[Trisha-MN]

Okay, I really enjoy fishing for rough fish and am enjoying learning about them but there isn't a lot of info about them out there that I've been able to find yet.
I thought I'd start up a discussion here to see if anyone else fishes for these "under utilized" fish also? I'm referring to Buffalo, Drum, Suckers, Carp etc. Also, if you all keep and eat these fish I'm looking for ideas on utilizing them too.

Thanks!
Trisha

 

[tn_junk]

I fish for and eat Buffalo, Drum and Suckers. To me, they are as good as anything else out there. Can't say the same for carp.

galump

 

[big rockpile]

I make up a stiff Dough Bait using Cornmeal and a little Molasses,cook up a mush,then add Cornmeal until it is real stiff,to where it will stay on the Hook.

Go to the area your going to Fish,trow some little balls of the Bait out for chum.Bait up a smaqll Treble Hook,no weight,throw it out in the Chumed area and get ready.

I've caught Carp,Buffalo,and Cat with this.

Thing with Carp you want to fillet them out and cut all the dark red med off.Just keep the lighter meat.

Rough Fish have lots of Bones.

big rockpile

 

[DavidUnderwood]

Catfish are generally considered rough fish also.
They are my favorite to eat. I usually make
trapping bait out of carp and suckers.

 

[big rockpile]

Suckers are mainly a Winter fish here.Winter time go out with lights on the front of your Boat and Gig them.After the night is through,go to camp clean your fish fry them up have a few Beers enjoy.

Be out there well below zero,water temp will be around 50 because it comes out of the springs.

big rockpile

 

[Guest]

Try canning some rough fish. If you ever buy canned mackeral and make fried fish patties you will enjoy your own canned fish patties as well.

 

[fishhead]

I've eaten fried suckers in the spring and they were good once you got past the bones.

One thing I'm going to try sometime is spearing them while snorkeling in the river. Normally you can hover above them without spooking them.

 

[Guest]

Fishhead, what we do with those suckers is we scale them and then fillet the whole sides off, except for the rib bones. Then we take the fillet piece that still has the skin on it and we make a whole bunch of slices about 1/16 to 1/8 th thick on the flesh side. The skin keeps the fillet together. Then we roll this fillet peice in cornmeal, working the meal in between the cuts and deep fry it crispy. YOu will not even know there is bones in it.

 

[fishhead]

I'd heard that you could fry the bones soft.

Once we took a bunch of small bluegills and threw them into a blender after gutting and removing the head. I think we scaled them too. After frying the first guy got a bone fragment in his tongue on the first bite. The rest of us didn't fare too well either plus the patties were green.

 

[pancho]

I used to take an old man a load of rough fish every time we opened a unit at the hydro power plant. Don't know how he did it but when he got through with them there wasn't any bones. Tasted pretty good also.

 

[Trisha-MN]

Thanks for the responses. Around here so many of the main lakes are filled with boats (both fishing and speeding types) and personal watercraft that we like to hang out to fish where there are less people around so that often means catching rough fish and they sure put up a good fight too! This spring I ran across a book called Fishing for Buffalo: A Guide to the Pursuit, Lore and Cuisine of Buffalo, Carp, Mooneye, Gar and Other "Rough Fish" by Rob Buffler and Tom Dickson. I was able to get a copy though the library and enjoyed it so much that I bought a copy to have. I'll probably go ahead and try a few of the recipes for rough fish and see how they turn out.

 

[Cabin Fever]

I am a fish snob....and I can be because I live in Minnesota! The only freshwater fish that I will eat are walleye, northern pike, sunfish, crappies, perch and lake trout.

Those rough fish are excellent fertilizer....that's about it.

 

[Trisha-MN]

Hey there Cabin Fever. We're in Minnesota too. I've heard that Pike has a lot of bones too - I've never eaten it. We had our 1st lake trout this summer and it was wonderful, it was from Lake Superior, caught near Duluth.

Have you ever eaten Drum or Eelpout? Those are supposed to be good too. We have some Drum in the freezer now waiting for a fish fry. I know a lot of people don't like catching them though since they're after walleye etc ;-)

I am a fish snob....and I can be because I live in Minnesota! The only freshwater fish that I will eat are walleye, northern pike, sunfish, crappies, perch and lake trout.

Those rough fish are excellent fertilizer....that's about it.

 

[Cabin Fever]

Where in the world are you from in Minnesota. I have never even heard of drum???? :shrug: I caught an eelput once (by mistake). As soon as it started wrapping itself around my wrist I cut the line and threw him back into the lake. I was so horrified that I motored back to the cabin and had a few drinks to settle my nerves.

The Y-bones in pike do not bother me. On the larger ones a person can actually fillet them out. On the smaller ones, when you are ready to eat the filet, all you have to do is divide the filet in the right locationand all the Y-bones will stick out the side of the filet where you can pull them out all at once.

 

[Argent Farms]

Drum is the "polite" name for sheephead.

 

[big rockpile]

Just caught a Big Buffalo for Supper.

big rockpile

 

[Cheribelle]

This sounded wierd to me, but my Uncle told me to try it and it was excellent. Take a fairly good sized buffalo, without head and scales and tail. Stuff it with stove top or whatever herbal stuffing. Bake it with chopped tomatoes over the top. It was really good! The stuffing flavored the fish, but did not taste "fishy"