Cheeks?

[CrappieMagnet]

i just saw a friend of mine fillet his 6 limit catch of walleyes and he cut out the cheeks?!!!
Cooked them in front of me and boy were tasty! Anybody else heard of people taking the cheeks?

[dfv87]

Best part! Have cut them out always. The cheeks are my daughter's favorit part! (she is 5 and likes the little pieces!)

[onthewall eyes]

Oh yeah they're top notch. When I get to the iffy one to throw in the pale you know 3-4 1/2lb eyes, I think about those tasty cheeks. and sacrifice and cut those steaks down to a half sandwich and throw them on bread after cooking em up with shorelunch. Ooh I luv that shorelunch.

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searchin skys for eyes

[Try Too Fish]

I have been cutting mine out ever since i was on a charter in Alaska and watched them do the same thing too Halibut!
Its the best part of the fish!too bad they are so small!

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Try Too Fish
Forced Too Work!!

[rmh2o]

All the time,a lot of people dont realize there is meat there

[Guest]

always, just like scallops

[LocalGuide]

To me that is the tastiest part of a walleye! That is what seperates them from the rest of the fish. I normally take them from fish 17" and up. The fish smaller than that isnt worth it b/c their cheeks are not that big.

MMMMMM, In fact I could go for some cheeks right now! I better go and catch some.

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AKA PikeEye 300

[CrappieMagnet]

Look what i've been missing out on all these years..the cream of the crop!Bummer

Scallops! Really?

[Powerstroke]

You know you've got it bad when you notice the puffy cheeks of a walleye even before you measure his length.

[WyoMin Fisher]

Nothing better than fresh cheeks on the shorelunch. The "scallops" are just splendid! I learned this about ten years ago when i got to Wyoming. Kind of makes me sad to think of all the wasted cheeks before then!

Scott

[gill man]

Yep, most any walleye over about 18 inches get's it's cheeks cut out now. Pretty good meat!

gill man

[2focused]

Yeah, I learned of this about 10 years ago up in Warroad at the cleaning shack. There was an older guy pulling what was left of the fish out of the barrels, and cutting the cheeks out. I've seen him there many times filling his 1 gallon ice cream bucket with cheeks. I wonder if that guy is still around?

[Ruttin' Buck]

Absolutely cut out the cheeks!

Also try what I've heard referred to as 'walleye shrimp'. On fish 18" or longer it is usually worth your time to cut out the round section around the ventral fins and the bony portion around it. Peel or fillet the skin off, cut the fins apart by placing them on a cutting board applying pressure with a knife to pop through the bone. Then throw the whole thing in the pan when you deep fry the fillets...they're good. Some people eat the fins, but you're going after the fleshy part around it. Maybe hard to explain but next time you fillet some decent eyes, give it whirl and eventually you'll figure out what I'm talking about.

[89Bronco]

They are great. I like them with garlic butter.

I think there are at least a couple of resorts on L.O.W. that serve fried walleye cheeks on their appetizer menu.

[Guest]

Pike also have some good cheek meat, the reason the Finns boil fish heads for soup is to get the cheeks out and not waste any of the fish. One of the old school ways to tell if the cheeks have let loose is the eyes float to the top.

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en kala
(I fish)

[Old Guide]

2focused, I was told that the fellow I think your ref. to passed on a few years back. I'm sure John made a whole lot of people happy over the years with the cheeks he gave them.

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Old Guide Charters
Lake of the Woods
http://fishingminnesota.com/oldguidecharters/
Call Toll Free:1-800-952-(9484)

[CrappieMagnet]

jees....you guys are thinking cheeks are the caviar of the fish?Funny how it took me so long too find out that they are edible...i'm 41...aint' that funny!

[icebum1]

How about those big 2 to 4 pound sauger, are they cheekable?

[Twigfishers]

Yes! I filleted up a mess of Sauger yesterday, and got some nice cheeks. Also nearly cut off my left index finger in the process. Going shopping for one of those steel mesh left hand gloves....

[Ice9]

Fishing bluefish on the Atlantic coast I have seen anglers take the cheeks and dump the rest. Disgusting but true. A fifteen pound blue will give up a cheek filet the size of a small hamburger, and people think the oily flesh of a bluefish isn't edible at that size. Something like cutting the fins off a shark and tossing it back in the ocean.

dave

[icebum1]

Thanks Twigfishers we catch a slug of em alot of 2 to 4,s , and the seldom 5 plus . Will surely put it to use this spring!

[Muskieguy]

Just be careful, and somebody correct me if I am wrong, but I am pretty sure in the state of MN the cheek filets count towards your limit. If you filet 1 eye, into 2 filets and 2 cheeks you have 4 total pieces of meat, hence 2 fish, not just 1 in the freezer.

Muskieguy....

[CornPirateKiller]

A friend showed me how to take the cheeks when I was about 16 years old and I've done it ever since. Last year on a trip to LOW, the gutbuckets in the fishcleaning house were full of nice walleyes that still had their cheeks. So, I started diggin' and cutting and came away with a meal of tasty cheeks!! Definitely worth the effort!!

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Quando Omni Flunkus Moritati (When all else fails, play dead)

[Swamp Scooter]

Funny that you had not heard of it before. I grew up taking them. They are tasty. I am going for some cheeks tonight as soon as I get home............

through the ice.........

With hook and line and bobber...

[Muskieguy]

I knew I read something about cheeks and limits. Below is a post I read from another fishing site a while back. Must just be a Canadian thing. According to the MN regs, a filet "is a part of fish flesh, excluding the cheeks"

Muskieguy..........

"I got a funny "Cheeks" story, when I was 18, I went to Canada for the first time. I went with my Dad, and a State Trooper buddy of his. All week long, I saved cheeks in a bag to bring home for a feast later. They were from fish we had for shore lunch, supper, and fish we had cleaned to bring home. I had a Ziplock of about 50! When we got to the border, we must have been the unlucky number, and got completely searched, and I mean COMPLETELY! They found my bag of cheeks after counting all of our individual filets. One enterprising boarder guard informed me that I was 50 filets over my limit! He went on to tell me that each cheek was considered a filet!!!!!!!!!!!!! He said he had to talk to his superior in the guard shack about what they were going to do. He came back out after about 15 minutes, and told us we had to leave the cheeks with them, and we were to put our stuff back in the car, and leave. And, don't let it happen again! You can bet those boys had quite a feast!"