Eating Sunfish

[anchor man]

What's the best way to clean and eat sunfish. I ate a few decent size ones last night and by the time you get past all the bones, there's not much meat. I rarely ever keep sunfish, so perhaps I'm not doing it right. I cut off the head, de-gut, cut off tail and scale them. am I on the right track?

[Slyster]

I never eat sunfish.. tasty as they are... because there's not enough meat to make them worthwhile.. (compared to a 4lb Northern lets say) But I hear some take a bucket of sunnies and grind them up! Everything! Making a sort of fish burger. Try that! (ewww)

[harvey lee]

If you filet them out and then trim the rib bones out you will have a small but nice piece of meat.I clean and eat alot of sunfish every year.

When it comes to eating sunnies I personally dont know of a better fish,even walleyes.

A big key is to have a very sharp and good knife. I have next to no waste when cleaning them and rarely find a bone.

I at one time 15 years ago cleaned them the way you are doing it and that takes way to much time.You can filet them in less time and get just as much meat.Just clean them like you would a walleye.

[eyepatrol]

I love eating sunnies also because they make a nice, crisp, fish fillet. If I want a "melt-in-your-mouth" fish, then walleye hits the pan.

I fillet them a little differently, although what Harvey Lee said works as well as anything. I start out by cutting from top to bottom behind the gill plate, then flip the back towards me and cut down the back the length of the fish. Keep cutting towards the belly until you hit the ribs, then slice over the ribs, and cut down to the belly until the fillet comes off the body. Then cut the skin off and you're good to go. A little different, but end result is the same...a nice fillet ready to be fried and eaten!

[schr0563]

I'll second Harvey Lee's method, but I'll recommend using an electric knife. It makes the process much faster (<1 minute per fish) and this is the best way to get the most meat off the bones. Skinning and ribbing is also very easy with the electric. ***Just a word of caution - using the electric knife will take some getting used to if switching from a regular fillet knife. Once you get the hang of it however, you will never go back to the "old fashioned way."

[fisherman-andy]

Anchorman your on the right step. Forget about fileting. What you want to get the most meat and flavor is to skin them using a pair of pliers. The trick is to make a surface cut just breaking the skin along the contour body of the fish from front to end and then use the pliers to rip the skin off. You wont even have to bother scaling the fish.

[harvey lee]

schr0563

A electric knife works great.But I can easly clean a fish a minute with my filet knife.But,I probably clean hundreds a year.You just need a good and sharp knife.I use to use cheap knives and then bought a couple very good knives and what a difference.

bc

I at one time tried to clean panfish the way you do and a friend of mine is very fast that way.I guess I,m so use to cleaning the way I have for so many years I wasnt willing to change.But yes,the way your doing it is very good.I guess whatever way you do it,enough times you will get good and fast.

[The Grebe]

I have a friend that cleans them like that, he's fast! Why, he can go through a limit of sunnies in about 5 minutes! Thing is, when he is done, you can't even tell they are fillets/ Looks like Freddie Krueger got pi$$ed and got busy!

I like my fillets uniform and completely boneless...part of the meal is the way the fillets look when they are cooked a golden brown...uniformity makes for better cooking control in my opinion. That and the comfort of knowing you aren't gonna choke on a bone, or get one of them boogers caught between your teeth and have to fight it to get it out!

I fillet the sunnies the same way as a walleye...cut from behind the gills, back toward the tail, right through the side bones and take the fillet right off. Once the fillet is off, I change tatics, from just over the top of the rib bones, I make an arcing cut toward the back where the ribs end, use a fork on the skin and fillet the meat right off, I don't keep the rib area...for the most part, not enough meat to bother with and alot of times the belly meat doesn't taste the best.

[eyepatrol]

Yep, both ways are good. It's basically the same thing; only real difference is you cut through the ribs then take the ribs off the fillet whereas I cut over the ribs and leave them with the body of the fish. Either way, ya still come out with a great, tasty fillet!

