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

[jjue1979]

I definitely eat my fish; it is a mixture of fresh catch and pulling some out of the freezer. These days I don't keep as many whole fish in the freezer because the kids prefer fillets, although my wife and I do like to have some whole ones fresh because it tastes better, especially dishes where the fish is not battered and deep fried. We do keep enough stock in the freezer for a small fish fry or to give to a relative, but my oldest fish is currently from February--after cooking a few lbs of fillets for my dad's birthday party, my oldest fish will probably be April.

Generally, a 9" crappie makes a reasonable fillet, although I tend to go from 10" and bigger unless it is a rough day and my wife insists on fresh fish for dinner--definitely not smaller than 8". 2+lb crappie are definitely scaled and cooked whole; between 1-2lb can depend on the mood of what we feel like eating.

[CrappiePappy]

Whether or not a 9" Crappie has enough meat on it to bother with cleaning it is relative to the waters it came from. I've caught 9" Crappie that you could read a newspaper through from one lake, and on another lake they'd be thick as my thumb. Some lakes we have size limits, the shortest of which is 9" ... with other lakes being 10" minimum.

I've pretty much gotten into the habit of filleting all the fish I bring home, be they for me or family or friends. But, I was raised on scaled fish and that's the way they were cleaned up until I was in my 30's.

I go by Bill Dance's motto :
"Catch a lot of fish, keep what you can use and release the rest"

[wc870]

All my fish end up in someones belly wether fresh or frozen for a later date, NEVER dumped or wasted ever.

[DWILL]

If I bring it home, it gets cleaned and eaten. I keep fish in the freezer for times I don't get to go. I also give fish to family and friends. I have an elderly neighbor who can't go fishing as much now that I try to make sure has all he can eat.

[Spoonminnow]

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.

[6poundtest]

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.

[Happyfisherman]

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

[wc870]

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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[NIMROD]

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


Sent from my iPhone using Crappie.com

I bury a lot of carcasses in my garden when it is not planted.

[Central Minn]

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…