Deep fried small mouth ??

[Dickbakers]

Jigmaster5

Sorry to get your dander up.  I've just never seen data condemning small mouth as high in toxicity?  Dietary recommendations are to eat fish twice a week.  What fish do you eat?  Many fishermen like to catch fish BUT cleaning and eating isn't appealing!!

[jigmaster5]

That was just for a hoot. I could really care less, since I'm not fishing on the ocean too much lately.

Given your location, I understand.  I try to save my mercury consumption for smoked bluefish + sushi - both of which I love to eat.   

I believe in freshwater fish, bottom feeders like cats have the highest mercury levels.

If you look up on wikipedia "mercury in fish", catfish are near the bottom - just above squid.

I've tried to figure out a pattern, but it varies greatly from fish to fish.  One might think oily fish have higher mercury levels (like pickerel...and they do), but atlantic mackerel are on the low end.  It seems like the further up on the food chain they are, the more mercury they have...except catfish which are low...and those things will eat anything that can fit in their mouth.  Warmwater fish tend to have higher mercury than coldwater fish.  Not sure why?  Shellfish tend to be low.  Swordfish + sharks are very high.  You hear about mercury in tuna all the time, but I've yet to see a warning about swordfish.  (I'm sure if I googled it, I could find some).  Maybe the swordfish industry has better lobbyists?  I don't know.

[jigmaster5]

Jigmaster5

Sorry to get your dander up.  I've just never seen data condemning small mouth as high in toxicity?  Dietary recommendations are to eat fish twice a week.  What fish do you eat?  Many fishermen like to catch fish BUT cleaning and eating isn't appealing!!

I'm not upset, I was just surprised you haven't heard of mercury in fish.  You can click the link to the Maine poster for more info & make your own conclusions about SM.

I eat all kinds of fish.  Basically, I just try to follow the guidelines spelled out by Mass, NH + Maine.  Read their docs if you want more info.

As far as my favorite fish to eat that I catch:
- Bonito are my #1, delicious - but sometimes hard to catch
- Black sea bass
- Smoked bluefish (smaller ones)
- Fluke
- Flounder
- Crappie

And then everything else.

[merk42]

They are also great just pan fried in butter or bacon fat, a little light bread crumb... Great midday lunch or tacos with a little curry and cumin for dinner also just pan fried.... Deep frying isnt a necessity. But it sure taste good...

we pass on them in spring and summer.. the parasite in the flesh is a turn off. but really not harmful.. We had a couple of banner bass days this season...

[AQUAASSASSIN]

Mmmm Curry

[V Menzone]

I'm not upset, I was just surprised you haven't heard of mercury in fish.  You can click the link to the Maine poster for more info & make your own conclusions about SM.

I eat all kinds of fish.  Basically, I just try to follow the guidelines spelled out by Mass, NH + Maine.  Read their docs if you want more info.

As far as my favorite fish to eat that I catch:
- Bonito are my #1, delicious - but sometimes hard to catch
- Black sea bass
- Smoked bluefish (smaller ones)
- Fluke
- Flounder
- Crappie

And then everything else.

whens the last time u heard of mercury poisonous from a fish. Yes the levels might be high but you would have to eat so called fish 24/7 to ever get sick

[AQUAASSASSIN]

Yeahhh doesn’t phase me. Agreed, eat fish have fun.

[rmoody79]

Tuna has way more and people will never stop eating tuna so I laugh when someone posts this.

From June on I eat bluefin tuna raw as if I was a one man wolfpack and that was all I had access to, so I asked my doctor a number of years back if I should be concerned about having on average a daily serving of raw tuna for 4-5months out of the year.  He told me I would have to eat it at every meal for over a year straight before he would have concerns about mercury, swordfish on the other hand is different and if you think little creepy grubs in smallmouth are gross, then swordfish isnt for you. 

[alexg425]

if you are an adult man mercury isn't going to be much of a risk. It would be hard to eat enough fish to give you mercurhy poisoning. Maybe if you ate thresher shark for every single meal. It's much more of a concern for women who may become pregnant and developing children. Still something to think about if you feed your family with fish. Unfortunately the mercury is everywhere. For the typical waterbody just follow the one meal per week for people over 7 and one meal per month for kids under 7

[jigmaster5]

whens the last time u heard of mercury poisonous from a fish.

on the water article I mentioned earlier

[jigmaster5]

if you are an adult man mercury isn't going to be much of a risk. It would be hard to eat enough fish to give you mercurhy poisoning. Maybe if you ate thresher shark for every single meal. It's much more of a concern for women who may become pregnant and developing children. Still something to think about if you feed your family with fish. Unfortunately the mercury is everywhere. For the typical waterbody just follow the one meal per week for people over 7 and one meal per month for kids under 7

^this

we can keep talking about mercury in fish if you guys want to...but alex pretty much summed it up.

all i said to kick this off was that if I was going to eat a SM, i'd eat a smaller one.  i'm not sure if this thread was designed to start a debate or what?

i eat plenty of fish & consume plenty of mercury.  i don't care what anyone else does.  if you want to eat SM, go for it.  (personally, I don't).

if you read the publications from all the new england states, they basically all say the same thing: eating fish is good for you - but you should limit consumption & try to eat fish lower in mercury.  I try to follow my understanding of the published guidance.

that's it!  pretty simple. 

[Lv2hunt]

Is there a big taste difference between large mouth and small mouth

[Scranton Joe]

Is there a big taste difference between large mouth and small mouth

Yes.

[Dickbakers]

on the water article I mentioned earlier

The article says nothing about cases of mercury poisoning?
I find nothing about mercury warnings for small mouth bass.
BUT the post was about eating bass!  I've rarely eaten raw fish.
Dick

[lowaccord66]

whens the last time u heard of mercury poisonous from a fish. Yes the levels might be high but you would have to eat so called fish 24/7 to ever get sick

This thread sucks Vin.  It was fine before all the chicken little nonsens about heavy metal.  Jigmaster what we eat doesnt affect you so who gives a chit.

[river_scum]

bass up to 17-18" always go home with me.  they make great samiches!

yes large and smallmouth taste different.  they can taste different from bodies of water too.  bass from shad waters arent as good as ones that eat gills n stuff.