Agree with you on Brown Trout. In Mi Browns have been directly linked to reducing populations of the native Brook trout and was a part of the extinction of the arctic Grayling in Mi. There have been several attempts to reintroduce arctic Grayling but studies are showing they need streams where brown trout aren’t.

Hey Ben! Great video! Try this carp recipe. Take an oak limb and carp fillets. Season with garlic salt and pepper. Wrap the limb and fillets in banana leaves. Bake at 350° for an hour. Remove from oven. Throw away the banana leaves and carp fillets and eat the oak limb!

Love the conservation ethic. Need more voices saying this stuff in the flyfishing world!

"they fight pretty good for a trout..." So much shade, I love it. After a few years away from fishing this past summer I took two trips to CO and NM and caught dozens of Rainbows, Browns and Cut Throats and that has reignited my interest in fishing. A few summers ago we targeted gar with the mentioned rope flies and Clousers with small sharp hooks and a 36" gar hooked and tail walking on the surface of the water is spectacular!

I think the overall appreciation for the natural eco system is the most refreshing part of the Chanel. Native species don't get enough love and this Chanel has helped me to value the entire spectrum of fishing opportunities available as a fly fisherman. Stay huge 😉👍🏻

Glad to see you include the ladyfish. They’ve saved plenty of bad days, they jump like crazy, fight well on fly, and if you let them jump enough boatside, they’ll often release themselves

Ganoid scales are a type of fish scale that are characterized by their hard, bony structure and protective properties. These scales are found on a variety of fish species, including sturgeons, paddlefish, and gar, and have been used for a wide range of purposes throughout history. One of the most notable characteristics of ganoid scales is their hard, bony structure. These scales are made up of a layer of ganoin, which is a type of enamel-like substance that is extremely hard and durable. This makes ganoid scales highly resistant to damage and abrasion, making them well-suited for protection against predators and other environmental hazards. In addition to their protective properties, ganoid scales also have a number of other uses. Historically, ganoid scales have been used for a wide range of purposes, including as a source of food, as a material for tools and weapons, and as a decorative element in jewelry and other decorative items. Today, ganoid scales are still used for a variety of purposes, including as a source of fish meal and fish oil, as well as for use in the manufacture of cosmetics and other products. Despite their many uses, however, ganoid scales are not without their drawbacks. One of the main challenges associated with ganoid scales is that they can be difficult to process and prepare for use. This is due to their hard, bony structure, which can make them difficult to cut and shape. Additionally, ganoid scales can also be difficult to remove from the fish, which can make them less appealing to consumers. Despite these challenges, however, ganoid scales continue to be an important resource for a wide range of industries and applications. With their unique properties and wide range of uses, ganoid scales are sure to remain an important part of our world for many years to come. In conclusion, ganoid scales are unique type of fish scales that characterized by their hard and bony structure. These scales are found in a variety of fish species and have been used for a wide range of purposes throughout history, including as a source of food, as a material for tools and weapons, and as a decorative element in jewelry and other decorative items. However, ganoid scales can be difficult to process and prepare for use and removing them from the fish can be difficult. Despite these challenges, ganoid scales continue to be an important resource for a wide range of industries and applications.

I'm pretty open to trying new fish. Tried Gaftop one time because I heard it was ok. We fried it side by side with reds, trout, flounder, and sheepshead. The Gaftop surprisingly came out the best! They were too slimy to put in the boat, hung them over the side in the water, but when I went to filet them the slime went away quick. Easy filet good tasting fish. Give it a shot.

May be my favorite Huge video ever. I have this argument with people all the time here in the midwest. You can catch nearly anything with a fly rod and it's always, dare I say, HUGE!!!

Awesome rant! Another great "trash fish" in New England are chain pickerel. Yes, the have bones and are smaller than northern pike, but the hit flies with true bad intent and jump on the fly rod. They will even tow a small boat. Try it sonr time.

