Caught 13 fish today, but need advice.

I caught a baby largemouth, tons of sunnies, and a HUGE crappie!! Whoo hoo! The lake by my house is awesome for fishing, and a friend of mine showed me (pictorally) how to fillet these types of fish. I've never kept anything I caught,but I would like to try for once, so I went to my local Wal MArt and picked up the free NJ freshwater fishing giude, with all the size limits, regulations, identifications, etc,. Most of the fish I've been catching are pretty good size, and the sunnies have been FAT! When I was a kid, my best friend's dad would make little breaded sunny fillets, that would melt in your mouth! So, I have a couple questions: first, what do I do with the fish from the time I catch him until I get him home to "cut and gut"? I was thinking about a bucket, but I got these "stringers" for .25 from Walmart for stringing fish.(how do they work?) Also, do I fillet him alive? :( ...I don't know if I can handle that. Also, what do I bread or batter them with? Any and all suggestions are appreciated.

stringers are for hooking the fish through the gills and mouth to keep them hanging off your boat and they stay alive till your ready to leave the water.

And as for filleting them, what i do is take the fish and then smack them in the head with the fillet knife which stuns them long enough to fillet them. Dont be alarmed when after you done filleting them that their still flopping as fish feel no pain.

Start the fillet under the gill then work your way back to the tail. If good enough even on bass you can get boneless.

Begins getting trickier when you get to walley and musky as their harder to knock out.


IF not comfortable hitting them put them in a cooler and leave them along with no water for 30-60 mins then fillet them asap and cook or freeze the meat.

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Originally Posted by 4theSNAKElady

I caught a baby largemouth, tons of sunnies, and a HUGE crappie!! Whoo hoo! The lake by my house is awesome for fishing, and a friend of mine showed me (pictorally) how to fillet these types of fish. I've never kept anything I caught,but I would like to try for once, so I went to my local Wal MArt and picked up the free NJ freshwater fishing giude, with all the size limits, regulations, identifications, etc,. Most of the fish I've been catching are pretty good size, and the sunnies have been FAT! When I was a kid, my best friend's dad would make little breaded sunny fillets, that would melt in your mouth! So, I have a couple questions: first, what do I do with the fish from the time I catch him until I get him home to "cut and gut"? I was thinking about a bucket, but I got these "stringers" for .25 from Walmart for stringing fish.(how do they work?) Also, do I fillet him alive? :( ...I don't know if I can handle that. Also, what do I bread or batter them with? Any and all suggestions are appreciated.

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Well a bucket should do fine...you dont have to fillet him alive just slice its head off and that should do...LOL!!!...also i only fry my fish...

If your in nj I'd worry more about the waters your fishing in first. Before asking how to prepare the fish. Ask around and do some research before taking that first bite!:O

I usually just pop them in a cooler while I'm fishing and then filet when I get back. Don't skimp on a knife ... a good filet knife can make a huge difference. It took some practice but I get it boneless just about every time. Also make sure that you know the water the fish came from is clean.

As stated above make sure to get a good sharp fillet knife, if its too short or dull then the fillets will be harder to cut and mess up. Also with the stringer there should be a metal end and a hoop on the other take the first fish put it through the gills and out the mouth then put the metal piece through the hoop. i personally just stun the fish and throw them in a cooler as i finish fishing. for filleting also liek said above just stun them and fillet them, at most you will see a little nerve twitch while you fillet, but its not bad. and yeah if your not too keen on filleting fish stunned or alive, just let them sit out of the water for abt 30 minutes. As far as cooking, my friend cooks fish good , i never cook it lol. he uses the microwave!! puts the clean fillets on a plate with lemon pepper , pepper and butter and cooks it in the micro! i had it on the grill for the first time the same way 2 weeks ago and it was great, its always fun to catch a fish and have it on the grill within 5 minutes :) gotta live striper fishing! If you would like tips on filleting and stuff, check out youtube!! youtube teaches many good things :) good luck and have fun!

I forgot to mention cooking. I always grill under relatively low heat and make a sort of tray for it out of aluminum foil. Also if you own or have access to one, a smoker can be absolutely great on fish like salmon.

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Originally Posted by AndrewGeibel

I forgot to mention cooking. I always grill under relatively low heat and make a sort of tray for it out of aluminum foil. Also if you own or have access to one, a smoker can be absolutely great on fish like salmon.

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x2 on the smoker my gpa uses my smoker for fish allll the time :)

you dont even have to filet them if you don't want to. de-scale it, cut off the head, pull out the guts, then batter and fry the whole fish. the meat pulls off the bone really easy and you get more meat than if you filet them.

i wouldnt eat fish from jersey unless you are like in the mountains or something. everyone knows new jersey has crazy polluted water and to catch and release well thats if your near where i am. but descale gut cut off head soak in lemon juice and pepper corn wrap in tinfoil and bbq and enjoy

I agree about checking the water conditions. As a massachusetts resident, we have NO clean water, and the only fish suitable to eat are stocked fish. Here sunnies are small and considered trash fish. Good luck.

You can bread them in cornmeal, flour, or breadcrumbs. It depends on what you prefer. You should season whatever breading you are using(salt and pepper etc), before you dredge the fish.

You can use a egg wash(egg with a little water or milk). Dip the fish in the wash, then into the breading to coat. Then fry in hot oil witha frydaddy type fryer, or into a hot pan.

If the fish are small, you might want to scale, head and gut them, and wash well, then cook the whole fish. If they are larger, then filet them. I usually don't scale the fish, instead I filet, and then skin the filets. Just slide the filet knife between the skin and meat to cut the skin and scales away from the meat. I'm just lazy that way, but the skin can be tasty as well, so that's up to you.

I'll eat most fish from most places, as long as it wasn't a sewage pond, and the fish doesn't have parasites I can see. Once I've cooked it thoroughly, I really don't think there's much that will hurt me. At least not on a rare meal of a few fish. If there's chemical or heavy metals etc etc.. it takes a supply of the contaminated fish to get the stuff stored up in you really, and I trust my body(as decrepit as it is) to get rid of most junk.

After all, I eat fish out of the St Johns river, in jacksonville... it can be nasty in spots.. eating the fish hadn't made me ill yet. Enjoy your fish!

Thanks guys!!! I'm gonna check the water to make sure it's not too bad, but I mean, I don't plan on eating that many...I' prefer land animals :D. Gotta get me a fillet knife and I'll ask around the lake to see if anyone eats them. I mean, people swim in it all the time with their kids, so the water must not be that bad.