Down here in the marshes it's hard to find slabs big enough to fillet. I like to scale, cut the heads off right behind the gills and clean out the body cavity. I then take my knife and cut on both sides of the dorsal on the shoulders down to the rib cage. Next is to dust in corn flour and seasoning and fry. On some of the larger fish I will do as Craztboutcrapie mentioned, fillet one side and fry the rest on the bone, especially when I have some of the little ones to share the meal with.

On the bluegills and other perch, I scale them, stand them belly up on the cleaning board, using my electric knife I cut right behind the vent all the way to the backbone then turn the blades toward the front of the fish and cut the rib cage off up to the head and then cut through the backbone and off with the head. This leaves only the main bones to worry about and the fins, which are meant to be eaten. I also slice down on each side of the dorsal fin.
"gene"