(01-24-2022, 01:32 PM)MWScott72 Wrote: Thanks for the tip guys! I may have to look into that.. No fish wasted Pat - just not much of a fillet on those smaller 7"s although it wasn't much worse than what's on an 8" perch.
I wasn't suggesting that YOU were wasting fish. But I have gone out on the ice and seen lots of dead dink perch and crappies either laying around the hole...or floating up under the ice around the hole.
If you do keep some of those small ones, don't worry about filleting them. Just head, gut and scale them and fry them whole. When done, the spines pull out easily and the cooked fillets fall off the skeleton. Also, I like the skin when fried up crispy.
(01-24-2022, 01:32 PM)MWScott72 Wrote: Thanks for the tip guys! I may have to look into that.. No fish wasted Pat - just not much of a fillet on those smaller 7"s although it wasn't much worse than what's on an 8" perch.I wasn't suggesting that YOU were wasting them. But I have seen a lot of dead dink perch and crappies either laying on top of the ice or floating up under the ice around the hole. Some folks just don't seem to care.
If you do keep a few of the smaller ones, no need to even try filleting them. Just cut off the heads, gut them and scale them. Flour or batter them and fry them whole. When done, the spines pull out easily and the cooked fillets fall off the bones. Also, the cooked scaleless skin is tasty too. I do that often with smaller bluegills as well.