Gills

[Jeff]

i went and spent the afternoon with my Sister yesterday. 



 

 

 

 

[mike_belben]

Those goin in the frier or the garden jeff?

[Jeff]

GARDEN??? IS YOU CRAZY??

[WV Sawmiller]

   I'm drooling already. Bluegill is my favorite eating fish. Yummm! And ounce for ounce about the hardest fighting fish out there.

[Southside]

Something fishy about this story...

[mike_belben]

GARDEN??? IS YOU CRAZY??

No.  Well... Not about bluegill anyway.  Seems like trying to get the meat out of a hoof   

[Jeff]

No better fish to eat in my view are the fish of the sunfish family, and the best, the Bluegill.

[mike_belben]

Well.  I guess i will need a recipe then. 

[randy d]

My wife and i have eaten a lot of blue gill and crappie this summer and they are great eating. do you scale them or fillet them my mother had to have them scaled and whole i like them filleted. Good catch.  Randy

[BradMarks]

Probably no better fish to take kids to catch.  You're still a kid right? Great action.

[Jeff]

Still a kid.  I fillet and skin. Crappies get scaled and filleted.  

Im cooking so.e up in the airfryer for supper.   

Seasoned with Lowreys then dipped in flour, then egg, then panko bread crumbs. Sprayed with pam, 3.5 minutes in the air fryer, flip, swap trays, 3.5 minutes longer. Pics to come, unless my tummy gets its way, then there may be no time.

[Texas Ranger]

I have told this story before, had a great uncle that fished and kept everything, regardless of size.  On the tiny ones he would scale gut, cut the head off, and fry them.  Ate them like potato chips.  Never got used to it.

[Jeff]

 

 

 

 

[Old Greenhorn]

You're still a kid right? Great action.

Judging from that photo he looks like a skinny high school kid. Looking good man!

[WDH]

That is hard to beat.  

Mike, for those that don't like to fool with the bones, one way is to bake the whole cleaned fish in the oven until just cooked enough for the meat to flake.  That them out and take all the meat off the bones and discard the bones.  To the meat, add some finely diced onion, finely diced green pepper, an egg, and bread crumbs and mix thoroughly and make patties or cakes like you do with canned salmon.  Then, saute the fish cakes in some butter or olive oil.  

[KEC]

I'd be willing to sample any of the fish yuz guys want to cook.

[mike_belben]

I cant remember eating a freshwater fish that i/we caught since my uncle baked a pickerel and plopped it on the table, head fins and all.  I was probably 7, took a bite or two and said i can make it til breakfast.

Before kids i did plenty of canoe finishing in the rivers of western mass but never had any interest in eating a largemouth.  Had catfish a few times, i like it but not for 11 bucks! ate a whole lot of deep fried mahi in hawaii.  Sure miss the plate lunch wagons, surf and girls.

[WV Sawmiller]

@Jeff ,

  You must be a heck of a fish monger to be able to fillet a bluegill that size. My hats off to you! I fillet big catfish all the time but not bream and such. Do you scale them before filleting or just open him up and peel the fillet right off the skin and skeleton?


  We always coat them in a mixture of flour and corn meal (The flour sticks to the fish better). The best way is to put the meal mix in a plastic bag, add the fish, close the top with plenty of air left inside and shake and turn till it is all coated. We deep fry in corn oil. I have a special deep pot made from half an old Freon bottle (I assume not chance of heavy metal toxicity after all these years and fish fries with it) that I cook with on a 3 legged turkey cooker. Once cooked we pull the dorsal fin off then start at the bottom with your thumb (City folks use a fork) and push up and that fillet you show peels right off. Flip him over and do the same on the other side.

   There is nothing more fun than taking a kid out with limber cane or fiberglass pole and dunking crickets and catching big bluegills. They will make that line sing. Of course catching them with a flyrod and cork popping bug or ultra-light spinning tackle with a jig spinner is loads of fun too.

[stavebuyer]

@Jeff ,

  You must be a heck of a fish monger to be able to fillet a bluegill that size. My hats off to you! I fillet big catfish all the time but not bream and such. Do you scale them before filleting or just open him up and peel the fillet right off the skin and skeleton?


  We always coat them in a mixture of flour and corn meal (The flour sticks to the fish better). The best way is to put the meal mix in a plastic bag, add the fish, close the top with plenty of air left inside and shake and turn till it is all coated. We deep fry in corn oil. I have a special deep pot made from half an old Freon bottle (I assume not chance of heavy metal toxicity after all these years and fish fries with it) that I cook with on a 3 legged turkey cooker. Once cooked we pull the dorsal fin off then start at the bottom with your thumb (City folks use a fork) and push up and that fillet you show peels right off. Flip him over and do the same on the other side.

   There is nothing more fun than taking a kid out with limber cane or fiberglass pole and dunking crickets and catching big bluegills. They will make that line sing. Of course catching them with a flyrod and cork popping bug or ultra-light spinning tackle with a jig spinner is loads of fun too.

Fillet is the only way. No scaling, no gutting. Just cut right behind the gill flap to the backbone, and then straight down along the backbone to the rib cage. Peel the cut back over the tail and run your fillet knife against the skin. Bone free, skin free morsel in less time than it takes to read this.

[Jeff]

yepper.