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Well I went out for the first time in years and fished Bluegill... I have to say I had fun. I sat on the bank about 8 feet from a bluegill bed, and hammered them.
I hate to say this on here, but my wife did bring in more than I did....:(
I ended up just scaleing them and cutting the heads off. How do you clean them. I tried to fillet them but it was just more of a pain in the butt....
Looking for ideas cause I am going out again...Tonight
gut them and cook them whole! :p your just eating the meat anyways...
I guess you fry them??? That is what I was going to do tonight...
yeah, fried, or just cut the heads off like you said, clean out the guts then fry them whole either way has worked for me
Scale....remove head & guts.....salt & pepper....shake in cornmeal.....fry in hot peanut oil.....eat until you're miserable.....then go get some more tonight and start all over again.
what about the dorsal fins? Just leave them on there, eat around them?
I almost alway's fillet mine,BUT,I occasionally keep some small one's and do like you said.I will cut down each side of the dorsal fin just enough to break the skin,when you fry them it's easier to bust them open and flick the bone's out from the inside with a fork.That's the way my great uncle taught me year's ago.Also alot of people think the tail fin fried crunchy is the best part.I usuall do this to remember him a few time's a year.
Sorry I did'nt state,Leave the dorsal fin on.
If you don't like the dorsal fin on the fish when frying, just get a catfish skinning pliers for a couple of dollars at walmart and use them to remove the fins. They work great. Clamp down on the dorsal fin just below the skin and pull. The bones and fins will come right out. You will have to do it two or three times to get all the fin off. Your left with a really nice clean looking fish. It helps to start at the front adn work to the back, pulling slightly backward as you go. This works well with all small panfish and bass, even trout......Anything you want to fry or smoke whole.
I fillet the ones I catch,
fillet here also helps if you have something good to hold them with and a deathly sharp where just looking at it makes you nervous and i have the same problem my girlfriend has been out fishing me on bluegill and all she will use is pink trout magnents tiped with waxies spikes or night crawler piecies not only does the girl catch many more than me her fish are generally bigger i cant not take her or i definately wouldnt see as many fish in my skillet or bait tank
I fillet mine with an electric knife.
I caught 57 last night and it took me just under an hour to fillet them all.
Sometimes I will scrape a few to bake or throw on the grille, but if I am going to fry them, filleting is the only way to go. Gets you miserable faster :)
Besides, if I would have been scraping and gutting, I would have been up all night cleaning fish.
Oscar
I Have A Buddy That Loves To Fry Them Up Real Crispy And Eat The Finns And Tails.
My kids love the tails. They are like chips to them.
I'm sort of split on it... Growing up, I learned to scale it, cut the head off, gut it and remove the dorsal and anal fins (using the above-mentioned skinning pliers. To cook them we simply would roll them in a mixture of flour and salt & pepper, then pan fry in butter.
Delicious, and the "potato chip" tails are great.
Nowadays, I don't care for the mess I get when I scale them, and I can fillet them a whole lot faster than scaling. When you've got anything over 10 fish to clean, faster is better, so, when it comes to all panfish (bream, perch, crappie), I fillet everything.
i prefer the "cut n gut" method" but the wife insists i fillet them, its a pita but keeps her happy and keeps me fishin!!!:)
fillet and skin,,required by wife and kids:eek:, oh well gotta love em anyways
Quote:
Originally Posted by tnjeff
me too, pretty easy when you get the hang of workin w/ smaller fish
I've pretty much started just keeping filleting sized crappie but with bream I DEFINITELY use my Rocket fish basket you pull behind the boat. I keep 'em hand sized or better and we love 'em on the bone. I'd probably waste too much trying to fillet fish no bigger than your hand anyway.
Doe's that basket really work gabowman? I have been wanting one for a while now but I did'nt actually know if it would work.I hate to give 50 buck's for something I have'nt tried or seen work.
keep fillet'n em, just takes practice.
After scaling them leave the head on and then fillet them. I don't find them a problem or any fish for that matter, I fillet everything I keep except trout.
i filet them also.
You'd be very hard pressed to find one new for $50 nowadays. Last I heard someone found them for close to $90. Heck, my wife paid $25 for mine and that was about 25 years ago. And yes....they work great. Just rinse off the lake water and throw 'em in the meal. You cannot clean 'em any better than the basket has gotten them.Quote:
Originally Posted by Slipped Cork
Ebay has a listing for the Rock-It. 39.99 + shippingQuote:
Originally Posted by gabowman
Thank's bama,I'm off to e-bay.
After cutting the heads and scaling 20 more tonight I think I am going to Ebay myself.
Went out again forgot the worms for the wife so had to drive back home then drive back got to love that with gas these days... anyway got out there about 730 and had about 30 mins of light... I used a top water fly and hammered them fast... eveyone from different beds... 20 more in the freezer
with smaller sunfish i scale head and gut them, slice the meat a few time vertically and fry, eat one side grab thetail and if cooked right can lift the whole skeleton out and have a nice clean fillet.