I was heavily involved in TU in WA and it was all about native fish. Then I moved to CO and this brown trout fandom gave me some serious whiplash. Thanks for calling it out! And let's go Cutties 😜

Great video. Totally agree regarding the browns. Lots of Brook trout streams in my area (nj) are becoming overrun with browns. Thankfully there are places with barriers like waterfalls which protect the brookies but it’s really sad to see in general.

I like pike. They have a unique way of fighting. They can get really big up here in Canada. They are a little tricky to clean.

Well said on the brown trout part. I’ve always felt like this and I’m usually the minority of mindset when it comes to them which is crazyyyyy

You nailed it at the end with the native to non native battle 👏

There are a lot of streams and rivers here in Oregon where there is no size limit or retention limit on brown trout. Same is true about brook trout. Not only cutthroat, but also bull trout have a hard time competing with browns and brookies.

Great video Ben. I'm a fan of catching red horse suckers here in NC. We catch a lot of creek clubs too.

Most of my fishing trips are limited to a few hours on a local river running through town. Tons of white fish, peamouth and chisel mouths that I've learned to appreciate catching.

Along with brown trout, i’d also like to add lake trout to the list of trash fish, since they are directly responsible for the extirpation of the Sunapee Golden Trout (arctic char subspecies) from New England

I want to hear more conservation speeches from you Ben, always love them

Finally! Someone says the quiet part out loud! Dang Browns…

Well said, Unfortunately, part of the problem with cutthroat management is that they require colder, cleaner water than browns and bows and in this day of warming temps and poor flow management the non natives are more hardy.

Best video to date (imo) Thanks for highlighting the intrinsic value of native fishes

Great video Ben!! More attention to protecting our native fishes are always needed!

Love the topic of this video man. In my area the non native trout get all of the money and enforcement from the DNR and our native river smallmouth, largemouth,suckers,gar,walleye etc are an after thought.

Biggest fresh water fish to this day that I've caught was a bowfin. It was about 11 pounds and I caught it on a white beetlespin lure on 8 pound line when I was a kid. Still remember my older brother being afraid to pick it up to put it back in the water lol

Hey Ben (or anyone else)... any clue how bad runoff from treated lawns affects aquatic insects? Some of the local parks in my area have trout streams that run through them, and I've spotted pesticide application warning signs. I'd like to to work with TU to see if we can get DNR/parkmanagement to ban their use.

Probably my favorite video on KZfaq you hit the nail on the head at the end I love sucker fishing in the summer when it crap weather for trout here. my friends laugh but most of the suckers I've caught that are 16 inches put up better fights than a 22 inch brown now hook into a greater redhorse on a six weight and tell me you don't like sucker fishing anymore lol and best part is most of these fish are in your local creeks and rivers closer to home than those overpopulated trout creeks.

Great video Ben! Learned a lot. Btw, those saltwater catfish do make for good fish tacos. Plus, the keep the kids catching fish all day!

The other complication around carp is they’re bony. Their pin bone branch like tree limbs. As for the flavor, ikijime help with the flavor Edit: odd stance on carp at the end. Much of the hate is related to them being an invasive species.

Let’s not forget, common carp were brought to North America as a food fish, public opinion just changed on them and now luckily it’s going back the other way

I started tying trout flies in 1963, so my knowledge of 'trash fish' is extant at age 73. Carp sort of fall into a slot that classifies carp in different ways depending on your location on this planet. In Montana a carp doesn't count.

Love this video. I love your comments on protecting the native fish! Also, I love Whitefish and Pike Minnows, I've caught both in the Boise River multiple times.

Great points Ben. And yes let’s bring back native brook trout streams. As a PA angler I’d rather catch a bunch of small Brookies than trophy browns.

Love this guy. Even when he has a rant it doesn't seem like he's having a rant!

Ben, I'm echoing here, but well said on the Brown Trout. I live in CT and have land in WY. In CT our native trout is the Brook Trout but all you here is Brown, Brown, Brown....watch for the Reds! Last May I fished the Firehole River in West Yellowstone. I killed it on soft hackle, but not one Yellowstone Cutthroat. That left an empty space on a awesome trip. Great video.

