Chubs!

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Are they edible?
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[Theekillerbee]

If you are a seagul[]

I personally wouldn't eat one, but I'm sure someone has a nack for a tasty chub.
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[glassyeyedPaul]

Only if you are really desitute... then it might taste good. At least its better than nothing if there was no food... One step less than Carp. LOL
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[Matador]

An old neighbor of mine grew up during the depression in a small town near a lake full of chubs. Quite often he would catch a stringer full of chubs and before he could get home he would have sold them all to people that would stop him along the way as he walked. People were glad to have the chubs in those hard times. My neighbor and his family ate plenty of them as well.

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[Coldfooter]

I was once told that over sea's (forgive me for forgetting exactly where) they would often toss the german brown's on the back and leave them to rot because they were so plentiful, much in the same manner as carp are here.. Yet at the same time carp were highly sought after.. I suppose it has alot to do with simple supply and demand.. The more there is of something like a certain spicies of fish,, the less the demand for it.. I also feel that culture differences plays a huge factor in what one group of people might refer to as a "trash fish"..

Would I personally eat a chub if it came down to doing so or starving? Count on it,, but I'd rather eat Crappie, Walleye, Trout, or Channel Cat because thats what my culture and up bringing has taught me is the best eater's as far as fresh water fishies..
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[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff][size 1]There ain't many things from the water that I have not at least sampled...some only once...others as often as I can.[/size][/#0000ff]

[#0000ff][size 1]As a kid, in Idaho Falls, Idaho, I fished the snake river in town. Caught lots of trout, whitefish, suckers and chubs. Like many of us who have lived in tough times and poor places I knew people who valued any source of protein, since they could not afford it at the store. I always kept the "trash fish" because I knew people who made good use of it.[/size][/#0000ff]

[#0000ff][size 1]One of the "poor families" I knew was one of my own uncles and his family. They lived a long block away from us, so I often went fishing with my older cousin. One weekend, while I had been left for that aunt and uncle to babysit, while my parents were out of town, my cousin and I brought home several big fat chubs.[/size][/#0000ff]

[#0000ff][size 1]My aunt was happy to get them, and simply cooked them like most people cooked trout. She cut off the heads and scaled them, before coating them with floar and frying them in bacon grease. My family was not so rich that I was snooty or preconditioned, so I ate what I was served.[/size][/#0000ff]

[#0000ff][size 1]As I recall, they did have more fine bones than trout, but I was a skilled bone picker. The meat was very white and mild, with no "fishy" or mossy taste, like many a trout I have eaten. I survived. But, I have not knowingly eaten any since.[/size][/#0000ff]

[#0000ff][size 1]Biologically, chubs should be good eating. They live in the same waters as trout, and are just as delicate when it comes to extremes of temperature and oxygenation in the water. They eat the same things as trout, which is one of the main reasons they are not welcome in trout waters. They outcompete them.[/size][/#0000ff]

[#0000ff][size 1]Chubs are members of the large "minnow" family...as are suckers and many of the previously mentioned prized "rough fish" of Europe. As stated, they are almost all quite bony, but with a firm white flesh. [/size][/#0000ff]

[#0000ff][size 1]Around the country, many folks still go after suckers during the spring runs. In the upper midwest, sucker fishing is a religion. They prepare them in a lot of ways...usually with methods that either eliminate or render the bones edible. Lots of pressure cooking and pickling. But, there are plenty of folks that enjoy fried sucker fillets too.[/size][/#0000ff]

[#0000ff][size 1]I once caught a big chub in the Snake River above Ashton Idaho on a big spoon being cast for cutthroat. It put up a good battle, and as I was getting ready to smash its head on the rocks...to release unharmed...a fellow angler asked if he could have the fish. He did not look poor. He explained that he often fished for those big chubs in that area and that his family loved them...but not to tell anyone.[/size][/#0000ff]

[#0000ff][size 1]In the "olden days", perch were often looked at in the same way as chubs in Utah. A fishing trip to Deer Creek was always an odorous experience if you were bank fishing. There were rotting perch all over where trout fishermen tossed those "trash fish". [/size][/#0000ff]

[#0000ff][size 1]Until I knew better, I did the same. After all, according to those who took me there the first times, perch were bony and had a bad taste. It was with great apprehension the first time I let someone talk me into eating those nasty fish. As they say..."The rest is history." Like many former perch disdainers, I would now rather save the perch for the table than the trout.[/size][/#0000ff]

[#0000ff][size 1]Sure, you can eat chubs. But, if you have a choice...between them, walleyes, trout, perch, bass, catfish or other fish...why would you want to?[/size][/#0000ff]
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[Coldfooter]

Yeppers Pat,, Perch were certainly considered a trash fish here in Utah at one time.. I can recall the day of the boat rental shop near the Provo river inlet at Deer Creek and the countless times my father rented us kids a old row boat to paddle out and catch perch all day long. Those were the days of plenty,, "take plenty of night crawlers and catch plenty of darn perch. Get em out of the lake!". It was a time of NO limits on perch and often we lined the bottom of the old row boat with them, yet, I dont remember eating one untill years and years later...... Heck,, as I recall even the gulls wouldnt eat em back then.. Now like so many other things,, change has stepped in and so raised the status of the lowly Yeller Perch.

I suppose chubs do have their place in the great scheme of things. I just havent figured out where yet, other than cut bait.. I wonder if a person used the old pine board trick to bake em on if they wouldnt turn out a bit better. I know it works for Goose.[]
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[gshadow]

chubs are great food for lake trout they love them as do most big fish. as for me eating them I will pass on them but as others have said if I was starving then I would have to eat them.
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