{"id":3007,"date":"2021-09-19T16:37:48","date_gmt":"2021-09-19T16:37:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wordpress-711416-2356891.cloudwaysapps.com\/?p=3007"},"modified":"2022-05-23T23:30:38","modified_gmt":"2022-05-23T23:30:38","slug":"a-complete-guide-for-the-best-size-bluegill-or-panfish-to-keep-and-eat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gofishingoutdoors.com\/a-complete-guide-for-the-best-size-bluegill-or-panfish-to-keep-and-eat\/","title":{"rendered":"A Complete Guide for the best size bluegill or panfish to keep and eat!"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
Many people love to eat bluegill, redear, sunfish, perch and many other species of panfish. And for good reason. They are easy to catch, plentiful through much of the United States, and taste great!<\/span><\/p> But because they are one of the smallest species in most fisheries, most anglers don\u2019t know what size is actually worth keeping. After all, if a fish is too small it won\u2019t provide enough meat to make the cleaning process worth it. And you don\u2019t want to harm fisheries by taking too many larger fish that will re-populate the lake.\u00a0<\/span><\/p> Most every fishery has some size and number limitations on the amount of bluegill and other panfish species you can keep. So always abide by that first and foremost. But if that is not present, then I recommend keeping fish from the 6 and half to 8 inch range.<\/strong> Or if you don\u2019t have a tape measure, anything around the size of your hand.\u00a0<\/span><\/p> But let\u2019s go a little more in depth\u2026 and then also explain how harvesting bluegill can impact fisheries too!<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t YES! Bluegill are one of the better tasting fish that you can catch in almost any body of fresh water. They have less of a “fishy” taste than a lot of other common species like bass, carp, or catfish.\u00a0<\/p> The only reason you don’t see bluegill on many restaurant menus are that they have little meat compared to larger species. So it isn’t often worth all the processing time to serve someone a very small filet when they want a big piece of meat.<\/p> But with that said, even Taste of Home<\/strong><\/a> has a bluegill recipe. So a lot of people around the world eat them. And you should too!<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t The first question you need to answer before deciding what size of fish you\u2019re willing to keep and eat is how you want to clean them. Or in other words, how you will process the fish to get it\u2019s meat for cooking and eating.\u00a0<\/span><\/p> When you clean a fish you have several methods available. The most popular of these is to filet the fish<\/strong>, which means you will be taking a knife to slice the meat of the fish right against the bone. This is ideal because it leaves you with one, boneless slice of fish which can be fried, seared, or cooked however you prefer.<\/span><\/p> The issue with this method is it leaves a lot of meat on the fish unused. For large fish, this isn\u2019t much of an issue. The majority of meat for them is in the filet itself so not using the additional little pieces in between bones and organs isn\u2019t a huge deal.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t When you get smaller fish though the filet becomes much smaller and more of the meat is left on the fish if you choose this method. So for a smaller fish like a bluegill or any species of panfish – this can make quite a challenge. Filet a small bluegill and you\u2019ll have nothing more than a bite.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t If you decide you do want to filet the fish, which is always the preferred method, then you naturally need a larger bluegill. Anything over 7 inches should be just fine though. <\/span><\/p> Since I don\u2019t keep a ruler on me when fishing, I\u2019ve estimated it for me to be anything that is larger than my hand. I put the bluegill tail on my fingertips and if it\u2019s nose passes my wrists – it goes in the bucket. Smaller and it goes back in the lake.<\/span><\/p> But if you really want to get a bang for your buck, above 8 inches is probably ideal. Depending on your fishery though, you may not have that option. And as I’ll go into below, you really want to put fish that big back in the lake. Around my local ponds anything over 8 inches is a great catch. Other larger lakes have tons of 8 inch bluegill. So put that into perspective as well.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t So maybe you don\u2019t have a ton of big bluegill in your lake or you want a nice mess and can\u2019t catch that many big ones. You do have another option besides fileting – and that is cooking the bluegill whole.<\/strong><\/span><\/p> This method provides much less in the way of cleaning – you essentially just need to de-scale and gut the fish. There is no pulling the meat away from the bones which is time consuming and a bit of an art. <\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\tFirst, are bluegill even good to eat?<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
How are you going to clean your fish?\n<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
What size to filet a bluegill or other panfish?\n<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
What if I don\u2019t want to filet my panfish?\n<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t