Bluegill Recipes

Catching Bluegill is fun, but eating them is even better! Bluegill are known as one of the tastiest panfish around and are super easy to catch. Once you have caught all of the Bluegill you can, use some of my favorite Bluegill recipes to cook up your catch into a tasty lunch or dinner. Bluegill are as easy to cook as they are to catch and there are a number of different Bluegill recipes that will give you plenty of variety and options to suit your tastes.

Found in lakes and ponds across the United States and Canada, Bluegill are very easy to catch. This is a good thing because it takes a good amount of bluegill to fill a person up. Plan for anywhere from 4 - 6 fish per person per meal. A family of 4 could eat 16 - 24 fish for a nice dinner. Spend the day catching your dinner from pond to plate. Find out how to prepare your Bluegill recipe for cooking and some of the best recipes for cooking Bluegill.

Cleaning Filleting Bluegill

Bluegill are very easy to catch all day long through the late spring and summer. One of the best things about bluegill is that they are the best tasting of the panfish. Once you have caught your fill of bluegill you will need to prepare the fish for cooking. Before you can fillet a bluegill you must start by cleaning it.

Cleaning or pan dressing a bluegill is a simple process that needs just a few tools. To clean your bluegill catch, you will need a fish scaler, a sharp fish knife, and probably a pair of pliers. For speed you can use an electric fish knife for quick cleaning.

To get started the first thing you are going to want to do is remove the bluegills scales. You can use a fish scaler, a fork, spoon, or butter knife. Hold the bluegill by the tail and move your fish scaler from tail to head peeling off the scales. Next remove the bluegills head by using a sharp knife to cut through the head at the dark area of the fishes gills. Now cut the fish from the tail to the chest through the belly and remove all innards. Remove the tail and fins as desired. The bluegill you just caught is now ready to be cooked and enjoyed right on the spot or enjoyed later. If you prefer filleting your catch, read on.

Filleting bluegill once cleaned is just a few simple steps. Take your cleaned bluegill and cut from the tail end to the front along one side of the backbone taking care to run along the ribcage and backbone. Remove the first fillet. Next careful use your knife to remove the backbone and ribcage from the remaining fillet. Use tweezers or pliers to remove any remaining bits of bone from both fillets. With a little practice you can clean and fillet a bluegill in no time.

Cooking Bluegill

Like any panfish, cooking bluegill is pretty straightforward. Standardly bluegill is fried in a pan or deep fried, but it can also be baked, broiled, steamed, and grilled. Generally though you will be wanting to pan fry your bluegill catch. Once you have finished cleaning, filleting, washing, and drying your bluegills, you will want to batter your fish.

A simple batter that makes bluegill taste great is to beat an egg or two into one half of a bottle of light beer and then dip each bluegill fillet in, coating both sides. Next coat each side with corn meal, cracker meal, flour, or anything else you like. Finally put the coated fillets into a pan coated with some butter and a little bit of oil. Fry until golden brown, flipping the bluegill fillets every couple of minutes. You will usually want to have four to six fillets per person.

Serve with lemon and side dishes of cole slaw or beans, and some bread and butter. Down home cooking that is sure to be a new favorite. Cooking bluegill is easy and can be done right there on the shore for a great lunch. The next time you are catching bluegill, try cooking your catch right there for a nice treat.

Favorite Bluegill Recipes

I have found these Bluegill recipes to be my family and friends favorites so I wanted to share my Bluegill recipes. If you have any Bluegill recipes of your own you would like to share just drop me a line and I can add your Bluegill recipe to the collection. When you give a recipe that you have tried, let me know if you like it or not. All comments are welcome for my Bluegill recipes. I hope that you enjoy these Bluegill Recipes, I know that I do! Let me know what you think about them, and if you have any Bluegill Recipes of your own that you would like to share, just let me know. Bluegill are fun to fish for and great to eat, so go ahead and cook up some Bluegill and enjoy the fresh flavor.