You missed a good one.. The Freshwater drum aka Gaspergoo.. super fun to say and catch .. and they get BIG!

That was a fun education with a powerful statement about native fish. Here in western MA we see carp in the clear, fast running water of the Housatonic all the time. Of course, they are in the slow muddy parts, too, but I can catch a carp, smallmouth, or trout without taking a step.

One of my favorite things about fly fishing for carp is places I go they're not often all that pressured compared to a trout stream. Sure you go to the South Platte in Denver and you'll run into other fishermen but there are a lot of other places that have great carp fishing if you're willing to explore a bit.

This is the first video I've seen of yours. Solid conservation and appreciation of native species here. Subbed!

Northern Pikeminnow are an interesting one for sure. The elevated water table due to a number of dams on the Columbia river has created a ton of habitat for NPM that wasn't historically there. It's not trying to rid the watershed of them, more trying to manage the population for the reason you mentioned, salmon and steelhead.

Suckers fight like crazy! I got one in a true native species lake that also had brookies, lakers, and whitefish. Hands down the sucker fought harder then all the 4lb brookies, and lake trout! Fallfish and chubs also saved me from a skunk numerous times when I first got into fly fishing. I wished they were trout, but wasn’t upset at all to catch any fish. Some of the fallfish that get into the upper teens can also put up a heck of a fight on a 5w.

Great Video. I love fishing for Carp and as you said they do not taste good but you need to catch them from the right lake or river because unfortunately he in the US they usually taste bad. It took me over a year to find a perfect spot to get a tasty Carp. I'm going there every time I want to eat one. You might wonna know the way that we clean it and cook it also. I bit you will love it.

Super interesting video…love it! Caught a dog fish once and it freaked me out. Had no idea what it was. Northern pike on top water flies is a blast!

My first big freshwater fish was a northern hog sucker in a North Carolina creek. My grandpa and I spotted it and watched it from the back porch, then decided to go after it with a Zebco setup and a piece of hot dog for bait. I was probably 9 years old, and it was epic. Pop stood on a high rock while I snuck in close. He directed my cast and the hook set. We landed that fish, got a picture, and let it go. Totally unorthodox stream fishing, but an experience I’ll never forget.

great description for the Pike up here in Wisconsin. However, I will say that I dont' mind catching Pike when I'm ice fishing. Decent eating too if you filet them right

tbh lady fish are fun to catch, any piers in texas that are off rocks i fish at with a small or medium size spoon and the lady fish are pretty big size, bigger than most rainbow trout i’ve seen

Hello Ben. I enjoy your videos and sense of humor. We have what are called squaw fish in the Sacramento area, which I understand are Northern Pike Minnows. Fun to catch, but I’d take a steelhead any day. Stay Huge!

great video ben. i'm with you 100% ... on the imperial measurement system. metric all the way. cheers!

As an Australian, most of the fish you showed were new to me. We don't have a lot of fresh water, so not a lot of variety in fresh water fish, at least ones more than 3 inches long. Australians mostly share your thoughts on native fish deserving ultimate respect, but they also get excited about brown trout. Thanks for the awesome vid.

Agree completely about the native fish! Thanks again for an awesome vid!

My grandfather was an excellent (professional) cook. He used to cook carp that we caught out of the Colorado River. I didn't know how he did it but they tasted great.

I love sucker fishing the streams here in Michigan. We get the hogs and common. Also smoked sucker is good. Somewhat challenging also.

I actually caught a channel cat this past summer. Surprised the hell out of me. I was throwing a meat whistle for smallmouth. When it took the fly I knew I had a bigger fish. I thought I had a carp until I got it close enough to net. I’ve been fly fishing around forty years, and that was a first for me. I’m surprised that you put brown trout on the list. One of the places I fish in Michigan is the first place they were stocked. It’s just outside of Baldwin Michigan. There is a plaque where they were stocked on the Baldwin River. The Baldwin flows into the Pere Marquette river, a Lake Michigan tributary. That is a beautiful area that screams you should be fishing here.

