Scale and fry

^^^^^ sissy

Filleting a bluegill is about a sin and way to get into a fight round here

I clean a few bluegills each year. Fillet, trim out the ribs and skin. Think I can do a better job on the ribs prior to skinning. I try and get all the meat I can off them. I don’t zipper gills unless they are bigguns. Crappies and bass all get zippered to get those small bones out.

Savell. That is some awesome looking fish. I believe the tail is the best piece on one fried like that. I was a grown man before I ever saw a filleted fish and now that’s the only way I clean them. Lazy!

…. Fry up small cats the same way Larry … hard to beat

I prefer to gut, scale, cut off heads, fry and eat them that way. But, my wife doesn't like eating them like that because of the bones. You don't lose any meat if you do them the first way. So, for now I filet them.

I just eat them raw, guts and all. I do prefer them to be dead first.

I'd expect nothing less from you. They don't make guys like you anymore, Dave.

For you guys that don't fillet bluegills, is it because they aren't common in your area and you need all the meat you can get off them? Around here, in a good spot, it's not uncommon to catch more than 60 bluegill an hour out of a pond. There's really no reason to save all the little bits of meat around the bones. I can fillet bluegill much faster than I can scale head and gut them.

Keith

It's just seen as wasteful here. Then again most her never throw ANYTHING back so

If you want to not waste anything you should do them like the Asians I saw at a local lake. The kids were catching them fast as they drop their bait in the water, running them up to their elders who were using a bench mounted grinder clamped on the picnic table. As soon as the kid got the fish off the hook they dropped them, guts and all, through the grinder, formed them into patties and straight onto a flat top grill. They ate all they wanted and put leftovers in a cooler for later I guess. ... I'll stick to filleting mine.

Gooks will eat a lot of things you'd think will kill them, but they seem to flourish on it!