Best way to cook small bream? (amateur fish fyrer)

I killed the bream today at my in-law's pond and kept them because not a lot of fish have been harvested there. Kept a couple 12 inch bass as well. The bream are the smallest fish I've ever kept that I planned on eating. (never eaten them either, just heard they were good from you guys!)

Any tips for this amateur fish fryer would be great. I've got some crappie & sand bass already in the freezer & I'll be headed back from Texoma with a ton of striper to cook. Now there's some bream to add to the mix and I'm almost ready for my first fish fry!

Let me know if you have any tips. Thanks

If they're small, scale, head and gut them and fry whole, making sure to get the inside of the stomach coated with the fish mix...

I prefer to fillet bream. Just lay the bream flat, cut behind the gill and cut until you feel the backbone. Then take your knife and ride the backbone and stop short of the tail. Flip over the piece you just cut and cut into the meat until you get to the skin. Then ride your knife along the skin until you cut the meat off. Do the other side of the fish the same way. You will ruin a few fish trying to get the hang of this but trust me this way is better in the longrun because you get all of the guts out and most of the bones. There will be a couple of bones but they will be noticed when you get ready to eat.

Now for frying I really like Bass Pro's Uncle Buck's Light & Crispy fishmeal. A lot of people swear by House of Autry(it is good) but just get the fishmeal of your choice. Mix an egg and milk in a bowl. Take your fillets and drop them in the milk/egg mix so the fishmeal will stick better. Roll the fillets in fishmeal. Heat the oil in your deep fryer to 350* and drop the fillets in. Usually when the fillets are done they will float. If they don't float in 3 minutes, dip them out and check them. If they are golden browm like fried chicken, they're done.

Smaller pan fish we always fry whole , and ALL the "ole timers" myself included ( 43) will eat the whole fried before the fillets every time !!! esp if it isnt many whole small ones in the pan!!

We always mix 1/2 flour 1/2 corn mill ,salt & pepper to taste & drop in 250 - 300 temp grease ( not as hot as SOME folks like to fry ) but to each thier own, neither way is wrong , I just think @ over 300 you can scorch ya grease making it worthless alot easier at higher temps AND I use cheaper Oil too not high priced P Nut Oil ok NOW yall call me cheap lol !!

Turkey foot,

What's the smallest size you keep to fillet?

Allen,

Any websites with good instructions on scaling & gutting? Never done it.

thanks

Big Bear
Usually the bream are at least 7" long. As a general rule you can see if the fish is as long as your hand or longer to determine if it's worth cutting up. I have bigger hands than most people I know but if the fish is at least 7 inches long then it is worth cutting up.

Hope this helps

It is simple scale them cut out corsel fin leave the tail on (it is nothing like a good piece of tail)left on a fish fried crispy.

mikeg

Tried a new way today a man told me about, scale the crappie gut it and cut the head tail and fins off, then run the fish throu a meat grinder and it come out a mush mix cornmeal with flour add season salt and pepper and roll the mush into a ball and put in into a fry dady of grease they taste great

hmmm.....this sounds like something that my husband and want to do with all of those dang small bream we catch. he wants to can them though. how do you think frozen fish mush will keep? or frozen fish mush balls (as per your recipe)?

did the grinding get rid of the bones? (or at least smush to smithereens!?)