My First Fish Cleaning & Fish Identification

[GetDatFish]

Not sure if this is the place for this post, but...

I caught a few fish today, pictured below. I'm guessing they are shellcrackers? I'm new to fishing so I have no clue.

I also decided that since I caught about 10 of them to keep 2 of the bigger ones and try my hand at cleaning a fish. I watched hour upon hour of youtube videos to get my learning started.

I also wanted to confirm the fish species, and see if I can eat it or if there are any signs not to eat it. I caught it in a lake 30 minutes outside of Washington DC, so I'm a little sketched out.

Also pictured my cleaning. I feel like I did a good job filleting the one side of the fish, but i had a little trouble on the second side of the fish. Any thoughts on how my filleting looks?

Thanks!





Hmm, why are the pics so small.

[CrappiePappy]

Pictures are fine, size is fine (they may look small when putting them in the message, but they'll show bigger when you actually post them).

I would ID that fish as a Redear Sunfish (aka Shellcracker). You just need to check your state regs to make sure on size, creel limit, or other regulations (like specific lake regs) that may apply.

Can't say anything about your cleaning skills ... I've been filleting fish for decades, with an electric knife, and I can still butcher a side or two every now & then. SO, there's no telling how bad I'd tear up a filet with a regular filet knife.

... cp

[Eagle 1]

Looks good to me ! Nice redear / strawberry .

[usafret99]

Nice fish

[Ferdi]

Just like CrappiePappy told you , we all still have an OOPS while fileting fish but nothing to worry about. Keep on trying and eating them you'll enjoy it. Thanks for sharing. Ferdi

[Frank Cecil]

Looks like you done fine. Just think after a couple thousand fish it will all come natural. Good job

[NIMROD]

Not bad at all for first attempt! Fillet a few thousand more and you will be able to do it in your sleep.

[wahanlin]

Nice shellcracker. I looked at your blog, I like it. If you're interested in fishing for survival, its good to know how to cook blue gill and shellcrackers whole. Unless a bream is about 8 or even 9 inches long I typically cook them whole to save meat. You just have to scale them, cut the head off, and clean the gut cavity. I love eating shell crackers, I think they taste better than bluegill. One piece of advice I can give you for cleaning smaller fish with a manual fillet knife; I make a cut along the backbone the length of the fillet on the top of the fish and the bottom before i actually cut the fillet out. Tracing those lines gives you an idea of where the knife needs to line up and tends to help make my final cut get more of the meat. good luck to ya

[GetDatFish]

Thanks! I have watched some videos on cooking it whole and want to try that method. However, because I live outside of Washington DC the fish here aren't the greatest. The Virginia Dept of Health recommends that for the area I remove all skin to counteract some of the PCBs in the fish and eat no more than 2 meals of fish caught here per month. I'll try that method when I go camping a little farther outside of the city though. And yes that shellcracker tasted so good. I'm sure a little had to do with the fact that I caught it and filleted it myself.

[HillBilly]

Your off to a good start and many years of fun catching and eating fish,,good job