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hey guys, im planning on getting into this bluegill action pretty soon. i was wondering do you filet the bigger ones or is there not enough meat for fillets?also ive been crappie fishing and catch the occasional bluegill on minnows. do minnows work as well as worms? i know worms are more practical and easier just wondering if some of the spots i trie for crappie might hold more bluegill than ive seen so far.
I fillet every single bluegill regardless of size. I have found yellow grubs in gills so I make sure that I fillet them all so I can see them better.
I use a pointed blade on a Rapalla 12v-110v knife. Easily do 1 per minute and when I've got a good mess, quickly work up to 2 a minute.:D
I like the flavor of skin on gills, and have probably ate a lot of grubs when I was younger. BUT, now that I know, out they go.:D Mike
I fillet them all as well, and worms are probably the best bait I've ever used for the gills. Caught many a crappie on worms too, but they tend to like a longer piece of worm on a jighead, just experiment with the colors.
I fillet all mine too. I like to use a led head with red and white feathers with a bee moth.
good luck
Bill
I always fillet bream. Generally bream won't take a minnow but I have caught several bream on minnows. The best bait to use for bream are crickets. I only keep bream about 7-8 inches or longer so the tons of smaller bream can grow.
Zappaf19, I am very much a fan of 1/80 oz. Grizzly jigs and also tie my own jigs. The red-white combo is one that I don't think that I have tried, but will make up some for the spring bite. Thank You , Mike
bama647... If I do catch a bream on a minnow, it's a pretty good size one...Seams like the small ones just peck at your minnow....But I do fillet them all...To me it's just easier to go ahead and get rid of all the bones...I just use worms that I get out of the garden...
your right crappiequeen now that i think about it all the ones i caught were good size. silly me was throwin back too. i wont no more since i know how good they would good with a mess of crappie. good to see you on here hope your feeling better.
I usually fillet them, too. We do most of our bluegill catching on a dark jighead tipped with a waxie or mealworm. A weighted fly also works. They're good eating - second only to the walleye family - Roberta
I fillet em all! The little uns' we use as cajun popcorn:)
I usually fillet them and I prefer plastics over minners, worms, grubs, or crickets:)
i deep fry mine whole.just cut off the head,fins, and scale em. i leave the tails and eat them to.i useally have my best luck on worms.
Hello bama647,
Well I have to agree with several of the other replies in that fillets are the way to go. Once you have the proper knife, and a very fine edge on that knife, you will lose very little meat and you will avoid all grubs and other bad spots that may not be seen when scaling and gutting a panfish. Once filleted
they can be baked, fried, steamed, or whatever you can think of to prepare them.
As far as bait goes the choices are almost endless. Worms will generally catch greater numbers of fish but various lures and other live bait often catch the true slab gills. I really like to use small to medium live leeches on a 1/32-1/80 oz. tear drop. The leeches tend to stay on the hook when the little pans are pecking at it but they get inhaled by those slabs in the 9-12 inch range.
I also like to use 1/32 - 1/80 oz jigs with a 1 1/8 inch micro shad or one of the many micro sized twister tail grub bodies.
Good luck and keep that pan hot