You are so correct about Brooke's. I live in the Pacific NorthWest. We have plenty of fish varieties here. When someone comes to visit and I mention Brooke's thier all about it.

More love for suckers! ❤

Loved fly fishing timberline rocky mountain lakes in Colorado. Little 6 to 8 inch brookies gutted and cooked whole in butter while back packing occupy a very special place in my memories

Your best video ever! Much respect to the native fish.

Thank You: Some of our supposed trash fish can be delicious. Pike are essential in gefilte fish--early spring they are very tasty, but get musty in hot weather (around here in Massachusetts anyway). Cooking Carp in Asian food - they taste great. I knew a guy that made great fish cakes from chub. White fish are good Deli fare. Here in eastern Mass real native brookies and even yellow perch are getting more & more decimated from stocked Bass and poor water management.

Thoroughly enjoyed your list👍Could not agree more on the conservation of native species topic - funny how that works Eh. Have caught Northern Hog Sucker BUT have yet to land a Bowfin yet. My first ocean catch was a Lady Fish - I was thrilled!

Ben, another great vid! Here in MN, we have some legislation in the works to start abolishing the rough fish terminologies from our fish management. I'm all for it too! Thanks for shedding some light on other worthy opponents!

A lot of these so-called "trash" fish make excellent table fare, including Brown trout, Northern Pike & Gar, to name a few. One man's trash is another man's treasure.

As a devoted trash fisher man, I really enjoyed this video. Just one suggestion based on your eating experience with carp. Try smoking it! It’s truly delicious-sort of a combo of ham and smoked salmon. I suggest hot smoking, as it makes the bones soft and edible.

"Look at those big beautiful carp lips!" Me: "...I should call her."

Totally agree. I caught a Redhorse once and that was a blast. Now I chase the trash fish like Quill Back, Buffalo, and love the spiny heads chubs. One thing though, the rope flies are really bad for the Gar and I have no issue catching them on hooks. I don't understand the whole rope fly thing, it's stupid. Great video, thanks!

look for catching northern hog nose suckers during spawning season in the ozarks around lake taneycomo, tablerock and bull shoals, when they spaw in the spring you can snag them in the rivers and streams on a "bottlehook" limit is 20 per trip, and possession limit is 200. makes an amazing fish fry, descale and score.

There are groups out there working to protect and restore native fish populations. Native Fish Coalition is one here on the East Coast. Started by Bob Mallard in Maine in 2017 and now has chapters in almost all of the East Coast states. We love our trash fish at NFC.

It kinda cracks me up how you talked way down on browns but built up carp. I mean both native to the same countries, both introduced to north America and both liquid gold imo. Really enjoyed the video!

Your sounding more and more like a trout unlimited guy! I’m planning on volunteering for a dam removal project this summer myself!

In Utah there are a lot of hybrid fish Tiger Trout, Tiger Muskie, Wiper. Hatchery fish but are big and a good time. There are no bad fish on a fly rod.

Smoked Silver and Bighead carp are actually decent to eat. Only catch is it will either be a snag or a bow for the bighead as they are filter feeders.

Hey Ben, hope all is good with you and the family. Last year I accidentally hooked into a catfish. With my 3wt. it was on like a pot of neck bones! It was close to the house the biggest was maybe 3-4 lbs. But I took my 6wt. With a 10lb. Bass tippet and they broke me off. It was a good 30sec of fun. Stay huge 👍

Always get a chuckle out of people that think pike are trash. If you know how to properly clean them to get the bones out, they're one of the tastiest fish out there.

Sight fishing carp is one of my absolute favorite ways to fish. I live in the great lakes and have plenty of options, but I'll take carp over trout or even bass on a lot of occasions because the challenge is real and that makes the reward that much sweeter. Plus they pull like a damn truck! And the flies they like is a nice change of pace from the usual stuff I tie for bass, trout and salmon, etc. I can almost pretend I'm a salt water angler. 😂 Stay huge!

Awesome video! I totally agree with brown trout being trash fish in North America, we’re i live in southern bc there aren’t many.

