Clean enough to eat out of

[SwoleyGuacamole]

Hey everyone,

Newer angler here. took my son to fish today for his first time with just a simple hook and worm, same with me, down at Percy. Unfortunately we didn't catch anything. It wasn't only us having a rough day, couple of guys were on a boat a bit down the bank and weren't catching anything either. Once I got home I got interested in how to use my jigs. I have a few swim, and shaky head jigs. As well as a blooper and a few selections of plastic worms. Apparently there's a whole lot more than I realized to those baits. Hopefully I can use those to my advantage in the future to catch some good fish once I get the hang of it.

Which brings me to the question:
Id eventually would like to go out and catch dinner every so often. Is there a stream fairly close to Middle TN that is clean enough to eat the fish out of? Percy and Cumberland is out of the question for me, but I was curious about upstream Old Hickory? Hell, don't even mind having a nice scenic trip to a good place out in BFE.

My interest in fishing and hunting is increasing and the unfortunate thing is that, being inexperienced, I have to start from the bottom up. Though thats also where I learn the most, through trial and error. Id eventually would like to do the same with hunting big game.

SG

 

[Spurhunter]

Save yourself a lot of trial and error time and learn on youtube. There's a million how to fishing channels. One guy that's really good IMO is Flukemaster.

 

[SwoleyGuacamole]

Save yourself a lot of trial and error time and learn on youtube. There's a million how to fishing channels. One guy that's really good IMO is Flukemaster.

Thats what ive been doing all morning. Its more of the trial and error of correctly using the bait. Ill give that channel a look.

 

[pockets]

Richard Gene Fishing Machine. You Tube. And I would eat the fish out of Priest.

 

[SwoleyGuacamole]

Richard Gene Fishing Machine. You Tube. And I would eat the fish out of Priest.

Really? I feel like the environment in Percy would be less than ideal to eat out of.

 

[pockets]

I have eatin plenty of it from there and never had an issue.

 

[Pilchard]

Swoley- I'm sure my opinion is unpopular here but I agree with you PP is nasty water… that said, I have not found a freshwater fish that didn't require being fried or blackened to be edible. I'll eat bream and crappie and won't complain but bass, catfish and others that I have tried aren't suitable table fare.

The one exception to that is a walleye I ate from a cold tail water. it was wonderful.

 

[SwoleyGuacamole]

Swoley- I'm sure my opinion is unpopular here but I agree with you PP is nasty water… that said, I have not found a freshwater fish that didn't require being fried or blackened to be edible. I'll eat bream and crappie and won't complain but bass, catfish and others that I have tried aren't suitable table fare.

The one exception to that is a walleye I ate from a cold tail water. it was wonderful.

are you speaking in general or out of the waters of TN? admittedly the only fish I have not had fried is salmon. Catfish is better fried than grilled in my experience, at least when I had gilled it.

 

[WTM]

here are the TDEC advisories. i would pay attention to the "do not eat" which are mainly in easy tenn. precaution doesnt mean you cant eat fish it just means limit yourself. most of the precautions are for bass and larger cats. probably the only fish i wouldnt eat would probably be that 5 mile stretch around nashville.

https://www.tn.gov/content/dam/tn/environment/water/documents/water_fish-advisories.pdf

 

[SwoleyGuacamole]

here are the TDEC advisories. i would pay attention to the "do not eat" which are mainly in easy tenn. precaution doesnt mean you cant eat fish it just means limit yourself. most of the precautions are for bass and larger cats. probably the only fish i wouldnt eat would probably be that 5 mile stretch around nashville.

https://www.tn.gov/content/dam/tn/environment/water/documents/water_fish-advisories.pdf

not surprising that Cumberland is on there, looks like I may be heading north to Old Hickory.

edit: maybe not. reading old hickory is pretty Nasty too

 

[Pilchard]

are you speaking in general or out of the waters of TN? admittedly the only fish I have not had fried is salmon. Catfish is better fried than grilled in my experience, at least when I had gilled it.

