Do you eat them? I caught one that was 8lbs or so on Friday and we had it for dinner last night. I'll save my thoughts until after you guys chime in but I'm curious if you all eat them.
Hybrids
- Thread starter Pilchard
- Start date
I cut the dark strip out by seperating the top half from the bottom half of the fillet. Excellent imo… only beat by sauger or walleye
Union Co. Boy
Well-Known Member
I cut the red out, beer batter them, and eat like a king! If you get all of the red and fatty tissue out, they are excellent eating.
Or, after you cut all of the red and fatty meet off the filet, you can cut in strips and boil in shrimp boil for poor man's shrimp. Pretty good eating.
when i filet them i keep the knife parallel and leave the red line on the skin. some folks pickle the red meat. wenused to have big fish fries with them when i was a teenager. my step dad was cery good at finding them on the river ledges in the spring, although they were stripers and not hybrids.
they are ok, has a more fish flavor than panfish.
they are ok, has a more fish flavor than panfish.
I removed all of the fat and blood line and was pleasantly surprised at the flavor and texture of the fish.
We fried it but with its firmer texture, I will keep another one and try it a few different ways.
We had it and crappie. My wife and I liked the hybrid best while my son preferred the crappie.
We fried it but with its firmer texture, I will keep another one and try it a few different ways.
We had it and crappie. My wife and I liked the hybrid best while my son preferred the crappie.
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MidTennFisher
Well-Known Member
I've eaten a pile of them over the years and they taste great. Haven't caught one in a bit though since we moved to SC. The lakes I fish here have pure stripers, no hybrids.
But that brings up a question, does nobody get weirded out by the fact that these are frankenstein fish? They have never naturally occurred in nature, they're a science experiment cross between White Bass and Striped Bass.
Makes me wonder if we're going to find out years from now that eating these was a bad idea. Yea a fish is a fish, but isn't this sort of like the weird experimental "meat" scientists are working on? That lab designed/3D printed meat that chemically speaking is real meat but didn't come from an animal? I would not eat that stuff. But I guess I'd probably still eat Hybrids.
But that brings up a question, does nobody get weirded out by the fact that these are frankenstein fish? They have never naturally occurred in nature, they're a science experiment cross between White Bass and Striped Bass.
Makes me wonder if we're going to find out years from now that eating these was a bad idea. Yea a fish is a fish, but isn't this sort of like the weird experimental "meat" scientists are working on? That lab designed/3D printed meat that chemically speaking is real meat but didn't come from an animal? I would not eat that stuff. But I guess I'd probably still eat Hybrids.
Headhunter
Well-Known Member
I am not a fan. I have tried everything with hybrids and just don't like them. I catch several hundred every spring. A few of my friends love them so I give away a good number of hybrids every spring.
Bone_Chaser
Well-Known Member
I think striper is slightly better. Hybrids don't freeze well for long periods. Both are near the top for me on freshwater.
I'll have to keep a rockfish this year if I catch a small one. Sorry, Will!
Actually, they do occasionally occur in nature.
bowtechgump
Well-Known Member
I marinade them in Italian dressing (after trimming filet as stated above) and cook them on the grill or bake.
MickThompson
Well-Known Member
Not my favorite
i dint think so. theyre one of the few hybrids that can backcross to the parent. not all hybrids are sterile. like SCN said it does happen.
folks been eating hybridized fish for ages. all the crappie in tims ford and normandy are hybrids grown at the duck river hatchery. a lot of crappie in mississippi are hybrids.
a lot of folks thought for years that stripers couldnt spawn. they do at pickwick.
MidTennFisher
Well-Known Member
I didn't know this. You mean the ones that have managed to naturally reproduce? I read about that recently somewhere. But did they exist in nature before scientists created them in labs? Was there historically successful spawning between White Bass and Striped Bass?
If so, that changes my opinion on them. I'd still eat them anyway, but I have thought recently it's a bit odd.
Yes, white bass and stripers occasionally spawn together and create natural hybrids. My memory is that most are white bass males and striper females. It happens the other way as well.
Again, it's not a frequent occurrence, but it does happen.
Again, it's not a frequent occurrence, but it does happen.
MidTennFisher
Well-Known Member
Good to know. Like I said I haven't eaten one in years only because the lake I mostly fish now a days in SC only has pure Stripers. Just lately I was thinking about it and thought it was kind of weird to eat a fish that doesn't normally occur in nature. Maybe it's not a big deal even if they'd never naturally occurred and I'm overthinking it. They taste good and they're a lot of fun to catch, that's for sure.
There is a lot of fisheries history tied up in this hybrid. It was "created " to have a large predator that could feed and help control exploding populations of gizzard shad. Once gizzards reach a certain size, they are outside of the preferred size for most of the native freshwater species.
A friend and mentor, Tn fisheries biologist Dave Bishop, was working closely with Bob Stevens from your SC DNR on a project on finding out how to successfully hatchery spawn striped bass from the Santee Cooper tailwaters. Dave was able to successfully spawn strper eggs fertilized by white bass sperm. While they didn't grow as large as stripers, they grew faster and were much more tolerant of high lake temperatures than the stripers.
They are now used by fisheries managers across the country.
A friend and mentor, Tn fisheries biologist Dave Bishop, was working closely with Bob Stevens from your SC DNR on a project on finding out how to successfully hatchery spawn striped bass from the Santee Cooper tailwaters. Dave was able to successfully spawn strper eggs fertilized by white bass sperm. While they didn't grow as large as stripers, they grew faster and were much more tolerant of high lake temperatures than the stripers.
They are now used by fisheries managers across the country.
Perhaps better than the meal was the fight. It was fun to catch a fish that pulls back.
I caught him on a minnow under a cork on 4lb mono with a size 4 aberdeen Mustad. Thank goodness for a smooth drag!
I caught him on a minnow under a cork on 4lb mono with a size 4 aberdeen Mustad. Thank goodness for a smooth drag!
you might like them this way. ive started doing sauger this way and absolutely love it. just adjust cooking times according to thickness.
