What's your favorite freshwater fish ?

[Ma Facon]

I am curious, What is your favorite freshwater fish and how do you like it prepared ?

I love panfried lake perch, Lightly floured and fried in whole butter. Yummmm!!!!

[Montelago]

Lake Superior whitefish. Panko crusted, fried and served with bearnaise.

[KYHeirloomer]

I'd say it's a toss up between yellow perch and crappie, for number one; with bluegill #3.

Far too many ways of preparing them to settle on just one as a favorite.

[villagecook]

My all time favorite fresh water fish is what some of us call Opelousa catfish here in Louisiana. It's more commonly called flathead catfish. It's a deep water catfish and tasting nothing like farm raised catfish. Of course I like mine deep fried (soaked in a little hot sauce, beer battered and dredged in a mix of seasoned corn meal and flour) served with jalapeño hush puppies, steak fries, coleslaw and a six pack of bud light.

Bill

[Bishop]

My favorite are gutted rainbow trout stuffed with lemon and herbs then grilled over very high heat. Go for crisp skin and barely cooked flesh.

[kuan]

Does Steelhead count? Actually I like trout too. Fresh with some combination of lemon and butter.

[AndyG]

Mountain whitefish, best tasting fish I ever caught

I like it better than salmon.

[bbally]

For me the fresh water fish that stands alone at the top is WALLEYE, I love the stuff. I like trout and char and bass and catfish.... but WALLEYE is amazing!

[Luc_H]

My top favorite is brook trout. I have this well hidden spot I go to every couple of years in early summer after they ate a lot of mayflies. Tender, pink/orange flesh. The largest I caught was 1 1/2lbs. They don't get that much bigger.

Walleye is a close 2nd.

perch definitely close behind.

Pike is good tasting but way too many bones.

For all freshwater fish i fished, I dredged in seasoned flour (salt, pepper, cayenne, garlic powder) then pan fry in butter.

Luc H.

[allie]

I love small channel catfish (as long as they don't taste muddy, like those caught in a pond in the middle of a southern summer). Just put in a paper bag with cornmeal and salt, shake, then deep fry. YUM!

[phatch]

Catfish and Crayfish. Trout is good if smoked.

[even stephen]

bbally......walleye is king....hands down the best.....light batter fried, baked,
pan seared...some of the sweetest cleanest fish out there....lately they have been introduced into north Georgia lakes along with more trout to battle the
infestation of blue back herring....what a fish!!!

[chrose]

Boy I'm with Ma Facon on this one! A close second would be large or smallmouth bass with lemon butter on the grill.

[MuskyHopeful]

Down to the wire it's the beer battered yellow perch and the walleye neck and neck. Potato pancakes, coleslaw and a basket of rye bread. Lemon slices and Hellman's tartar.

I used to fish Cass Lake in MN with my dad. We'd catch walleyes in the morning and perch in the afternoon. There were mornings we would catch fifty or sixty walleyes, and afternoons where we would catch one hundred plus perch. Most went back obviously.

At night we would eat. We would have four fish fries during the seven day stay. I actually prefer the walleyes right out of the lake. If I'm buying from the store, I like the perch better, because the walleye fillets they sell are big. The best eating walleye in my opinion is about a 1.5 to 2 pounder, not one with a one pound fillet on each side. Plus, the bigger fish are the good spawners, so when we were fishing, we would throw those back and keep the smaller ones to eat.

Kevin

Only keep what you're going to eat.

[Ninja_59]

Walleye & crappie, just in plain butter & lightly in flour, pure delight :