cleaning crappie

[albiechaser]

Hi All I have a quick question about cleaning crappie, Im not sure how,
A friend told me that they are full of tiny bones, and be careful feeding them to my kids. is there a good way to clean them without worrying about bones?
thanks and have a great day
steve

[L.A. stumpjumper]

Fillet them no bones at all.

[Charger]

Fillet them no bones at all.

Yep, fileting is quick-n-easy with no bones at all.
Get yourself an electric filet knife. There under $25. The best one we have used is made by Black n Decker.

[Barnacle Bill]

Hi All I have a quick question about cleaning crappie, Im not sure how,
A friend told me that they are full of tiny bones, and be careful feeding them to my kids. is there a good way to clean them without worrying about bones?
thanks and have a great day
steve

Your friend must have his fish mixed up. I fillet them with an electric knife by cutting to the spine just behind the head. Then turn the knife towards the tail and continue cutting following the spine. Stop just before the tail, flip the fillet over and continue cutting between the skin and the meat. When that is done the only bones is the rib cage. Cut that off and you wind up with some of the best eating fish in the world with NO bones. Once you get use to doing it that way, you can have 20 ready to eat while your friend are still sharpening their knives.:D

BTW, welcome to Crappie.com

[mixham]

Fileting using an electric filet knife is the way to go for me too.
Takes a little practice.

Here's a couple of links I used to get me started:
http://www.thecrappiekiller.com/arti...%20Made%20Easy...
http://www.nodakoutdoors.com/fishcleaning.php

HTH

[albiechaser]

thanks guys, I had a feeling he was wrong.
great site here.

[hawkman]

Just be careful with the kids, sometimes you will accidentally leave a small rib bone or two. Shouldn't have a problem other than that.

[huntin-n-fishin]

I like eating them whole and even then they have very few small bones. The 3/4 pound to 1-1/2 pound fish work the best. They just taste better to me if they are whole. Just scale them and clean out the insides. Takes a little longer but is worth it. Just my opinion.

[sac-a-lait]

Some love them cooked on the bone...

But boneless Crappie is easy as cake and the only way I like it...

Like the others have said, cut the ribs off the filet and what you have left is a boneless piece of goodness that most people eating at Cock-of-the-Walk would kill for.

[lee s.]

We leave the ribs on the carcass, never opening the gut cavity, and the skin. One pass of the knife and you have one clean, boneless fittet. Old Timer fillet knife, non-electric for us.
No finer meal than Crappie or BG fillets.
....lee s.