Perch ice fishing and filleting Video 1/27/25

[Mildog]

After several trips of perch chasing on the ice and having read a few posts about how long it takes to clean them. I thought I would chime in. We are not having a problem culling 9-10 inches perch with a few 11 and very occasional perch of 12”, no problem keeping as many as wanted in just a few hours. We are finding them shallow enough to release easily without air-bladder trauma. I have found the area of the lake does make a difference in size, overall they do seem a bit smaller in average than last year but still easy to keep a nice batch. This last trip we had to move several times to find the fish, a move as little as 20 yards made all the difference. At the first place we tried which was very close to previous trip Nada, moved a bit still nada moved again, nada moved 3rd time nothing moved again and then Bang first drop and every drop right away. We all relocated and it was pretty fast for 2 hours till we decided to quit we had what we culled to fillet and wanted to get home to watch football ?. The spot we settled on was only 50 yards from original spot no difference in depth, but first spot 0, final
Spot near non stop! As far as filleting the perch. We kept about 70 good ones for the three of us. I kept 23 and filleted them with Mr. Twister electric fillet knife and timed it. It was 15 minutes to fillet 23 perch, it just doesn’t take that long to clean them if you practice. Last year a buddy and I cleaned a bucket of 50 perch in 23 minutes, I slabbed with electric and he deboned with standard sharp fillet. We were rolling!  I will post video in a bit. Here’s a pic from earlier trip of some perch and trout and a batch of air fried coconut perch yumm. Got the link to video video added below .
This video is from earlier trip and smaller perch, 9-10 plus are even easier faster to fillet.
https://share.icloud.com/photos/08f1nOTP...qLG731C_YQ

[MWScott72]

If you fillet a lot of fish, it definitely gets faster. I do them about the same, except I use a sharp fillet knife to debone and not the electric. I usually clean them by myself though, so it’s just as easy to stack fillets and then debone at the end. I used to wear gloves on both hands, but anymore, I just wear one on my left hand because my right hand is working the knife and rarely, if ever touches the fish.

[Mildog]

Yep, if I use the fork I never touch the fish until I wash the fillets to put in a bag. I use rubber gloves as much for clean-up as anything. It’s faster for me to grab the fish with gloved than with the fork but when they are almost frozen I use fork so I don’t freeze my hands ? and like you mention I never touch anything in right hand but the knife so don’t really need a glove. I have boxes of the exam gloves and they keep hand from getting fishing when rinsing and bagging fillets as week as cleaning up. Perch are so yummy, will be back after them again soon. I think I fished near you last year and Jmorfish a day last year . Maybe will see you in the ice!
Good luck tight lines!

[Jmorfish]

Hey Pat..good report... MW and I did have an amazing first day at RP a week ago, then I had an even better day a few days later at Echo..today Echo not so hot for me..so may be back to RP sooner than later..It's nice to have some alternatives.. glad to hear you're rippin some lips..

[Kent]

Great idea using the fork. I am going to try that next time I filet a fish.

[lovetofish]

What brand knife are you using. 

I couldn't tell from the video does it use a double or single blade. Thanks for sharing the video. 
I gave up ice fishing 5 years ago, but this makes me want to go back out again.

[Mildog]

I’ve used or sold most every one out there. I use Mr Twister, with the chisel tip blade, I’ve used one for 40 years plus, think I’ve worn only two or three out in that time. I have a new spare in waiting. I can use inverter and 12 volt battery as well, tough to beat for the money. Most of the name brand models are good
Bubba Rapala American angler Berkley etc probably in that order. Bubba by many considered to be the best. They are good battery models come with 2 batteries and last forever good blades come in kit, pricey . I’ve used them and they are very good,the handle Is a bit large for my small hands. Get a quality one and Learn to use it and you will do great with it.