All freshwater, really.

Good fish doesn't require breading or heavy seasoning to be palatable.

 

[WTM]

to be honest all the saltwater fish ive tried is kind of mild like freshwater fish. it was either blackened or slathered in sauce. cant stand salmon, trout or mackeral. couldnt drink enough whiskey to get the taste out of my mouth. cant stand the thought of oysters. they smell like the cooking pits where we would cook nhead mussels to remove the meat from the shells.

lobster, shrimp, clams, and scallops are a different story. cant get enough of tgat.

 

[Spurhunter]

to be honest all the saltwater fish ive tried is kind of mild like freshwater fish. it was either blackened or slathered in sauce. cant stand salmon, trout or mackeral. couldnt drink enough whiskey to get the taste out of my mouth. cant stand the thought of oysters. they smell like the cooking pits where we would cook nhead mussels to remove the meat from the shells.

lobster, shrimp, clams, and scallops are a different story. cant get enough of that

I liked all the saltwater fish I've tried at restaurants, but I've never had any that compared to sauger or bluegill with crappie being a close 3rd. 1 to 2 pound largemouth are good as well. Catfish is ok but only if the dark meat is removed when cleaning and most people don't do that. Maybe it's what you are used to. I've known some people that are just saltwater fish snobs so to speak.

I absolutely love scallops and shrimp any way you want to fix them. I've tried oysters several different ways and they are not edible.

 

[SwoleyGuacamole]

I liked all the saltwater fish I've tried at restaurants, but I've never had any that compared to sauger or bluegill with crappie being a close 3rd. 1 to 2 pound largemouth are good as well. Catfish is ok but only if the dark meat is removed when cleaning and most people don't do that. Maybe it's what you are used to. I've known some people that are just saltwater fish snobs so to speak.

I absolutely love scallops and shrimp any way you want to fix them. I've tried oysters several different ways and they are not edible.

ive always loved salt water fish, including shellfish. Ive not had fresh water outside of salmon, cat, fried bass, and tilapia. So bluegill, sauger, and crappie would be an absolutely new thing to me.

 

[Jmed]

Thousands of pounds of fish meat from Priest and the cumberland get consumed by tennesseans every year

 

[Headhunter]

Really? I feel like the environment in Percy would be less than ideal to eat out of.

Not sure if it is still true, but I know for a fact for many, many years, Priest was one of the cleanest lakes (chemical wise and fish eating wise) in the state.

 

[fisher01]

I've been bank fishing Percy Priest for over 30 years now and have no issues with the quality of water. Eating several meals each week of fresh fish is part of my standard routine. Priest can supply one with Hybrids, White Bass, Crappie, Bream, Large or Smallmouth bass, all which are excellent to eat. My cooking methods vary from cast iron skillet, smoking, boiling, deep fry, baking and grilling.

Water clarity in PP depends upon the type of bottom in the area your fishing. Many locations the water is clear because of the rock bottom, others with sand/mud type bottoms will be more cloudy because of the sentiment in the water, especially during windy days.

Fishing during these hot summer months is more difficult, as the best months for PP from the bank are February-June. This time of the year I would suggest early morning or early evening hours as the best time to fish. There's plenty of bluegills and catfish to catch right now.

 

[WTM]

water clarity doesnt have a lot to do with if fish is safe to eat or not but it can make them taste more "fishy".

its the stuff you cant see, like pcb's, methylmercury, chromium, etc. im not seeing anything in the TDEC testing report regarding PP except one creek.

 

[fisher01]

As Priest has plenty of fresh water springs feeding the lake, I'm not worried about a large amount of chemicals in the water. I've talked to many people over the years who have associated water clarity with safety which is why I mentioned it in my previous post.

