whats eating sized?

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Originally Posted by Illinoisgiller

sharpshooter, If you get fast at filleting, It really helps smaller waters to pull all the smaller and mid sized you can, I filleted 78 last night that most wouldn't mess with. At 2 per min. it don't take forever to have a nice mess of what I call "potatoe chip" fillets. They fry fast, taste great and will help the population size a bunch. Mike

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How do you fillet that fast? How many cuts do you make before you take the fillet all the way off?.. I'd like to fillet more of the mid size ones.

Not wanting to hijack the eating size intent of the thread ,but I think it is very realitive to the size panfish kept. I'll have to get with my buddy and make a video somehow to add. A friend phone videoed me without me knowing it and I done a couple decent sized ones at 24 seconds each. I use a Rapala 12v 110v electric. I run it on a 12v cycle battery. Use the 6" blades . Ist cut behind the head,(just touch it, don't push down on the backbone) turn and slice fillet completly off. Flip and repeat other side. discard filleted body w/ knife tip to side. Take fillet w/skin and face large end of ribs toward you. Place the knife edge at the tip just under the ribs and keep knife edge against them and just flip it out. Turn fillet w/skin with tail facing you and fillet the skin off. Flip skin aside and repeat w/ other fillet. I am right handed and consider 3 center fingernails on my left hand as valuable tools. When I break a nail at 66 yrs old you would think it was a model's problem.lol If you eat your nails you ate your tools and this easy system won't work . I have a few friends working on filleting this way and they are picking up speed pretty fast.
Nails are needed for holding the filleted side for rib removal and skin tip for removing meat.
Think small-- Small fish are harder to fillet. When you can fillet a 3 1/2" or 4" bluegill, and the unuseable micro-meat looks proper shape then you have arrived and "keepers" will be a breeze [Start slow, work your way up to speed]
I'll be working on a video. Mike

so far the only bluegills i have caught have been 5 inches long. so i guess either this year i will get into the larger fish or ill learn to fillet tiny fish.

Mike, hard to have nails when you are a Cardinals fan and they lose in the last 2 innings of every game:D I'll work on them.

Thanks for the tips, I am going to try this Saturday.

These gas Gods are sure changing things in a hurry.:mad: Wasn't that long ago that I would just say-
"Line up a pond or something and I'll come down for a day of fishin and filleting" It is so much easier than I make it sound.
Not an activist, but if fishing beds on a pond, I let the biggest males go back. Fillet the next year class
Mike

Sharpshooter I have filleted a bunch of 5in gill's in my time.They have a sweeter taste I think than the larger one's.They are easy to fillet but dont produce alot of meat.I can only eat 4 or five big gill's at a time and I can eat about 7 small one's.I dont use a electric knife but I think a 5in gill would be hard to fillet with one.

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Originally Posted by sharpshooter223

so for all you people down south with better warmwater than me, what do you consider eating sized fish and how do you cook the smaller ones.

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my grandma's name was ruby, and be use the "RUBY RULE" when it comes to keeping bream. her rule was if it had two eyes, it was big enough to keep.

and i'd like to add something to the mix. i cut my teeth on bream fishing and me and my pa have caught some huge bream in our day. but we "scale" all of our bream, it seems that if we filet them, we waste so much meat. but here is ouir trick. after we scale them and cut off their heads, we "skin" them. we take a small paring knife and cut on both sides of the fins on the top and bottom of the fish, then take a pair of catfish skinners and skin them like a catfish. you cannot skin them if their scales are on (we've tried with no luck). then we take the skinners and pull out the top and bottom fins. so you end up with a bream, no skin and no fins. they are so much tastier and the cornmeal sticks to the meat much better than it sticks to the skin.

i have not eaten bream skin in about 30 years. this process takes a little longer to do, but if yoiu have ever eaten a skinned bream, you will be a believer.

doc :)

Doc, i dont see a diffrence in skinning your way or filleting and removing the skin without scaling.:confused:

8+ inches where I am.

Doc you would starve to death trying to eat what I leave after filleting.It seem's like you go through alot of trouble cleaning your fish to me but that's the way you do it and I respect that.