Thread: Question: Where do all those fish end up when numbers are caught?

I met one of my buddies coming off the lake and he said he prefers 10"+ crappie and seeing as how 10" is the legal size limit, so be it.
He fries his in olive oil after coating whole fillets in unseasoned bread crumbs or flour. Today he kept about (10) 11"-12" crappie and will cook them up for him and his mom.

He told me that the guy who had 24lbs of dead fish at the weigh-in, did take them home to clean and freeze. I know him and figured as much.

As said above, I've caught skinny 9" crappie, they go back; I've caught fat 9" crappie, they come home if I'm on a keeping trip. Lot of good eating on 9-10" crappie. Also as mentioned above, those skinnier fillets are good eats.
Can't really nail it down on a minimum length, really depends on how meaty they are on the shoulders but as WC870 said, if it comes home, it gets eaten by someone.
Best comment I've heard about big versus little was along the lines of: the only difference between a 7" bluegill and an 8" bluegill is 2 bites.

If you have a garden you can use the carcasses for fertilizer

Originally Posted by Happyfisherman

If you have a garden you can use the carcasses for fertilizer

Every year when I plant the garden a crappie carcass goes under each plant


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Ice fished in a couple of online tournaments this winter with the Fish Donkey App…Catch selfy Photo,Photo on bump board,Release video…If there wasn’t a release video the fish didn’t count.It was fun, both tournaments I fished were a month long, and were multi species…

Originally Posted by Spoonminnow

Oil and breading used? I've used Canola, Peanut and Vegetable and can't tell the difference. Dry Bread - photo below

Small bones no big thing? Filet, cut out the v shape rib cage and there is none.

Fish are scaled? Never

Time it takes to clean a 9" crappie? Electric filet knife and they all take the same time, actually a bigger fish would take longer by mere seconds

Never eaten one but catch a bunch! Eat Away

Our lake a keeper is 9" but you can keep 15 fish under 9" also.

[ 30 crappie per day can be harvested, with a maximum of 15 longer than nine inches ]

Originally Posted by keeferfish

MY answers in Red

Most tourneys I've fished will not weigh dead fish and at the very least have a penalty for dead fish. Also most states have laws against wanton waste.

Yes plenty of meat on a 9" crappie, I've even cleaned 8" crappie as long as you know how to clean fish I bet you could eat 7" crappie. A crappie is a sunfish so I assume you mean bluegill and perch and the answer to that is also yes.

Attachment 504731

Good comments, keefer. Only keep what you want for food.
Bob

Originally Posted by Spoonminnow

cleaned & filleted? I clean and fillet pretty much all legal panfish caught.

some eaten / some frozen? Occasionally we will eat right away but majority gets vacuum sealed into freezer

some given away? I have given some away but at least for my family and friends love to do a fish fry. So I stock some and then a couple times a year we will fry them up with some hushpuppies and everyone else brings a dish. This is what my grandfather did before he really can't fish on his own. It brought a lot of good

some or all dumped? I either release as soon as it is caught or if I only catch one or two I will sometimes release them. But they are alive when released. Never dump dead ones

Oil and breading used? Wifey likes for me to use peanut oil for health reasons but I don't know that big of a difference. We prefer to make our own then to get the processed ones. I really like to take a fillet, dip into hot sauce, then into white corn meal, then into fryer. We also really enjoy baked fish and I really like blackened fish from oven.

Small bones no big thing? I fillet with an electric fillet knife and make sure all the bones are out. All of my family prefer it this way.

Fish are scaled? I am not opposed to this to try but I don't do it.

Time it takes to clean a 9" crappie? I haven't timed it but with my electric fillet knife, I would guess maybe 30 seconds to fillet. Another 15 seconds to cut the ribcage out of the fillet and verify no bones

My club recently had a panfish tournament and most of the fish were dumped. One angler won with 24 lbs. and would have kept them alive for release after the weigh-in but his aerator didn't work. I doubt the majority of dead or dying fish were kept to eat? I couldn't say and I am not good enough to be in a tournament lol

My opinion about weighing fish in a competition is that unless anglers plan on keeping fish, fish should be released alive as much as possible and the only way to do that is with reduced creels and good aeration. Granted, most lakes have fish populations not dented by the bucket brigade, but the smaller the water, the more impact tournaments have due to delayed mortality and the reduction of quality fish. I agree

Off topic:
Is there enough meat on a 9" crappie or 5" sunfish to go to the trouble of filleting? I will! lol But I don't catch a limit even though I try!

What about all those bones? There are no bones.

Is the skin removed or the fish scaled? I remove the skin while filleting.
The reason I prefer catfish 1 lb or heavier is not having to worry about either. That makes sense but in my opinion, Walley, Sauger, and Panfish are the best tasting fish.

My answers are in orange because Go Vols! ha!