Hey Ben I know you have a fisheries science background as well so I know you might be interested but even if someone didn’t go to school for it there’s a pretty neat book called artifishal: how the rainbow trout beguiled america. I’d recommend it to anyone who’s interested in native trout conservation

here in north Carolina we who eat suckers because the rib bones are like needles we clean suckers ,cut in sections and pressure cook meat and bones like canned mackerel. then make fish cakes. sometimes I pressure can fish. my personal recipe for sucker works with any fish. I use leftover taters or instant taters cooked,cooled, equal amount of taters and fish working it together where I holds together and form fish cake.spreads mixture out on counter.add on top green,yellow, red bell pepper cut fine. Cajun spices to taste one third can

Perfect example is the 97% decrease in native Arctic grayling and cutthroat in Montanas Missouri River do to stocking of nonnative trout. It’s gut wrenching to see such a drop in our native species and a lot of people continually support the invasive over the natives.

Okay what kind of fly lures should I try for carp? I have massive common Carp by me and I got fly rod for Christmas.

I use the Iowa carp for cut bait. I’m all about keeping it native.

Caught 12 to 14 pumpkin seeds or "pond perch" in under an hour on a Maryland stream close to Baltimore on a chunky hopper and had a blast... after catching one 9 inch wild brown trout the weekend before on a "blue ribbon" trout stream... which day do you think was more fun

I fell in love with carp. Use to hate them. Now I couldn't be happier to just go carp fishing.

The end of this was 100% so spot on!!!

It’s great to see content like this! I thought I was alone in targeting the “non-game” fish

Mountain whitefish are one of the finest smoked fish. I grew up in CO and we used to fish the CO River by Glenwood Springs specifically for them. Back then there was no limit and we tried to take 100 or so for the smoker. They really are outstanding when smoked right. Not very goof any other way due to mushy meat and bones but smoked makes all the difference.

Let’s go Pikeminnow!! Hope to see more of them!!

I prefer the roundtail chub. it is native to our waters, as are trout, come to the fly and are good fighters. The correct way to cook a carp is to place the carp on a cedar shingle, place it on a bed of glowing coals until golden brown, then throw away the carp and eat the shingle.

Good video. Bowfin are fun to catch.

Good video and no script! Just curious, no beer…dry January?

We eat yellow and hog sucker here in Missouri if you score them to break up all the little bones they're very good eating I rank them somewhere between walleye and crappie taste wise. Pretty much every weekend 4 guys in one boat can gig enough to feed 15-20 people in a couple hours.

Gafftop catfish are excellent for ceviche. It is a very firm clean white meat. Yes they suck to clean but it is worth it when you get one in the 3-5lb range.

Gaftop sail catfish are actually pretty good to eat, similar to channel or blue cats. Hard heads at a little softer meat and do require some dressing up for the dinner plate…and they are annoying to catch. But don’t write them off, they can all be reasonable table fare with the right Cajun seasoning mix!

Salt cats and lady fish are both delicious plus gaftops and lady fish fight great

Carpsucker is one of the best eating fish. If anyone could pick the small bones off 😢 but regarding the taste it’s the best.

My favorite trash fish was a creek chub in a small, small river in CT

Brined and smoked carp is pretty tasty. It's the same way kippers are made. Canned in jars, all the bones dissolve.

Always enjoy Mr. Huge. Hate carp, caught a tone of those pigs when I was a teenager and young kid. they taste awful but they do put up a good fight. I'm with you on whitefish, they are native and belong right in those mountain streams. BTW, they are great brined and smoked 👍👍

Suckers are crazy fn,,,,,, and taste pretty decent too. here I live here inn Canada, We catch 20-30" redhorse sucker all the time, and often find ourselves the only anglers for miles (Km for us of course) as the stretch of river was ostly sucker and that turns off so many anglers.

OMG you have fished in Cayo Coco/Cayo Guillermo Cuba too? I fish there annually and it's insane.

100% agree about brown trout!!! I’m from Utah I get so sick of only catching browns on the popular rivers here