Cleaning crappie

[crappster]

You know what? I too filet most of my crappie, but I'm gonna cut off all the tails and fry them up just like tato chips. That way I can have the filet only, and then the tails too. That would be some good eating. Crappie filets, cheese grits, then on the side a bowl of fried, crunchy crappie tails. Wow.....I just got a shiver down my spine!

[Roberta]

The meat lifts off the bone so easily, it's silly to waste good trout by filleting them. My husband didn't grow up eating fresh fish (that's the only way Dad ever cleaned fish), so he isn't crazy about eating panfish that aren't filleted, but it sure doesn't bother me unless I want to make a sandwich. - Roberta

[Moose1am]

NOPE! I filet my fish and get rid of the skin and the belli meat which has more fat and thus more pollutants.

I need to start baking my fish also instead of deep frying them but it's hard to give up the fried fish.

With a filet knife I can clean a fish much faster than cutting off the head, slitting the bellie and taking out the guts and scaling the fish. That is just too much time to invest for me.

I have been eating fish without bones for a long time now.

I just got done cleaning a bunch of crappie my buddy and i caught last night. My buddy had a different way of cleaning his fish, he cut the head off and gutted and scaled it, but didnt fillet it, instead he just left the skin on and left the fish whole. does anyone clean and eat crappie this way?

[PainBreak]

I've never filleted a fish in my life, mostly because I haven't the first idea how to go about it. Generally when I catch crappie, they range from 9-12", so it seems like filleting would be a waste. Maybe I'm wrong...

[crappster]

Pain you are right if you aren't very good at fileting. I can filet an 6 inch crappie with an electric filet knife and leave no waste. But like you said...if you don't know how...don't let the fish go to waste. Gut it, scale it, and chop the head off.

[mudwitch]

The fish on the bone method was all I knew as a toddler.20 years ago a friend showed me the filet.I never looked back.That was a Rival, Mister Twister,and a few filet knives and probably at least 5000 fish ago. Wow I just realized i'm an old fart. thanks GABoy, I need a new one but most hurt your hand after a while of use.I was at wally world Sunday lookin at that american angler. It said China ,so I was gonna wait till someone gave it a good report. Thanks i'll pick one up. Muddy