# Mildest Fish



## Chief Longwind Of The North (Jun 4, 2019)

Those trout I caught last Saturday beckoned to me this morning  They  were cleaned and ready to cook.  I lined a baking pan with aluminum foil, dried the fish, inside and out with paper towels, Drizzled with olive oil, making sure t rub it all over the fish, and lightly seasoned with salt and fresh ground black pepper.  Pop the fish into a 425' F. convection oven for 20 minutes.  The fish was cooked perfectly.  Was so looking forward to my first bit.  The texture was great, the fish was very moist and tender, and the flavor was so mild as I cold barely taste it.  This was trout that had been recently planted in the lake where I caught them.  The flesh was white, rather than the glorious ping/orange of wild trout,and little of that trout flavor that I love.  All in all, it was edible.  For those that like very mild fish, this would have been perfect, all of the protien, with no fishy flavor.  I want some wild brookies, with the fless stained orange by the beta-carotene in the scuds and freshwater shrimp they eat.  And I want a new, younger body that will allow me to walk a stream and catch them.

Seeeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North


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## taxlady (Jun 4, 2019)

That must have been a bit disappointing. I am not a fan of overly mild fish. I wouldn't mind having a younger body either.


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## caseydog (Jun 4, 2019)

My experience with trout is that it has a pretty strong fish taste to it. Mild tasting trout sounds good to me. 

My body can still fish, but I lack the patience for fishing. Well, I do like offshore fishing, but my wallet lacks the funds for that. 

CD


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## Roll_Bones (Jun 5, 2019)

caseydog said:


> My experience with trout is that it has a pretty strong fish taste to it. Mild tasting trout sounds good to me.
> 
> My body can still fish, but I lack the patience for fishing. Well, I do like offshore fishing, but my wallet lacks the funds for that.



Same here. Reddish pink flesh.  Not real fishy.  But still on the gamey side.

Offshore is my dream. Onshore is my dream.  If there's water, there's people and bars......lol Fish too!


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## caseydog (Jun 5, 2019)

Roll_Bones said:


> Same here. Reddish pink flesh.  Not real fishy.  But still on the gamey side.
> 
> Offshore is my dream. Onshore is my dream.  If there's water, there's people and bars......lol Fish too!



We used to go out for three days at a time to the oil rigs, to fish for red snapper. It was a 42 foot boat, and the owner would burn through a couple hundred gallons of diesel. 

I caught my first (and last) big shark on one of those trips. I fought that thing for a good hour, or more. I got it up to the boat, and cut it loose. Big sharks are not good eats. It is one of those things you do just to say you did it. 

I love red snapper. It is without a doubt my favorite fish to eat. 

One thing you need to know if you go offshore fishing for three days, is that when you get back on dry land, you walk around like a drunk.  Your body is so used to the pitching and rocking of the boat, that you can't walk right for a while. I took a shower, and had to hold onto the walls. 

CD


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## caseydog (Jun 5, 2019)

On the topic of sharks, the small ones have the best meat. 

A friend of mine caught these from the beach. We cut them into steaks, and grilled them. 

CD


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## CraigC (Jun 6, 2019)

Sharks urinate through their flesh. No thanks. I've been on 3 day fishing trips, but the fishing was done underwater with a gun. 

The "mildest fish" depends on what you have access to. Here hogfish is probably the mildest, saltwater of course.


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## Chief Longwind Of The North (Jun 6, 2019)

Skates are related to sharks.  I know that when very fresh, the meat is very similar to scallops in both texture and flavor.  However, the meat quickly begins to degrade, and develops an ammonia smell and flavor.  If I recall from biology class, urine goes through a chemical metamorphosis and becomes ammonia in nature, part of the ammonia cycle.

Craig C, this lends credibility to your statement about sharks.  I[ve only heard of people eating shark fins.

Seeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North


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## tenspeed (Jun 6, 2019)

caseydog said:


> We used to go out for three days at a time to the oil rigs, to fish for red snapper. It was a 42 foot boat, and the owner would burn through a couple hundred gallons of diesel.
> 
> I caught my first (and last) big shark on one of those trips. I fought that thing for a good hour, or more. I got it up to the boat, and cut it loose. Big sharks are not good eats. It is one of those things you do just to say you did it.
> 
> ...


  Lessee here.  A couple of hundred gallons of diesel at marina prices.  Bait.  Food.  Oh, and three days worth of beer!  So just how much did that fish cost?


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## caseydog (Jun 6, 2019)

tenspeed said:


> Lessee here.  A couple of hundred gallons of diesel at marina prices.  Bait.  Food.  Oh, and three days worth of beer!  So just how much did that fish cost?



The boat owner was my neighbor. I would go out fishing with him and his son, who was my age (around 16). His son died in a car accident right out of high school. 

Soooo, in this particular instance, those fishing trips were priceless. 

CD


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## Addie (Jun 10, 2019)

Sounds like you caught a farm raised trout. They are fed a totally different feed from what they can catch on their own when released in the wild. Had the fish had a chance to eat wild for a time, it would have developed the flavor and taste that you enjoy. 

I went fishing with a friend once and he kept catching small ones. He was a devoted Catch and Release fisherman when it came to small ones. 

Then he got mad because my first catch was a huge one. I don't remember what it was I caught, but I gave it to him to take home. Told him he could tell everyone he caught it and I would never tell. I have kept my word until just now.


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## GotGarlic (Jun 10, 2019)

Addie said:


> Sounds like you caught a farm raised trout. They are fed a totally different feed from what they can catch on their own when released in the wild. Had the fish had a chance to eat wild for a time, it would have developed the flavor and taste that you enjoy.



Farm-raised trout are not found in rivers. I doubt the Chief was fishing in a fish farm.


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## medtran49 (Jun 10, 2019)

GotGarlic said:


> Farm-raised trout are not found in rivers. I doubt the Chief was fishing in a fish farm.



Umm, they do spawn, hatch, raise to a certain size fish in farms, then release them into bodies of water to increase the population.


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## GotGarlic (Jun 10, 2019)

medtran49 said:


> Umm, they do spawn, hatch, raise to a certain size fish in farms, then release them into bodies of water to increase the population.


Since they spend most of their lives in the wild - especially if they've reached the size for a legal catch - I wouldn't classify them as farm-raised. The general understanding of the term is that the fish are raised entirely in a controlled environment.


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## GotGarlic (Jun 10, 2019)

Chief Longwind Of The North said:


> Those trout I caught last Saturday beckoned to me this morning... This was trout that had been recently planted in the lake where I caught them. The flesh was white, rather than the glorious ping/orange of wild trout,and little of that trout flavor that I love.



Looking back at the original post, I was mistaken about the origin of the fish. Sorry about that. Ya learn something new every day [emoji2]


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## tenspeed (Jun 10, 2019)

GotGarlic said:


> Looking back at the original post, I was mistaken about the origin of the fish. Sorry about that. Ya learn something new every day [emoji2]


  Don't confuse hatchery raised fish that are hatched, reared through the early stages of life then released into the wild with farmed fish.


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## GotGarlic (Jun 10, 2019)

tenspeed said:


> Don't confuse hatchery raised fish that are hatched, reared through the early stages of life then released into the wild with farmed fish.


I know the difference - I just didn't realize that the former was the one the Chief was talking about.


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## Addie (Jun 10, 2019)

medtran49 said:


> Umm, they do spawn, hatch, raise to a certain size fish in farms, then release them into bodies of water to increase the population.



Thank you medtran. That's what they do here in Mass. The whole purpose of the fish farms are to restock the rivers and inlet areas with new fish. 

They are not raised for the sole purpose of restocking supermarkets. You do have to wonder sometimes where folks get their information from. 

Restocking rivers and lakes has been in practice for many years now and very successful. Many endangered species have made a miracle comeback from possible extinction.


