I'm interested in finding out how many anglers actually eat the fish they catch. Being a chef, i think taste is everything. I personally don't eat stockies, i prefer wild fish, as the texture & flavour is far superior. Anyone interested in fish recipes, just ask.

as a chef myself i find it hard to take away the "muddy" taste from wild or stocked trout without using a load of garlic or chilli.

although i have stuffed a few trout with spinach and recotta, baked for half an hour and the customers loved it. kind of like a gamey caneloni.

bob

Ive gotta be honest. Im the opposite of yourself.
I eat fish but stockies. I cant bring myself round to eating Wild fish, When I spend most of my year catching them. They make my river fishing possible and every fish put back is another fish I or someone else can catch for another day.

Each wild fish I put back is another fish that will contribute to the next generation of fish.

I understand why people eat wild trout and wild fish but I would rather go eat a stockie than take a wild fish.

Just the way I feel.

But interesting question

Thanks
Lewis

I won't take stockies to eat, only the odd fish now and then because I'm the only one in my household who actually likes trout. The extended family will ask for them quite often but I will only take fish that have fed naturally for at least a month or two to loose that pellet fed taste!

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The only fish I eat that I catch are the odd stocked rainbow
I soak in a bucket of salt water overnight after cleaning to get rid of the "muddieness". I tend to smoke them then do cold in a pasta salad.

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BROWN TROUT:THE RED SPOTS HAND PAINTED BY GOD

I was also chef many years ago, I would not eat a wild fish as I believe they need to go back to keep the rivers with fish to breed, however I do not fish rivers so as a stillwater angler I would happily take the odd silvered up or overwintered fish as they can be superb, I also do not have a problem with every stock fish, some taste fine and some not so good. My personal favourites are the big silvered up Rainbows from Rutland, they can be almost as good as Salmon when gently Bbq'd with a bit of olive oil,butter,smoked garlic,lemon tyme and maldon salt....mmmmmm...I have however also had some really bad tasting silvered up fish from Rutland, only once but they all came from right in Dickensons bay and that bay is very silty,blanket weedy and more like a estate lake than the clean crisp water of the rest of the ressie and the trout tasted like eating blanket weed, not good....Even the trick of steeping the prepared fish in a salt solution similiar to sea water salinity couldnt save them......I have also eaten the odd Brown form Rutland and Farmoor only and find the flesh slightly different, almost buttery in texture but I would stick to the Rainbows as they are not a native and my consience will allow me odd one. I also struggle it bit with the murdering the fish by unceremoniously bashing its head in with a miniature metal club (aka Priest)...I as I said will happily eat Trout that I have caught I jut feel that its a beautiful day out fishing, enjoying the countryside and the challenge of catching your fish often ends up with a stunning creature dying as the end result. Maybe im getting soft....

Whilst i respect the fact that your a chef colinmac and taste is important to you,but surely as a angler the the conservation of our wild fish stocks should be more important to you than the taste of a trout?.Anyway i do eat the odd stockie and this is left in the sink over night in salt water

Neil

Hi,

I eat my catch, not only trout, but also grayling (which is superb), pike, zander, nose carps, a chub here and there etc.. Being lucky to be fishing in rock bottom waters, there is absolutely no muddy taste and i don`t have to do anything.

Taste and texture of wild fish is worlds apart from stockies.

I normally go with simple approach, that is clean the fish, salt it, cook it (in oven or pan), eat it. A mixture of garlic and parsil is good on such fish as well.

Trout and grayling are no problem as they have no y bones.

Nose carps and chub do. You just take a piece of meat,pull it apart, take the ys out and eat it. No problem. Many people look down on chub, but a chub from clean water has no earth taset and a bit "darker" taste.

Btw., the best fish to eat and i dear to say the one, that all people here would lick their fingers, if they would not know what they are eating, is a carp from clean water. As a few carps live in our flyfishing waters and occasionaly can be cought on fly, they have no muddy taste as they live on rock bottom and the taste is great.

Regarding taking of wild fish, as long as there are rules, bag limits, minimum sizes etc. it is no problem. Never was over here, until artificial panic was made and C&R started to be promoted. Now many of best water are stocked with stockies for the need of locals and turists with big egos and not so big fishing knowledge and this couses far greater damage to wild fish than any taking of fish for the pot.

Btw, pikes are great too. A bit rougher meat than trout but good. Some people prefer it over trout. Zanders are superb. Etc.

BlueOne

I eat what I catch where allowed.

That includes stockie rainbows from stillwaters.

Stocked browns from my clubs river and wild salmon from the river too. The sea trout are in such a parlous state I don't really fish for them anymore nor would I kill one and the river has grayling but have not tried to eat one in over 30 years.
One of my fishing buddies does take the odd one or two and enjoys them.
I am also a club member on a small wild brownie loch that has a perfectly sustainable stock if a few are taken every year and as it is a clear not peaty hill water they taste great.
I might start in the salt this year to see if I can catch any shore species, coalie, pollock, bass, flounder, mullet.

That means more kit and fly tying.

I have no guilt in knocking the odd fish on the head for the table, just as I dont feel bad about picking up a peice of cod from the fishmonger, what annoys me are the anglers who tend to kill everything that moves was in a friends garage the other night and he was proudly showing off the contents of his chest freezer, there musta been `50` trout in there some dating back a season and a half why ? he said he paid for the fishing, he was going to keep the catch.

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Even a man who Is pure in heart . . . . . . .