Freshwater fish which tastes fishy or smells fishy IMO was not handled properly. Fish should be kept alive until one calls it a day. My routine is to keep the fish alive, once I'm done, bleed them out, and place in cooler with ice. Once I'm home, all fish are filleted,vacuum sealed and placed in freezer. Typical length of time from water to freezer 30-60 minutes.

 

[WTM]

catch em out of tannic backwater and theyll taste fishy if you dont know what you are doing, and sometimes like algae or leaves. you can soak them after you filet them but the easiest way ive found is cold shock killing them. it sends them into hypothermia and the blood is pulled out of the meat into the organs. keep em on ice for a few hours and filet them. easy peazy.

 

[fisher01]

I've fished the banks of Lake Michigan and several of its rivers for mainly salmon and trout for many years. There we had safety notices ranging from do not eat any fish to maybe eating up to 1 Lb. per week due to the high levels of PCB's, etc. Some areas the water just smelled of these harmful chemicals.

As the higher concentrations of chemicals are located in the belly fat and skin, one can reduce this amount by processing boneless/skinless fillets.

The safest and best tasting fish are boneless/skinless/no belly meat fillets. Also, remove the dark meat and center blood line.
By doing this, you'll have great mild tasting white/pink fillets.

 

[Pilchard]

catch em out of tannic backwater and theyll taste fishy if you dont know what you are doing, and sometimes like algae or leaves. you can soak them after you filet them but the easiest way ive found is cold shock killing them. it sends them into hypothermia and the blood is pulled out of the meat into the organs. keep em on ice for a few hours and filet them. easy peazy.

This is the way all fish should be handled, regardless of water quality. In the salt, you add one bucket of sea water to every 10lbs of ice to make a brine which will produce the best quality food product. Not to mention a cold fish is much easier to fillet.

 

[Crow Terminator]

I disagree with keeping them alive until you are leaving. They release a stress hormone called cortisol when caught and put in a live well alive or on a stringer alive. I 100% believe this taints the taste. This is very evident when dealing with trout. Trout come from the cleanest waters you'll find in the state. But there's a major difference in how they taste that depends on how they are handled after the catch. Especially between throwing them on a stringer and keep fishing until you get your limit vs immediately putting them into a ice/brine solution. 9 times out of 10 I don't keep any of them but if I go to keep some, I prepare for it ahead of time and keep my cooler at my side. If I'm not wading, it makes a good stool.

 

[fisher01]

When I bank fish/wade, all I carry is 1 or 2 rods, along with a metal fish basket. I prefer to travel light, no tackle box, no cooler, no live bait. I mainly fish with homemade jigs/flies. Keep a dozen or so in my pocket and thats all I need.

Cooler is kept in car with ice/water. I like to stay mobile and go out to locate fish vs. staying in one place, so I stay light on what to carry.

I don't use a stringer, the metal basket allows the fish to open/close their gills and mouth keeping them alive. I cannot tell if the fish I caught an hour earlier vs. minutes before leaving tasted any different. Everyone who has been to one of my fish fries or have received some vacuum sealed fillets have always mentioned this is some of the best mild tasting freshwater fish they ever had and cannot wait till the next time.

We all have our own ways on how to keep/process fish and suggest everyone use the technique which works best for them. The method I use has worked well for 40+ years.

 

[Jmed]

With trout, the taste varies depending on how long they have been out of the hatchery. fish just dumped from a stock truck have meat that smells and taste like the fish meal they feed them, whereas a trout thats been in the river all year will have pink meat and all those yummy omega fats that come out when you cook it. Its like 2 different meats

 

[gladesman60]

Hog snapper, Mutton snapper, wahoo, cobia all wayyyy better than any fresh water fish that I have ever eaten. I did have some bass taken out of Woods which wasn't bad but not near as good as saltwater fish. Of course being born a Key West conch I am probably a little biased.

 

[timberjack86]

Find a farm pond if you can, get some night crawlers and you'll feel like a superstar.