah DWR says. WH2
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I went though Michigans health department food safety corse last year, and they said, cooking will reduce bacteria to safe levels, "not kill it off"
in adition they said cooking will not get rid of any toxins in the fish or anything else for that matter...
I was told years ago you could boil acorns and mushrooms in mild to get rid of the toxins.... I dont know weather it is if I aint brave enough to try it or foolish enough to try it...
I have found that soaking fish from murky water after fillettimg and skinned for several hours in ice water and giving several rinces before cooking that otherwise foul taisting fish are a bit more palitable..
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Well, bacteria might not be the best name for it because it is actually a parasite, I'm not sure but I would think cooking the fish would kill anything like that.
Yes I agree, soaking fish can really help in a lot of cases but I'm not sure it would with these mossy tasting fish, I guess it would be worth a try. On fish that are a little strong tasting, I soak them in salt water or sprite before either cooking or freezing. Soaking most fish in sprite gives the meat a nice sweet taste but I'm not sure how it would work with these nasty tasting fish[crazy].
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the class said parisites in fish are killed off when the internal tempriture of fish reaches 145 degrees.
If I make the mistake of keeping a swampy or mossy fish, I can tell right away when I process it, the flesh will be a little yellowish and will have a swampy or mossy smell to it.
what I do in that case is I soak the fish for a day in salt water, changing the salt water bath at least once half way though, then I rince them a couple times before cooking or freezing.
I have found if you freeze swampy or mossy fish before properly prepairing them, you pretty much have ruint them..
soaking most any fish in salt water over night rincing and then freezing in clean water in ziplock freezer bags will keep fish fresh in the freezer fot about 2-3 years...
usualy I am pretty good at rotating stock, every once in a while I will miss one and when I do the freezer thaw I find it...
Vary importaint is to date your packages...[
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I always soak mine in MILK if I am not going to eat it right after catch. That works great!
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Thats a good idea, how long do you soak them before you freeze them?
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I don't freeze them, I just soak them over night. Then add the bacon and the garlic....BAM! and more garlic....Mmmmmmmgood
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