You Ever Eat Buffalo?

[1morethan8]

I'm not taking about the four-legged kind..
The one I'm talking about is the fish.

Every year during the month of April, we have a "buffalo run".
This fish is called the Smallmouth Buffalo and many can be 30 pounds or greater. They move up the Hiwassee and make a right turn into the Ocoee River which isn't as deep or as fast as the Hiwassee and spawn up river to the Ocoee #1 powerhouse.

My son has bow fished during this time.. he told me he has never eaten one. I've had a few friends(black folk) tell me that they are the best eating that's in the water! That the meat is best around the backbone because they have floating bones in the rest of the fish.

This would be an outstanding place to take young kids to let them catch 30 pounders!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1UMLlIHgUY

 

[6518John]

Buffalo Ribs at the Lassis Inn in Little Rock, AR--a meal fit for a king!
Film Bites: Fish Ribs | Your Hub for Southern Culture

 

[model70hunter]

I have but it's been a longtime ago.

Buffalo Fish Recipes - Fantastic Food From Freshwater Fishing

 

[hoc9sw]

In all my trips to Little Rock, never heard of the Lassis Inn. Looks like it is just off I-30. Will have to research it next trip through.

 

[mc5aw]

Nope, but I've driven through a couple times. Not to my tastes.

 

[geddylee10002000]

Yes. A friend of mine smokes Buffalo. Yummy. Combine it with cream cheese and it makes a excellent spread for bagels. Not quite as good as wild caught smoked salmon but close.

 

[Fishslayer]

Grandma made patties out of ground carp & they were delicious.

 

[lawandorder]

Take a gun, wear a vest.

 

[6518John]

In all my trips to Little Rock, never heard of the Lassis Inn. Looks like it is just off I-30. Will have to research it next trip through.

Unfortunately, some of Little Rock's best restaurants are in not so good areas--Lassis Inn (I-30), Homers (E. Roosevelt), all the Sims Barbecue locations (Barrow, Broadway, Geyer Springs) but I have eaten lunch at these places and worked downtown for 25 years and never had a problem.

 

[litenlarry]

Carp and buffalo, were not our favorites growin up..However, if you take the fish (still alive) and put it in some fresh water for a day or so, that will help cleanse the fish from mud..The fresh water will turn a murky brown..Thant's the way, old timers did it..Is it helpful ? Who knows..
My Grandmother would pressure cook the fish..Poor man's salmon patties..

 

[wbraswell]

My folks were fishermen, but we never ate the Buffalo, Carp, Grennel, Drum, or Mud Cats. We would give them away. We just ate the Crappie, Bream, Bass, and blue Catfish. I don't recall any other types in our lakes.

 

[Sawfish]

My folks were fishermen, but we never ate the Buffalo, Carp, Grennel, Drum, or Mud Cats. We would give them away. We just ate the Crappie, Bream, Bass, and blue Catfish. I don't recall any other types in our lakes.

We ate fried Buffalo ribs frequently. Never cared for the rest of the fish because of the butterfly bones. Grinnel, or Chopique in the deep South is good if the fish is very fresh. Chop off the tail, and hang them for the blood to drain. Fillet and fry with catfish, and it is hard to tell the difference.

Mud cat is just another name for bullhead. To get rid of the off taste of any fish caught in a grassy lake during the hot summer, soak the fillets for a couple of hours in enough water cover them, to which you have added a tablespoon of white vinegar. Freshens them right up!

All that being said, any of these species are way better than the snakes which seem to be the main fare on "Naked and Afraid".

 

[feralmerril]

Buffalo are part of the carp and sucker family. I was raised in central wisconsin where there were many carp and suckers. In 1962 I did a 6 month job with the state conservation department with the fisheries division. I worked as a grunt for the state biologists. Part of our job was rough fish removal. On some lakes we netted them out. They would end up as fertilizer on fields that were farms that the department owned.
They would run up creeks (wauka creek was one) from the fox river in spring. A big sport was bow fishing. Some people (Dad was big on it) spear them and smoke them. Dad was well known for doing a great job smoking them. Guys heard about him, would bring over a gunney sack full and try to get him smoke them on halfs. For the most part that took away from our fun of spearing them. Many people just from tradition wouldnt eat them. When they were still hot or warm from smoking I never tasted anything better. They tasted good for a couple days but after that I didnt like them much when they started to harden and dry out. I also believe "Sheephead" is also from the same family. When I was a kid if you caught one while fishing for something else we would stomp on their head and get the "Lucky stone". It looked like a small flat piece of flint with the letter "L" on every one of them. They were considered a no good fish and werent thrown back.
I Googled this about eating buffalo fish:
Why You Should Pass on the Buffalo Fish | Field & Stream

 

[1morethan8]

And this on Haff Disease..

"The 9 cases in Louisiana were associated with consumption of crawfish (also referred to as crayfish or crawdads)."

Haff Disease After Eating Salmon

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/566906

 

[litenlarry]

I am hearing of lake caught buffalo ,carp and yellow catfish..
The ones I have spoken of before were caught in a swift moving river, normally below a riffle..
In standing water, their taste might be totally different...

 

[tops]

My grandfather was into river carp fishing and we went about every day in the summer. I found the only way to eat carp is skin them and cut out the dark streak and discard and put some lemon juice on the meat while frying. We never tried it but it might be a good idea to soak in salt and vinegar water. They are not very good to eat but better than starving. There aren't any buffalo around here but do they have the dark streak like carp? Larry

 

[feralmerril]

Dad would cut them up and had a huge old stone anique 10 gallon crock pot he made a brine with, not sure but think he claimed to put salt in enough to float a potato. Think he used apple wood. He had a 50 gallon barrel that he cut a door in the bottom to fire things up with. I would just as soon eat his smoked carp still warm out of the smoker as I would eat expensive lobster or whatever. I couldnt stop eating them and then you would drink everything in site. Must have been the salt? When I worked on the dept we got a few carp over 40 pounds!

 

[Sawfish]

My grandfather was into river carp fishing and we went about every day in the summer. I found the only way to eat carp is skin them and cut out the dark streak and discard and put some lemon juice on the meat while frying. We never tried it but it might be a good idea to soak in salt and vinegar water. They are not very good to eat but better than starving. There aren't any buffalo around here but do they have the dark streak like carp? Larry

Not that I remember (it has been a while since I skinned one), but we usually just ate the ribs. We mostly got Buffalo in the Spring when they were spawning in the backwater. Never heard of anyone getting sick from eating them.