Hybrids
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Urban_Hunter
Well-Known Member
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.
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.
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.
you might like them this way. ive started doing sauger this way and absolutely love it. just adjust cooking times according to thickness.
Yes if you catch one small enough then keep it and eat. I've done it on several occasions. Very tasty grilled as you would with any saltwater fish. Problem is that where you and I catch stripers it's really hard to find one small enough! I've had bigger problems.
I caught one once. I kept it because I wanted to see how they taste. It was delicious. As said earlier, right under Walleye and Sauger.
This right here!
East TN Bowhunter
Well-Known Member
I think they are best when caught in cold water in the winter time. Once the water temp gets above 60s I start throwing them back. When I do keep them, like @WTM said, I don't get as close to the skin when fileting and therefore end up with a lot less red meat on the filet. Then I tilt my knife at a 45 and cut thru the filet on each side of the edge of the red line and come out with one big filet and one small filet from each side.
I keep 30 pounders. Cut out the lateral line and fillet the fillets into basically Captain D's sized pieces. Delicious!
I don't doubt that they are good. I have eaten big ones from New England and they were phenomenal.
I just don't like killing a big old fish that will be swimming in the same spot next year if i put it back.
I know this is hypocritical because I have killed many big fish throughout the years but I just can't make myself do it.
Perhaps it's because I don't freeze fish so it seems wasteful to me. Or perhaps I am just being silly.
Soft Talker
Well-Known Member
Rockfish are "Grouper" of the river.
woodsman04
Well-Known Member
woodsman04
Well-Known Member
I used to like eating them. And white bass. Fillet and fry just like crappie or bream.
I don't know what happened. One time I filleted them and cooked them. And they were just off. Not palatable… like I couldn't even make myself swallow.
Then I caught some more and filleted them. Just looking at the meat made me queasy. So I fed it to the dogs.
I don't keep them anymore.
Don't know what it was, but something turned me off on them
I don't know what happened. One time I filleted them and cooked them. And they were just off. Not palatable… like I couldn't even make myself swallow.
Then I caught some more and filleted them. Just looking at the meat made me queasy. So I fed it to the dogs.
I don't keep them anymore.
Don't know what it was, but something turned me off on them
I'm the same. Fine for those that want to eat a big one but I just don't want to kill one of those old fish.
