I can catch smaller sized sunfish, bluegills, greenies, all day long and I'm starting to consider taking a batch home once in a while to eat. Anyone else ever clean a mess of smaller fish or it is not even worth it? I'd say the fish would be on average 4-5 inches long. ?

dmunsie

I have eaten all sizes due to the fact that I have a 4 yr old that thinks he is personally responsible for feeding the family. The only problem is that they get real hard to clean the smaller they get.

Kyle

Thanks Kyle, do they taste the same? I know with other species of fish, sometimes the younger fish taste better.

they all seem to taste the same to me. To me you can't beat the taste of a perch.

KT

My two small boys are also the "great finders of food" for the family when we fish...so we eat alot of small ones. I make them help clean the smaller ones tho so they will appreciate the meal better. As far as taste goes, we enjoy fish no matter the size.

Usually the smaller ones taste better, just harder
to clean. I cut the heads off, gut them, remove the
skin, remove the dorsal & anal fins, then removed
the rib section. All you have left is meat on the
backbone. Of course you have to have a bunch of these
to get a meal.

I agree with Jeff and others...the small ones are worth eating.

In terms of helping create a better fishery, assuming you agree that big BG are better to catch than small ones, it is far better to take the small ones and always release those over about 8 inches (or the largest fish in that particular area) to be the trophy BG and the spawning base for the future. Taking out the big ones may make a larger meal, but in terms of preserving and improving the fishery, it is far better to release them, in my experience.

You can prove it very readily if you fish a small water body and can see the positive results in a season or two...releasing big BG means more big BG for all to enjoy.

My Father-in-law used to tell me the following when I asked him this same question:

"You eat butter beans, don't you? They are bigger than that." He told me to gut them, scale them, head them and then fry them "well done" (crispy) and eat them bones and all.

I think that is all possible but I never tried it. He did tho....all the time. He was from Wimberly, TX and fished all around there. Taught me bream fishing on the rivers around Pensacola....I sure miss him.

They have my vote. Head, gill, gut and knock the scales off them. Fry 'em up and eat them just like corn on the cob. Sat and ate a large number of them with my Grand-Dad lots of times.

I scale them, cut the head off and use a pair of scissors to cut the rib cavity out, rinse well, then salt and pepper, then roll in corn meal then fry them till they are crispy and enjoy. Usually 5 or 6 per person makes a meal.

Nice, thanks for the comments! Time for a meal...or 2.

Use a table spoon to scale them. I have not found anything better.

I personally filleted with an electric knife fifty (50) count them 4 to 5" bluegill for my daughter when she was about 5 years old. You get maybe a tea spoon or smaller bit of paper thin meat from each side. The whole mess came to about the size of a big cigar, which were duly dipped, dredged, fried, and eaten. This was about 30 years ago when we lived on Caddo and that little snip of a toddler could out fish anyone for bluegills (amount, not size).
Even with a little of my own blood shed from cut fingers, that was still one of the best fishing days I ever spent. The fish were delicious.

Nuttin better than a mess of panfish with the family.

small fish taste great, gut em, scale em, cut head & tail off. bake, fry, or grill with foil & butter whole. then teach your family to use the fork to strip the meat off the bone. takes some practice but hey it tastes great, just gotta be more careful and a bit more prep....makin me hungry right now thinkin about it. don't need to try to fillet everything anyways.

LH

Always loads of good info on a thread like this. Another way to enjoy them is to clean and scale and then boil them like shrimp. When done, use a fork to flake the meat off into a big cocktail glass, mix with shrimp cocktail sauce and whatever (to taste) and enjoy a bluegill cocktail. Great side dish!

And if you hold them underwater (fill the sink) while scaling you don't mess up mamma's kitchen don't get coated with scales.

This is very true.