Bluegill and other panfish...how good are they to eat?

[SimonSays]

So I was exploring a local office pond/lake and near the back it drains into a small creek.  At the start of this creek is a small pool and it's filled with pretty darn large bluegill.  I've heard that they're pretty good to eat but just in case...what do you guys think? Yes or no?

[Micro]

Bluegill are fine eating - much better than LMB, IMO.  In fact, if I want to catch some fish to eat I'll catch some big, honkin' bluegill.  I like them better than catfish.

[SimonSays]

How many are needed to make a good meal for 2 =D?

[Micro]

A dozen.  Fillets aren't that big.  

[Catt]

De-head, gut, & scale and then fry them whole  

[Big Tom]

Bluegill are mighty fine eating.  Fillet em' and cover them in corn meal.  mmmmm

I might just have to go catch me some bluegill now.

[Daniel My Brother]

Bluegill are fine eating. Deep fried fillets are the way I prefer 'em.

It takes 2 to 3 big 'gills to make a meal for me. I slice each fillet in half.  that's 8 to 12 chicken nugget size chunks of meat.

[Aaron]

Bluegills are one of the best tasting fish IMO.  Right up there with walleye/sauger.

My friends and I have grilled them whole minus the scales and guts.  We were camping and there was booze involved but from what I remebmer they tasted really good.

[Alpster]

De-head, gut, & scale and then fry them whole

Catt is right on.

Some of the best tasting fish you will eat, but you will waste 1/2 the meat trying to fillet them. It's a little work eating them off the bones, but it's worth it! JMHO

Ronnie

[fishbear]

There is a reason they are called Panfish..  Maybe we should change the name to Fryin Panfish...  

[Troutfisher]

De-head, gut, & scale and then fry them whole

x2.  Those can be better than trout when fried right!

[firefightn15]

Fillet them, rinse and leave wet.  take some flour and Lawry's season salt (just lean a little on the salty side) and mix in ziploc.  Throw the fillets in and tumble.  Toss them in a pan that's been pre-heated with oil, fry, and get a good belly full.

[vicdotcom]

Actually my favorite way to eat these fish is to steam them with a little soy sauce, sesame oil and scallions.  The meat is especially soft and moist.  very nice.

Vic

[SimonSays]

Well, had my first 9 bluegill tonight...looks like the ones we kept were "big" for that body of water but not big compared to some that you guys catch cause I'm still not full =/

What I ended up doing since we were a bit short on cooking time was mix butter, garlic, basil, old bay, and some salt mixed those all together and added some white wine.  Brushed that mix on the fish and broiled them about 3 mins each side.  Turned out tasty.

We also tried the asian way with a few, the sauce for that was soy sauce, sugar, scallions, a bit of oyster sauce and a bit of water.  Heat up some corn or veggie oil til it starts to smoke then pour the oil into into the soy sauce mix fast.  It'll flash cook the scallions and other stuff (sort of like a flambe).  The sauce turned out great but the fish ended up tasting a bit ... fishy when steamed.

I'll try frying next time!

[Bassn Blvd]

Vegetables and oysters are for steaming, Bluegill are for frying.

[SimonSays]

Vegetables and oysters are for steaming, Bluegill are for frying.

I'd rather eat oysters raw  

and some vegetables for that matter!

[daviscw]

I like crappie better by the way. Most agree.

[vicdotcom]

The sauce turned out great but the fish ended up tasting a bit ... fishy when steamed.

LOL my wife says that too. Most of my friends also.  They dont like fish that tastes "fishy".  I tell them to order a hamburger then!  Its a fish!!  Its supposed to taste and smell like... fish

Vic

[vicdotcom]

Vegetables and oysters are for steaming, Bluegill are for frying.

The problem with frying is that you loose most of the benificial fish oils and fatty acids when you deep fry or pan fry.  Some methods of panfrying arent as bad, but you still loose many of the benifits of eating fish.

Vic

[fretfishman]

bluegill are great eating. I prefer walleye or crappie, but they're very good. if you can hook into some bluegill at least .75 lbs you'll be in heaven. the filets are decent and they're much more fun to catch on ultralight tackle.

roll them in butter and then cornmeal or make a pecan-crusted breading with crushed pecans, bread crumbs and some Ol' Bay.

[SimonSays]

The sauce turned out great but the fish ended up tasting a bit ... fishy when steamed.

LOL my wife says that too. Most of my friends also.  They dont like fish that tastes "fishy".  I tell them to order a hamburger then!  Its a fish!!  Its supposed to taste and smell like... fish

Vic

Hmmm I don't know about that...Rockfish doesn't taste fishy to me, flounder, croaker, halibut, tuna, sometimes salmon does.  I've always been taught that fishy tasting fish meat is a sign of either unfresh fish or bad tasting fish.

To each their own! next time I'll try frying though, it seems to be the consensus for cook method.  

[Tom Bass]

Bream (panfish) are best descaled, gutted, beheaded, rinsed, dipped in a few battered raw eggs and then rolled in white flour mixed with salt and pepper and then fried in a hot skillet of oil. Yummy!

In my opinion they are the best eating fresh water fish.

Mind the bones and try eating the fins. They're like potato chips.