Thread: Keeper Size?

if its the size of a grown mans hand, keep em. you dont have to fillet them. scale em, gut em, and cut the head off. soak in milk, dip in cornmeal, throw em in the grease and mmm mmm good.

I reckon for myself it's 7". In my first boat I fished quite a bit with my father-in-law. He had a heck of a time remembering what a keeper looked like so I painted on a little ruler on the gunnel for him. It went up to 18", but all it said below the 6" mark was, "NO WAY!" I ain't too selective, but I hate cleanin' a mess of little ones.

I've always wondered about other folks, but I dislike cleaning big bluegill, say those above 9". Just not slick at it the way I am for 7" & 8" fish. If theyr'e hittin' good sometimes I"ll just target the 7-8" for keeping and slide the bulls back into the water.

I keep hand size and up.

I got spoiled livin in FL and gettin a bunch that you couldn't get your hand around every trip, so I like fillet's. Never been much for pickin bones, but to each his own.

... on a old man I knew, when I was a kid. He didn't fish, but he'd take any size sunfish (as long as it had eyes & a tail, it was big enough for him )

He'd clean them itty bitty fish ... then put them in a grinder :p ... guess he made Panfish Patties out of them All I know is ... he'd never turn down a bucket full of finger length sunfish


I think the smallest sunfish I've ever cleaned & eaten .... I caught out of my Great Uncle's farm pond. Four to five inch Bluegills were "hogs" out of that pond :D ... and I did him a double favor by fishing for them, & catching and eating them --- I picked Potato Bugs out of his garden for bait, and helped thin out the overpopulated pond. I thought I was "some kinda fisherman" :D ... well, I thought so - until one day we walked a couple of miles to a neighbors pond (small lake). My uncle caught a Bluegill that was "humongus" :p ... seriously !! When it was cleaned (head off) and cooked ... it still covered a full size dinner plate Biggest Bluegill I'd ever seen ... heck, I didn't even know a Bluegill GOT that big :D


... cp

It's all personnal preference, I only keep what I will cook and clean. I usually will not keep anything smaller than 6". But to each his own.

I fillet all my fish and gills need to be bigger than my hand,about 8" or bigger.

I prefer them to be as big or bigger than my hand if I'm going to mess with cleanin them..

10 " Min. for me !

I prefer 8+ but will keep some smaller to fill the bucket