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## Addie (Jun 10, 2019)

To Chief.

Sorry love, but once your body tells you that you have to passed your teenage years, there is no going back. At 80 years I have found that out the hard way. Now my kids are rooting for me to reach 90. GIVE ME A BREAK KIDS!


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## GotGarlic (Jun 10, 2019)

Addie said:


> They are not raised for the sole purpose of restocking supermarkets. You do have to wonder sometimes where folks get their information from.



"Some folks" get their information from all sorts of sources. Aquaculture has been a large and growing industry for many years.

Fish Farming Market by Environment (Freshwater, Marine Water, and Brackish Water) and Fish Type (Fin Fish and Others): Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2018 - 2025


> The global fish farming market size was valued at $257,936 million in 2017, and is expected to reach $376,485 million by 2025, growing at a CAGR of 4.77% from 2018 to 2025. Fish farming deals with the farming, breeding, rearing, *and harvesting* of aquatic organisms, animals, and plants, which include fish farming, carps, mollusks, crustaceans, and aquatic plants in all types of water environments.


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## Addie (Jun 10, 2019)

I am well aware of restocking fish. When I lived on the farm, there is a very old mill in Brewster, Cape Cod. The mill has a wheel and when the fish are spawning up stream, the wheel was shut off when they were restocking the lake above the mill. As kids we were fascinated with the whole process and would go and watch them. 

If there were enough fish spawning, you were allowed to go there with a pail and catch one pail full of fish. Otherwise, you couldn't do it. It depended on the fish count in the lake that had been done at an earlier date. And yes, even as old as I am, they were already restocking the depleted supply at that time. Have to keep those fishermen like Chief happy.


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## taxlady (Jun 10, 2019)

tenspeed said:


> Don't confuse hatchery raised fish that are hatched, reared through the early stages of life then released into the wild with farmed fish.



Yup, I'm pretty sure the term is "hatchery", not "farm", when the fish are raised for release into the wild.


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## Cooking Goddess (Jun 10, 2019)

Addie, "farmed fish" are not used for restocking lakes. They are grown in a contained area until big enough for harvest, then processed for retail sales.

Although free swimming, it would be funny if they grew them on vines like zucchini. [emoji38]


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## medtran49 (Jun 10, 2019)

Farm versus hatchery - semantics.  A hatchery is a farm for fish.  Just like you raise cows, goat, sheep, etc on farms.  Hatchery is a more specific term for fish that are raised and released, but it's still a farm when you get down to the basics.


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## GotGarlic (Jun 10, 2019)

medtran49 said:


> Farm versus hatchery - semantics.  A hatchery is a farm for fish.  Just like you raise cows, goat, sheep, etc on farms.  Hatchery is a more specific term for fish that are raised and released, but it's still a farm when you get down to the basics.


Farm versus hatchery. Chicken versus egg. 

se·man·tics
/səˈman(t)iks/
noun
the branch of linguistics and logic concerned with meaning

Words matter. It's how we communicate. Being precise with language helps prevent misunderstandings.


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## tenspeed (Jun 10, 2019)

medtran49 said:


> Farm versus hatchery - semantics.


Ummmm, no.  Read previous posts.


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## medtran49 (Jun 11, 2019)

The only difference between a hatchery and a farm is that the fish are released into the wild early on instead of being fattened up and sold for consumption.  They start out exactly the same with breeders, spawning, fry, etc.  The same fish husbandry principles apply.  All hatcheries are farms, but all farms are not just hatcheries.


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## Addie (Jun 11, 2019)

Looks like a really started a somewhat heat conversation. Thanks for all the input folks. Makes for interesting reading.


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## GotGarlic (Jun 11, 2019)

medtran49 said:


> The only difference between a hatchery and a farm is that the fish are released into the wild early on instead of being fattened up and sold for consumption.  They start out exactly the same with breeders, spawning, fry, etc.  The same fish husbandry principles apply.  All hatcheries are farms, but all farms are not just hatcheries.


