Thread: cleaning fish

Does anyone clean their panfish whole, and if so has anybody ever used a spoon to remove the scales.

why would you want to clean them whole?

That's how we did it when I was young....many years ago. I like to eat bream on the bone once in a while. Love the fried tails.

That's how my grandpa taught me to clean fish many years ago. I remember scaling them with a spoon and scales flying all over the place. I only fillet my fish now. But I miss my grandpa. He taught me how to fish.

Originally Posted by pwbuilding

why would you want to clean them whole?

Lots of people here in the (USA) like whole pan fish,or whole cat fish... Do you like yours with the scales on? Yes people do use a spoon or a fish scaler to clean panfish.:D

Here's how I do it, scaled with a spoon, head off, belly cut from behind the anus and gutted. These are sitting on 12" tiles on the counter in my shop ready for the last washing.

Man, I cleaned many a bluegill and crappie like that when I was a kid. In the 60's though I learned to fillet and I'd never go back. I hate picking bones. THen I picked up on skinning, and I'd never go back to scaling. Earlier this year I had a mess of 60+ bluegill one Saturday and thought I'd sclae them for old times' sake. Took #*$&^@ forever, yes I did use a spoon, and didn't taste any better than skin off. But that's just me. Anyone that likes then as pictured... More power to you, keep on fishin'.

That is how my father in law cleans them... uses a spoon for the scales. Ever since I have been fishing with him I just fillet them ... with the electric knife I can fillet them faster than he can clean them and scale them his way. He just lets me fillet them all now.

Just depend's on how many I catch. If Just get a few I clean them hold. I like them better that way but if we have a lot I use the electric knife. Way faster.

look in the archives, theres a very detailed how-to on preparing bluegills in such a manner.
As much as i hate to admit it, i prefer bluegills filleted, but with the skin on. And just the simple step of scaling, will take over twice as long to clean them. I try to limit my bluegill harvest now, so i dont spend the rest of the day scaling.

Side note, i have an old fish scaler with a red wooden handle, its called "ACE fish scaler" it says specialty co. middletown OH(actaully local for me, go figure).
dunno how old it is, but its the bee's knees for scaling fish. Just basicly a curved blade, but it dosent fling scales everywhere, actualy just rolls them up under the blade, way cleaner than any spoon or bait store scaler.
Imagine a paint scraper, now curve the metal scraping blade part 90 degrees, thats what this looks like.

HB