[riverrat56]

Two of us have cleaned a bucket of 40 sunnies in under a half hour using elecric knives and filleting like any other fish. Nothing better eating than a 7-8 in sunnie. I also don't bother with the meat under the ribs. Take the fillet off, flip it over cut the ribs out and toss it to your partner to skin. Slick system with 2 guys but works well with one also, just do all of one step them move to the pile of skin on fillets.

[fishinaddict]

I also use an electric knife. I always used to use a regular fillet knife and it worked fine, but it is quiker and you get more meat with the electric. You just need to be carefull not to cut through the backbone.

[Pherris]

I have a very simple way of cleaning them it goes like this: I am out fishing and the fish are biting I immediately get on my cell phone and call my brother ( he sometimes posts as Finspat) and say hey I got into the sunnies if I keep them will you clean them? He always says no problem just drop them off. So I do and the next day I have a package of fine sunny filet's. Easiest way I have found. Like Harvey Lee my brother cleans a lot of fish thru out the year. He is a good brother

[V-12 Merlin]

Pherris, I like your way of cleaning fish!

About the electric fillet knives, my brother-in-law got one for Christmas and has been telling me how nice it is... I might have to invest in one of those. Do they need to be sharpened as often as a regular fillet knife, and do they sharpen the same way????

[fishinaddict]

I was wondering the same thing about blade sharpening. I know you can buy extra blades though

[tonyjor]

I used to just scale them, cut the top fin, tail, and bottom fins/guts out. Then cut the head off(my Dad said do that last so you have a "handle" to to the other stuff first). Then you just leave the skin on and pan-fry them. The skin actually tastes really good, IMO. It's kinda salty and adds flavor to the fish. Anyway, after you pan-fry them, just take a fork and "lift" the spinal cord from the "head" end of the fish to split the fish in half. Then grab the thick end of the spinal cord and pull out the majority of the bones intact. I then take the fork to the ribs on each fillet and "flip" them out. Take the fork again and gently brush it across the top of the fillet where the dorsal fin was and to remove the sharp bones. No waste, quick and leaves you with a whole two halves of each fish to savor boneless. If they're big enough(7-8") I now fillet them like a walleye, but leave the skin on

[glenn57]

da best way to eat sunfish is to scale them first. leave the skin on.nothing better. i have a scaling pail, works good. flour,salt and pepper and a little lemon pepper and a pinch of homemade horseradish. mmmmmmmmm.

[juggs]

I give a hearty amen to the electric knife. Would never go back. As far as the blades go, I only ever buy replacement blades as opposed to having them sharpened. They run five or six bucks apiece and they last quite a while.

[ocf]

I've cleaned tons of sunnies (end up helpin my buddies with there limit) go behind the gill plate then back to the tail and then trim the ribs off, i use an electric scaler to scale all of em at once

[cliffy]

I clean them the same as a walleye. I just use a sharp knife and it seems to go just fine. I remember growing up and helping my grandpa clean them the old fashion way...clearing the scales with a spoon. It took forever..but what good memories. My dad has a thing-a-jig that looks like a bucket with a drill attachment....I guess you put the sunnies inside, connect a drill, spin the sunnies and the scales come right off. I have never seem him use it...but I guess it works. Go figure.

[mark n]

I'd like to take a look at one of those bucket scalers.

Anyone know where to find one, or have a pick?

Mark

[SpecialK]

Mills Fleet Farm in Lakeville has them. I think they were less than $20 but don't quote me.

They were in the first aisle of the fishing gear closest to the registers.

[ocf]

thats the thing i was talking about. u run it for bout 2 minutes and most scales come off DO NOT FORGET TO CHECK FOR SCALES STILL!!!

[mark n]

I'll check Fleet here in Fargo. Thanks for the info...

Mark

[tonyjor]

They also have ones that you pull behind your boat. I've never seen them work, but they must work somewhat or they wouldn't sell them. On anther note, has anyone used one of the "boards" from Cabelas that you put the fish in and use the double-bladed knife in the slit on the sides of the board? They're supposed to fillet panfish in one quick step.