[BearLakeFishGuy]

I do mine very similar, but I also use a regular fillet knife to debone after I'm done slabbing them (like MWScott72) and it does save a lot of meat. I used two different Mister Twister's and both wore out, but I was literally doing thousands of perch per month on Lake Michigan while in grad school. I then spent a bit more money an American Angler PRO model and have yet to replace it after nearly 30 years. I also switch to the "narrow" blades for the small fish, like perch, since it is more nimble and again, it saves some meat. On the larger fish (big cutthroat, salmon, steelhead, and even halibut) the PRO model excels. It has a larger motor and doesn't overheat hot when going through the large fish. It also comes with battery clips, a cigarette lighter adaptor or just the 120V which is what I use 95% of the time.

[Mildog]

If I’m doing larger fish I usually debone with standard very sharp regular fillet to get as much meat as possible , on smaller perch for speed and ease I debone with the electric I can do it to get a little more meat, but on smaller perch it is negligible to me for the extra effort for the little “extra” you may get. I fillet Stripers ,SMB, Bluegill, Crappie, Walleye with electric fillet and make quick work of them. I like to fillet trout and Kokanee with conventional fillet knives and also prefer to use conventional fillet for Salmon, Halibut etc . I go to AK every year and usually get into lots of fish. I hate dull knives, so I like a quality knife and to always have sharpeners handy to keep the edge super sharp, it makes the job so much easier. Nothing worse than a bad and or dull knife. Like most things the more you do the better you get. Catch lots of fish and practice, practice , practice!
Good luck tight lines!!

[Therapist]

Filleting a perch under 10 inches is a waste of time !! Those sub 10's are still good eating, but the best way to clean them is the "10 second" method!! Go onto UTube and look up the video " how to clean a perch is 10 seconds" The slickest, easiest way to deal with the sub 10' inchers !! Also works on the bigger ones, but filleting those is best !! " How to clean a perch in 10 seconds " Give it a shot!!!

[Jayweymouth1]

Perch and walleye taste the best scaled and fry with the skin on. Try them this way and you won’t go back. More flavor. Buy a good scaler.

[Mildog]

Cool technique and video, I had seen that before, an excellent way to
do it if you want to fry them. I don’t fry too much fish, trying to stay away from all the oil, if I do fry I don’t want to deal the bones, I often use them in fish tacos or make coconut perch. Bones not good! I have been air frying with panko bread crumbs, it makes nice and crispy boneless fillets without any oil or grease. I also use the boneless fillets in perch chowder or perch alfredo over pasta. As mentioned I like to cull larger 9 inch plus, they fillet easy/great, I can fillet and get enough on 7 inchers, they are not that hard to do, less meat and takes a bit longer to be careful, but I will release those unless they won’t go down.
That method looks great for fried fish and I bet super tasty!!

[MWScott72]

Perch Alfredo? Please share Mildog!

[Mildog]

MW Scott,
Here you go. Perch Alfredo recipe!

Super good and easy ! Make a simple béchamel sauce. (White sauce) 2-2-1 …..2 parts butter (TBLS.) 2 parts flour (TBLS ) 1 cup milk or half in half. Melt butter in sauce pan, then add in flour stir and sauté it just a minute or two on medium heat until the flour absorbed/blended just a minute or so don’t brown or burn. Then Add milk/ or half in half while stirring (*tip… heat milk/H&H in microwave till very warm before adding) it keeps it from being lumpy that way and easier to blend in. Constantly Stir and heat until it thickens to just below boil. Watch heat so it doesn’t burn. At this point point you can add just a little more liquid to get the desired thickness wanted, if needed ( white wine, milk, half half , chicken stock) add spices to your taste, like garlic powder , lemon pepper, dash of salt, dash of old bay or other spice you like, Add a little grated Parmesan cheese. Then drop perch fillets into the sauce and gently stir them in over med heat just until the fish starts to get flakey and fall apart, don’t over stir so you have nice pieces of fish in the cream sauce. Serve over pasta or rice. Top with a little more Parmesan cheese!
It’s Yummy!! Enjoy!!! It’s very good!!
One thing I do on occasion for a change of pace shake in a little crystal hot sauce to taste (or other) and serve over a piece of toast!!