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View Full Version : Throw back the Whitefish!



Ifishtoolittle
05-25-2011, 11:25 AM
So I got a nice hefty 4lb Whitefish my Uncle brought back for me from his SCI trip. At first I was excited because hey, it's free fish. I made the effort to scale it, gut it, filet it, and even made some noodles to accompany it. When I took my first bite of that fish my estatic mood quickly went down the crapper, bitter as hell. I know that Whitefish from the Channel Islands are bitter too, but I wouldn't imagine SCI ones too.

What do Whitefish eat that makes their flesh so bitter?

Where should I avoid harvesting Whitefish from so that this should not happen again?

And oh yeah even the flies in my backyard didn't even want anything to do with the damn thing.

smokehound
05-25-2011, 06:49 PM
How long was it sitting in the gunny sack?

DockRat
05-25-2011, 07:07 PM
How long was it sitting in the gunny sack?

X2 ?

Whitefish is good eating.
Did you get the Bitter Beer Face ?
http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u186/malunayr/bitter.jpg
DR

SDDave
05-25-2011, 07:15 PM
whitefish are good for many things, fun fight but you were fishing for something else, fertlizer, crawdad bait, also know as a poormans dorado...

Ifishtoolittle
05-25-2011, 11:12 PM
How long was it sitting in the gunny sack?

Supposedly the boat my uncle went on has a fish hold, but I've yet to fish on it so I cannot confirm that. Ideally the fish should be super fresh and it was when I received it. I should also add that I kept the fish in fridge for a week before eating it.

Ifishtoolittle
05-25-2011, 11:13 PM
X2 ?

Whitefish is good eating.
Did you get the Bitter Beer Face ?
http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u186/malunayr/bitter.jpg
DR

Sort of lol.

Ifishtoolittle
05-25-2011, 11:14 PM
whitefish are good for many things, fun fight but you were fishing for something else, fertlizer, crawdad bait, also know as a poormans dorado...

Don't forget poorman's yellowtail. Seriously though some of the larger models in the 6lb+ category really pull.

smokehound
05-26-2011, 12:15 AM
Supposedly the boat my uncle went on has a fish hold, but I've yet to fish on it so I cannot confirm that. Ideally the fish should be super fresh and it was when I received it. I should also add that I kept the fish in fridge for a week before eating it. The good thing about the gunny-sacks, is you can dunk them, and the evaporation cools them off. I kept two rockfish in a gunny sack for like.. 5 hours. It could have been during the gutting, when the fish developed the bitter taste, if you puncture the spleen, it can leave a nasty bitter taste. Common with people just grabbing the guts and ripping em out.. I get around this by severing the organs at the throat, stops me from rupturing the spleen.

Ifishtoolittle
05-26-2011, 08:52 AM
I know that puncturing the gallbladder and spleen will leave a bitter taste on the fish, but this bitter piece I ate was from the shoulder of the fish.

vanillagurilla
05-26-2011, 09:10 AM
maybe a week in the fridge is a little to long lol, perhaps it was spoiled?

Ifishtoolittle
05-26-2011, 10:42 AM
Well I Gill and gutted and scaled the thing the day I got it, but I let it sit in the fridge for a week.

smokehound
05-26-2011, 12:06 PM
It may have been the fish itself, though.. barring how spoiled it was, it DID spend a week in the fridge, after all..

However, I've kept fish in the fridge for similar lengths of time..

You did say it was a monster whitefish, fish do degrade in quality with age. well.. except for tunas and mackerels..

I've noticed a bitter flavor with rockfish.. couldn't have been spoilage, immediately after the trip, I bought some salt and ice. . Still tasted funky.

Tunaslam
05-26-2011, 02:47 PM
Yep, release all whitefish, so I can catch em and eat em!

greenbean
05-26-2011, 05:46 PM
It probably tasted bad because it wasn't cleaned on the boat. Fish will go bad fast if they're not cleaned as soon as possible after they die. The food in their stomachs, the blood in their systems and other bodily fluids sitting on an all day boat without refrigeration to slow down all the bacteria? Have your fish cleaned on the boat. It will always be fresh and tasty when you get home. Whitefish is some of the best tasting fish I've ever had.

FISHINGBEE
05-26-2011, 10:16 PM
Supposedly the boat my uncle went on has a fish hold, but I've yet to fish on it so I cannot confirm that. Ideally the fish should be super fresh and it was when I received it. I should also add that I kept the fish in fridge for a week before eating it. there is your answer. White fish is like rockfish too me. The bones suck but they can be taken out. Sure you did not get sick. Freeze fish immediatley if not gonna eat in a couple days.

