Ever try to fillet a Pumpkin Seed?

[johng]

 

Hehehe..... not a lot of fish on that little dude.  What a pretty fish though!   

I was fishing Lake WA from a dock mainly going for perch, which by the way where are they, and I got him.  It was starting to get dark but then I thought... "I can still somewhat see my line" so a few more casts.  I moved down by the marina where there were some floodlights which helped a tad.

Anyhow... here are a couple of pics of him.  I will leave the "post fillets" out as they are somewhat embarrassing.   

Where are the pix of the sockeye from the Skagit?  I hear they are catching them up there!

- Jg

[RoyBoy]

i want your coon hat lol

[RadSav]

Nice of you to post that pic "Life Size"

Use to be some big ones (for pumpkin seeds) in Black Lake, Thurston Co.  We filleted a lot of them way back when.  As a kid I thought they were dang good eating.  Haven't eaten one in about 38 years though.

[ICEMAN]

Radsav, here are some Thurston county panfish for you. If my kids catch them, I clean them. Nothing gets wasted and they are some of the best eats out there.

[johng]

True...that's not exactly "life size".... 

Iceman, how do you cook them?  I cook my perch by rolling in flour, then pan frying in some olive oil with a bit of sea salt and some pepper.  One guy I work with, who is Japanese, says him and his Dad prepared some Crappie tempura style.  Now that sounds tasty!   

And thank you Roy for the compliment on the coonskin hat... got him out by Granite Falls a couple of years back.  Moro Brothers Taxidermy did the rest- they are super cool!

Cheers,
Jg

[FC]

I like to beer-batter and deep fry pretty much all panfish but perch are really great like that!

[RoyBoy]

True...that's not exactly "life size".... 

Iceman, how do you cook them?  I cook my perch by rolling in flour, then pan frying in some olive oil with a bit of sea salt and some pepper.  One guy I work with, who is Japanese, says him and his Dad prepared some Crappie tempura style.  Now that sounds tasty!   

And thank you Roy for the compliment on the coonskin hat... got him out by Granite Falls a couple of years back.  Moro Brothers Taxidermy did the rest- they are super cool!

Cheers,
Jg

how much did that bad boy cost you?

[KopperBuck]

Tag. Definitely a tangent but I want a hat like that. Too bad my dad didn't do his badger like that.

[RadSav]

Be careful of owls when wearing those hats at night!  We got those when I was a kid for Christmas.  It was damn scary at night with one of us getting knocked unconscious.  Got to a point where we would dare the other brother to try running from the milking barn to the garden and back without getting hit.  I was 3 or 4 - My brothers were mean!

Back to the topic - It has been a long time for me on pumpkin-seeds, but not all lake/white fish.  Tempura is where it's at for me.  Need to really get it thin on small fish though.  Make tacos with them....Mmmmm Tasty!

[KopperBuck]

I've been going back and forth on getting an electric knife. Any of you guys using them? I hear there supposed to be the cat's ass when it comes to fish.

[rasbo]

I like to scale them and fry without head and tail,the meat pulls right off...tasty critters foresure

[ICEMAN]

We cook them a couple of different ways. Sometimes we just steam them in the microwave with a speck of butter, a tiny bit of garlic and some old bay seasoning dusted over them. All ultra light on the seasoning, excellent over rice, a quicky dinner in minutes.

We also deep fry them in a fry daddy with some cajun corn meal and fry them up light. Place on an open roll with some minced cabbage drizzled with a sauce I make, (vinegar, bit of mayo, old bay seasoning and celery seed). Makes a fantastic shore lunch this way and you can even do it on the lake shore in a skillet.

[jechicdr]

I've been going back and forth on getting an electric knife. Any of you guys using them? I hear there supposed to be the cat's ass when it comes to fish.

Electric knife is only way to go when it comes to filleting spiny rays.  Going through 60 bluegills is slick.  I still use a regular filet knife to cut away the ribs though.  Usually go through first round and fillet, flip, skin in one move.  Then go back afterwards with Rapala and cut the ribs away.  You can use the electric, but you lose a tiny bit of meat.

I wish I had a bluegill lake like that Thurston County one over here near Spokane.

[STIKNSTRINGBOW]

Those little F'ers used to be a real pain, but what I ended up doing takes about as long to explain, as it does to do it...
Fold all spines on back down with hand and cut from vent forward, cut from back of head to about just past gills, pull head and guts down and out.
Take knife, and with edge up, insert on each side of ventral fin to tail, do the same on both sides of dorsal, peel fins off from tail to head, skin from head to tail...
I been asked many times where I get those huge prawns (LOL) but the backbone and ribs are solid, can pick your teeth with them, if you cook them like that, or you can just fillet the meat off, little strips, unless your "Pumkin Seed" is bigger than your hand...

[jechicdr]

My method with electric knife (for right handed folk).  Fish starts out with head to left and belly toward me.  Make diagonal slice all the way down to ventral part of belly (this shape \).  Now, concentrate on the upper half of the fish (the lower half will take care of itself and the upper half has the most meat).  Slowly rotate the blade so the angle is now opposite of the original slice (now /).  This will leave the knife at almost the same spot on the belly, but more advanced on the upper half of the fish.  Angle the blade slightly toward the spine and flatten the blade somewhat if it catches bone and aim the blade so it stays above the spines.  At that point, the blade usually drives itself as you push toward the tail.  Just before you cut the fillet off, flip it over, and flip the tail under.  Keep advancing the blade and you now have a boneless, skinless fillet (except for ribs).  Set that aside later to cut out the ribs.  Next flip the fish so the belly is now way from you and head is to left.  Repeat diagonal slice (this shape /), rotate to (\).  Repeat the fillet and skin.  No gutting, no scaling needed.  When you get good at it, you can fillet a bluegill in about 10-20 seconds.