What’s the best tasting freshwater fish?

• Outdoor columnist Ben Smith shares his list of the best fish to eat from the abundant waters of the great state of Mississippi.

For all of you that were complaining during this past January’s snowpacalypse, I hope you are happy. It’s so dang hot outside the hens are laying boiled eggs. I keep telling myself that it’s all just a mindset and the heat is only as bad as you imagine it to be, but I’m a liar. At the time of writing this I just finished a nice evening stroll just before 10:00 and the temperature is still a balmy eighty-seven degrees with a “feels like” temperature of ninety-six degrees. And I’m nowhere near a meteorologist, or weatherman, or whatever you call ‘em, but if the “feels like” temperature is ninety-six degrees then it’s ninety-six degrees. Stop telling us it’s eighty-seven. We don’t need to know all of that, we just need to know what it feels like.

Now that I’ve got my griping out of the way for the week, let’s settle an important debate amongst fishermen in Mississippi. For years I’ve listened to old men debate what’s the best tasting freshwater fish. Some will say it’s bass. Some will say bream. I even heard a guy say that alligator gar was the best fish he’d eaten. Personally, I think this fella should have been locked away for a life sentence at Parchman, but that was his opinion, and I guess this is still a free country. At the very least he should be put through some form of medieval torture or spend some time to think about that idiotic statement alone in solitary confinement. I digress. This week I’m compiling a true and accurate list of the best fish to eat from the abundant waters of the great state of Mississippi.

My qualifications for making such a list come from a lifetime of catching, cooking, and eating fish from our waters. At some point in time, I’ve caught pretty much every freshwater fish that you can catch in Mississippi. I will admit that there are several species that I’ve caught that I dare not try and eat, but for good reason. An Asian Carp smells bad enough that I’m not sure I’d eat it if I were starving to death. Although, the argument could be made that eating something after it launched itself out of the water and hit you in the face would be showing it who the boss is, but I just can’t bring myself to eat something that slimy and disgusting. For the purpose of space and time, I’ll detail the top four fish to eat. And to build the anticipation, I’ll begin with the fourth best and work our way to the top.

Just missing the podium, and coming in at number four, is the bluegill (Lepomis macrochirus). This fish could have easily been number three on the list, but there are some factors that kept it at four. For starters, I’m generally a guy with a big appetite and you’ve got to eat a bunch of these jokers to fill up, so size more than taste keeps it where it is. On a positive note, bluegill has a really good taste to it. Sweet and flaky, these fish are best served breaded in cornmeal and hot right out of the grease. Most people that I know fry them whole. If you do this, make sure to watch out for little bones. Possibly the best thing about bluegill is they are generally the easiest to catch out of the fish on this list. So, load up the car and take the kids with you for a fun day and an easy meal.

Winning the bronze medal on the list, and don’t throw rocks at me, is the largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides). Do bluegill taste better than bass? Maybe, but it’s pretty close. The thing that makes the largemouth bass edge out the bluegill is the amount of meat and the ease of cleaning them. I HATE scaling fish and with the largemouth bass I can fillet the meat right off the skin. In my book that matters a lot, especially when the “feels like” temperature is ninety-six degrees at 10:00 at night and I don’t want to spend any more time cleaning fish than I have to. Plus, bass are more fun to catch than bluegill. It requires a little skill and patience and that helps put it on the podium, as well. And like bluegill, bass is best when fried, but it’s also not bad grilled, or blackened.

Our silver medal fish, and this was tough for me to not give the gold to, is the flathead catfish (Pylodictus olivaris). I have such a fond admiration for this fish. Of all the catfish in Mississippi, this one is certainly the gold standard for table fare. It’s mild taste and firm flesh make it the perfect fish for baptizing in peanut oil before stuffing your face with as much as you can handle. The best way to catch these delicacies is with live bait, something else that makes them appealing. However, my favorite way to catch flatheads is with my hands. Pulling a thirty plus pound fish out of a hollow log in the river will get your blood pumping! Mississippi is the catfish capital of the world, and the flathead is the king of the catfish.

 And finally, the gold medal fish to consume in the state of Mississippi is the crappie. We have two kinds: Black Crappie (Pomoxis nigromaculatus) and White Crappie (Pomoxis annularis) and they are both delicious. In the deeper southern portion of the state and into Louisiana, they are often referred to a “sac-a-lait”, a name given for their sweet taste. If you’re going to invite your brother-in-law over for a fish fry, you cook bass or bluegill. If you’re inviting the President over for a fish fry, you cook crappie. This sweet tasting fish is fun to catch, easy to fillet, and will make your tongue slap your brains out. Lathered in cornmeal and bathed in peanut oil, there’s truly nothing better. 

That’s it. That’s the list. The only thing left is to get out on the water and catch ‘em. And it’s not like you’ve got anything better to do this time of the year unless your hobbies are burning ants with a magnifying glass and frying eggs on the hood of your car. I heard a song once that said it was “too hot to fish.” That guy must have never eaten flatheads and crappie because it’s never too hot to fish.