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The Fishing Thread
- Thread starter Dr.Retarded
- Start date
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Gravy
Bronze Squire
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You keep the skin on? I'm curious, do you eat the skin?I put 180 Blugill fillets in my freezer today.
When we keep bluegill, we basically just carve out the sweetmeat and toss the rest. Maybe a tad more than that, but not much.
Also, those look like perch here in Missouri. Bluegills are more colorful here.
Tarrant
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Thanks!
Gills here are more blue in the jaw, like it looks like a marker was taken to them, it's crazy. (I'll take some pictures next time I'm out) This was a combination of Sunnies and Gills really...a few Pumpkinseeds in there too. The difference in overall color probably has something to do with the colder waters up here I would imagine.
As for the skin, after spending all that time cleaning them, I kept the skin on them and when i thaw them for cooking I'll skin them. Usually I would do that before freezing but this is the result of limiting out 3 times during the day so it would been too much to do just by myself in one sitting.
If I really feel like putting in the work I'll scale them and leave the skin on before I freeze them. The skin actually adds some nice flavor to them but that's a crap ton of scaling you gotta do.
Tarrant
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Haha, yeah but it all ends up being worth it. I love me some pan fish.
A lot of them were marked up in their tails and their assholes and a good deal of them were males, so they probably just got done making their beds and were waiting for the females to come in and lay their eggs. I was hooking them literally before my bobber came back up above the water when casting them out. Super aggressive...I may end up going back out tomorrow.
Tarrant
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Also, here's a question. Are there a lot of people here that eat Smelt? When I lived in Michigan we would dip these by the 55 gallon trash cans full and to this day when I think of fish sticks, I think of Smelt. Anyway, when I moved to MN people thought I was weird as hell when I cooked up a batch at a fish fry.
"Smelt are used as bait, you can't eat bait fish!"
I told them if I ever saw any of them using Smelt as bait I would slap them.
"Smelt are used as bait, you can't eat bait fish!"
I told them if I ever saw any of them using Smelt as bait I would slap them.
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Man, you get your pan hot as a mother with some oil, and you get that skin nice and crispy while you cook the meat. That texture adds something magical to fish. I leave the skin on whenever possible. Good for the grill, too.
You don't vacuum pack your fish? I am probably going to have to replace my Foodsaver model with something more commercial like soon. I am still eating last year Halibut and Salmon, trying to finish cleaning last years freezer, before I really start stacking it full of Salmon.
lurker
Vyemm Raider
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I don't know what model you're using now, but I bought a Gamesaver type Foodsaver not realizing there was a difference, but it is more commercial than the ubiquitous models you see at Walmart or Target. The heat weld is wide, the vacuum is quicker and it doesn't waste as much material each time.
Tarrant
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Nope, old fashioned here. Toss fillets in a baggie, put in some water and into the freezer.
Gavinmad
Mr. Poopybutthole
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What does the water do, protect it from freezer burn? I can't remember the last time I fished up enough to eat, much less with surplus to freeze.