FISHINGBEE
05-26-2011, 10:17 PM
It probably tasted bad because it wasn't cleaned on the boat. Fish will go bad fast if they're not cleaned as soon as possible after they die. The food in their stomachs, the blood in their systems and other bodily fluids sitting on an all day boat without refrigeration to slow down all the bacteria? Have your fish cleaned on the boat. It will always be fresh and tasty when you get home. Whitefish is some of the best tasting fish I've ever had. yup that is true also

FISHINGBEE
05-26-2011, 10:18 PM
Well I Gill and gutted and scaled the thing the day I got it, but I let it sit in the fridge for a week. fillet the fish gut and scale yuk

Hometown
05-26-2011, 10:21 PM
poor mans yellow tail look and see the resemblence just no forked tail
whitefish are good for many things, fun fight but you were fishing for something else, fertlizer, crawdad bait, also know as a poormans dorado...

Ifishtoolittle
05-26-2011, 11:12 PM
It may have been the fish itself, though.. barring how spoiled it was, it DID spend a week in the fridge, after all..

However, I've kept fish in the fridge for similar lengths of time..

You did say it was a monster whitefish, fish do degrade in quality with age. well.. except for tunas and mackerels..

I've noticed a bitter flavor with rockfish.. couldn't have been spoilage, immediately after the trip, I bought some salt and ice. . Still tasted funky.

I can eat very fishy fish, but this wasn't the same. I've left cudas in the fridge for a week before and it was still quite edible. This whitefish was just bitter as hell!

Ifishtoolittle
05-26-2011, 11:12 PM
Yep, release all whitefish, so I can catch em and eat em!

Okay, but only at SCI and Channel Islands.

Ifishtoolittle
05-26-2011, 11:14 PM
It probably tasted bad because it wasn't cleaned on the boat. Fish will go bad fast if they're not cleaned as soon as possible after they die. The food in their stomachs, the blood in their systems and other bodily fluids sitting on an all day boat without refrigeration to slow down all the bacteria? Have your fish cleaned on the boat. It will always be fresh and tasty when you get home. Whitefish is some of the best tasting fish I've ever had.

Has nothing to do with that. Think about it this fish went into a fish hold not a gunny sack. Oh and for fun I also stomach pumped the thing and found that it had several squids in its gut.

Ifishtoolittle
05-26-2011, 11:15 PM
fillet the fish gut and scale yuk

LOL a few bones and skin too much for you? Nah, a whole fish is just as good as a filet especially when the skin is a little fried it has a chewy gummy taste to it.

Catalina CD
05-28-2011, 07:07 PM
I live here on Catalina Island, and have eaten plenty of white fish caught here. Never had a bitter tasting one. Sounds like you just got a bad one. Give 'er another try if you get a chance. It's a pretty good eating fish.

Ifishtoolittle
05-28-2011, 11:55 PM
I live here on Catalina Island, and have eaten plenty of white fish caught here. Never had a bitter tasting one. Sounds like you just got a bad one. Give 'er another try if you get a chance. It's a pretty good eating fish.

I'll definitely still eat Whitefish just not the ones from SCI or Channel Islands.

keepemlo
05-29-2011, 07:36 AM
I never ate whitefish till I came west but I love it as long as you don't eat close to the skin ,very fishy,I agree ,,try it again

FISHINGBEE
05-30-2011, 08:06 PM
LOL a few bones and skin too much for you? Nah, a whole fish is just as good as a filet especially when the skin is a little fried it has a chewy gummy taste to it. Thats what you want is bones, gummy chewy skin then i dont see how biter fish bothers you. Totally digusting. I would never eat a fish that was rotting in my fridge. When i go rockfishing i do not have them seperate whitefish rockfish fillets. Its all the same. Still fry a fillet with the skin on deboned ready to be eaten.

Ifishtoolittle
06-01-2011, 08:29 AM
Thats what you want is bones, gummy chewy skin then i dont see how biter fish bothers you. Totally digusting. I would never eat a fish that was rotting in my fridge. When i go rockfishing i do not have them seperate whitefish rockfish fillets. Its all the same. Still fry a fillet with the skin on deboned ready to be eaten.

Lol bitter taste and fish skin are two different things. Disgusting? I don't know perhaps everyone has different likings for fish. I just like mine with skin. Most of the time I will fry my fish, but this was one of the rare cases when I boiled it. Eh, I don't see how my week old whitefish, which was also in a working fish hold, is any less fresh that one from a gunny sack sitting in the sun all day.