04-15-2016, 07:33 PM
[#0000FF]Very noticeable...the difference in taste between fish of the same species from different waters...with different conditions. I notice a difference in taste between wipers from the same lake...Willard...during different seasons...with different water temps, food sources, etc. I'm sure that the wipers from some of our other Utah Ponds will taste different than those from Willard...where they feed mostly on those stinky gizzard shad.
Not many people have had the opportunity to fish for wipers...much less compare their taste differences from different waters. But many anglers have been able to sample trout, bass or other more commonly caught species from different areas...or even from the same lake at different times of the year. And they are always surprised when they find such a big difference even among the same species from the same waters.
A good example would be cutthroat trout. When caught from the high mountain lakes and streams, where they feed mainly on insects and other invertebrates, they usually have firm, orange flesh that is absolutely delightful. But catch the same species of cutt from a lower altitude shallow alkaline lake where they feed mostly on minnows and those fish will have soft white flesh that tastes anywhere from plain muddy to downright gross.
The same is true for largemouth bass and even bluegills. Catch them under the ice or early in the spring and they are firm, white and tasty. At the end of a long hot summer...with high water temps and poor water quality...in shallow weedy and/or muddy isolated coves...and you will likely gag at the smell while cleaning them and will not even cook them.
There is an old saying...applying to humans..."You are what you eat." That is true of all critters...including fish. The basic digestive process breaks down the items eaten and converts them into nutrients. But there are some elements, such as smelly sulfur compounds, that are absorbed into the tissues of the consumer without being deodorized or otherwise altered.
One of our best examples in Utah is the walleye. Most of us regard it as the most delectable of all local fish species. But in years past...on Utah Lake...there was a big steel mill (Geneva) that poured large quantities of untreated waste water into the lake. That warm water outflow attracted large numbers of walleyes, white bass, catfish and other Utah Lake denizens. Fishing was great but anglers who took their catch home were often sickened by the smell of the fish...or the taste if they got past the smell before cooking. It was something between used 30 weight oil and the creosote used to soak power poles.
Thankfully (for the walleyes and other species) that polluting steel mill closed around the year 2000. The residual pollutants have largely flushed out of the lake and the walleyes we catch and eat today are excellent.
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Not many people have had the opportunity to fish for wipers...much less compare their taste differences from different waters. But many anglers have been able to sample trout, bass or other more commonly caught species from different areas...or even from the same lake at different times of the year. And they are always surprised when they find such a big difference even among the same species from the same waters.
A good example would be cutthroat trout. When caught from the high mountain lakes and streams, where they feed mainly on insects and other invertebrates, they usually have firm, orange flesh that is absolutely delightful. But catch the same species of cutt from a lower altitude shallow alkaline lake where they feed mostly on minnows and those fish will have soft white flesh that tastes anywhere from plain muddy to downright gross.
The same is true for largemouth bass and even bluegills. Catch them under the ice or early in the spring and they are firm, white and tasty. At the end of a long hot summer...with high water temps and poor water quality...in shallow weedy and/or muddy isolated coves...and you will likely gag at the smell while cleaning them and will not even cook them.
There is an old saying...applying to humans..."You are what you eat." That is true of all critters...including fish. The basic digestive process breaks down the items eaten and converts them into nutrients. But there are some elements, such as smelly sulfur compounds, that are absorbed into the tissues of the consumer without being deodorized or otherwise altered.
One of our best examples in Utah is the walleye. Most of us regard it as the most delectable of all local fish species. But in years past...on Utah Lake...there was a big steel mill (Geneva) that poured large quantities of untreated waste water into the lake. That warm water outflow attracted large numbers of walleyes, white bass, catfish and other Utah Lake denizens. Fishing was great but anglers who took their catch home were often sickened by the smell of the fish...or the taste if they got past the smell before cooking. It was something between used 30 weight oil and the creosote used to soak power poles.
Thankfully (for the walleyes and other species) that polluting steel mill closed around the year 2000. The residual pollutants have largely flushed out of the lake and the walleyes we catch and eat today are excellent.
[/#0000FF]
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