Catch and release to grease

Did about 30 fresh bluegill fillets on Saturday night for our daughter, son-in-law and grandson.

Quit it! You're making me hungry for some bluegill. Looks good.

Looks awesome!

There's a lot of people that don't realize how tasty those little guys are!
Looking at that golden brown batter is making me hungry too!!!!! =P~

That, right there, may be the best tasting fish you can get. Little salt, little pepper, something icy and cold to drink--maybe sweet tea---mmmmmm ummmphhh!!!

That's good stuff.

Nice

Nothing better than Bluegill fillets, home made fries, coleslaw and tartar sauce..mmmmmm! Almost as much fun as catching them. :beer:

AZwadder
Truer words have never been spoken! =D>

Steve A W

Looks great but I've got a question about that filet. How do you get the rib bones out of that cut?

Never thought to take pictures of filleting fish :LOL2: :LOL2: .

When I'm filleting Bluegill I scale them with a $1.98 scaler that I probably bought at K-Mart 20 years ago. I fillet with a 6" Marttiini knife that Rapala imports, probably from the same K-Mart (closed now) for under $20.00.

Once I fillet the meat off the backbone, with the skin side down, I stick the tip of the knife under the rib nearest the tail end of the fillet about 2/3s way up the rib. Then I just slide the blade under the rest of the ribs until the tip comes out from under the last rib. Then with a little upward pressure I slide the blade down torward the bottom of the fillet lifting the ribs out of the fillet. Then I flip the blade over and slide it back under the ribs and slide the blade upwards until the ribs are free from the fillet. Sounds a whole lot more complicated that it is. I do think that a very sharp, flexible fillet knife is a must.

I can scale and fillet a Bluegill in about 90 seconds. (I used to be faster but my hands are getting older :LOL2: ) I have probably done thousands of them. It's just the way my stepdad taught me to do it.

Never ate bluegill with the skin on. But I plan on trying it, I was wondering why all those filets looked so uniform.
Bet it is a bit more crunchy. Do like bluegill especially if I catch em and someone else cleans em.
Tim

Here it is almost 2am and now I'm hungry. Them fish look mitey good.

Hmm I don't scale mine and I don't leave the skin on unless we plan on cooking them whole, (which we do from time to time). I normally use a Rapala electric filet knife and I just cut the rib section out entirely after I've separated the filet from the backbone & skin. I never thought there was enough meat to be gained from the rib area to make it worth while. Guess I'll have to give your method a try and then decide if it's worth it. The way I do it now, you get 2-3 bites per side unless you're starving, then you get one bite per side. haha The big + to my method is that once I get my rhythm going, it only takes me about 45 seconds to filet one. When you have 100 fish to clean those seconds add up fast. I should make my brother and other fishing buddies get more proficient with a filet knife. As it stands now, they usually destroy more than they successfully filet. LoL