The purpose of an endeavor is an important difference. In the context of this post, the Chief did not catch a farm-raised trout; it was a hatchery trout.


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## Addie (Jun 11, 2019)

Chief Longwind Of The North said:


> Skates are related to sharks.  I know that when very fresh, the meat is very similar to scallops in both texture and flavor.  However, the meat quickly begins to degrade, and develops an ammonia smell and flavor.  If I recall from biology class, urine goes through a chemical metamorphosis and becomes ammonia in nature, part of the ammonia cycle.
> 
> Craig C, this lends credibility to your statement about sharks.  I[ve only heard of *people eating shark fins*.
> 
> Seeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North



A big seller in China from my understanding.


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## Chief Longwind Of The North (Oct 24, 2019)

We have a number of fish hatcheries in Michigan's Eastern U.P., and my dad and I used to visit them after a day of walking the streams.  They all had concrete tanks about 12 foot long, by 4 foot wide, with water from a nearby local spring that fell into the head tanks of each row, and a small divider that separated the tanks and that allowed water to spill over the top, into the next tanks.  So there was always a current, and freshly flowing water in the tanks.  

The tanks sat end to end, in rows of  5, with four rows set 3 feet apart,  There were metal grates that acted as bridges over the tanks, so you could walk right above the fish, as well as walking along th tank sides..  The fish were separated by size, with fingerlings, in one tank, year old fries in another, 10 to 12 inches in another, and so on up to 2 foot long lake trout.  They were also separated by species, with brook trout, rainbows, and lake trout.   These fish were all raised to be planted in rivers , lakes and streams.  After we visited a hatchery ,there was a store that served hard ice cream at 20 cents a scoop.  I loved that ice cream.  My favorites were the same that my dad liked, butter pecan, and maple-nut.

I have studied up on fish farms, especially in the Netherlands and China.  These are areas of ocean, or lakes where mesh holding pens are huge, and contain thousands of fish.  They are overrowded, and water quality is very bad as there is no movement of fresh water to naturaly replace and refresh the environment.  The fish develop disease, and parasites, and are filled with PCB's, dioxin.  I believe the fish farmed in South America is cleaner, and safer.  Fish farmed in the U.Sl must meet conditions set by the appropriate governing agency.

So, farmed fish generally describes fish raised to sell-able size, in a captured environment, while hatchery fish are fish that have been grown from eggs to a size where they can be released into wild rivers, lakes, and streams.

I won't purchase tilapia, swai, or farm-raised salmon or trout as I know how they've been raised.  Again, the inexpensive, low quality, even dangerous produce is sold to the less fortunate, while good fish is priced out of reach of most people.

Seeeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North


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## taxlady (Oct 24, 2019)

I lived at a trout farm in the Laurentians for a while. I realize that that trout farm was probably unusual. The trout there were raised in artificial ponds. They were fed Trout Chow for the first year of their lives. After that, they were moved to other ponds, where they had to forage for insects, etc. They were not given any food. There was no overcrowding and there was circulation of fresh water.


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## Chief Longwind Of The North (Oct 28, 2019)

taxlady said:


> I lived at a trout farm in the Laurentians for a while. I realize that that trout farm was probably unusual. The trout there were raised in artificial ponds. They were fed Trout Chow for the first year of their lives. After that, they were moved to other ponds, where they had to forage for insects, etc. They were not given any food. There was no overcrowding and there was circulation of fresh water.



That is unusual for a fish farm.  I bet the fish was of superior quality and made up in price what they lacked in overcrowded numbers  I just wish all fish farms were run by people who wanted to produce quality over quantity.

Seeeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North


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## pepperhead212 (Oct 28, 2019)

Trout farms are not at all unusual, and many of them have the fish learn how to forage naturally, towards the end of their life there.  This is because many of these farms are growing these trouts to release into fishing areas.  This way, the fish can live easier, I'm guessing, than if they had been fed fish food all the way up to their release.  I'd be curious to find out if this method is also used for the food trout.


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