Sunfish, scaled and breaded

[TurbineBlade]

If you haven't tried fried sunfish on-the-bone you're missing out!  I consider them to be among the best eating fish there are.  They're also highly sustainable and it doesn't take anything near the 50-per-day limit VA prescribes in the regulations.  A dozen does 2 people very well. 

Scaled/gutted fish taste a lot better than fillets, period.  It's more work, but there's just something about it if you haven't tried it yet.  Plus, it wastes a lot less with smaller fish like sunnies.  I state all of this knowing that the (what Beth and I call) "fish-arrogant" reading this forum will be frothing at the mouth at an opportunity to demonstrate their 50 years of passed along, toothless fishing "wisdom" by proclaiming that any fish ain't big enough to fillet ain't big enough to keep, but they (or you, if it's you) are idiots.  I like skin and bones on the fish I'm eating -- so go pound sand ;). 

Anyway -- it doesn't get much better than catching feisty sunfish on a 81F, sunny day on your canoe and then taking home a full stringer of delicious fish that you can enjoy that evening when you're tired and ready to lay around ;).  We usually go for the "Andy" breading, but I've heard Italian spice varieties are good as well.  We need to experiment more. 

It can't be beat this time of year folks! 

Gene

[namfos]

Omega 3s! I catch and cook sunfish (plus other panfish and LMBs too) practically every day when I'm on vacation in Ontario in August.  I usually filet them. I also fry 'em up after dipping/breading.  Fun part is winging it with whatever spices and other ingredients are handy. One can use any number of beer brands for the egg batter and for the breading I've used pancake mix, crushed potato chips, mashed potato mix, various breakfast cereals, digestive biscuits, pretzels, etc. etc.. Leftover batter and breading get mixed and fried up as "hush puppies" of a sort.

Mark

[TurbineBlade]

Pancake mix!  I hadn't thought about that, but it sounds interesting. 

I enjoy filleted fish as well, but find it somewhat more dry and with slightly less flavor.  Just a personal preference.  Everything we ate up on the boundary waters was filleted though and I really enjoyed it, especially pike. 

The fun part up there (and likely Ontario as well) was making sure you had a good fire (smoke) going near the fryer to keep the mosquitoes off of you ;). 

Gene

On Monday, June 20, 2016 at 10:04:28 AM UTC-4, namfos wrote:

[namfos]

Bisquick too.

I used to buy really cheap cigars, the kinds with the plastic mouthpiece, to keep the skeeters away. I think the brand was El Stinkadoro. We vacation in the last couple of weeks of August and the mosquitoes ain't too bad. It's the freaking deer flies I hate.  Earlier in the season the bug situation is a bit worse. Thought there are some Hexagenias that come off then too.

Mark

[tperkins]

Backwood cigars are my go-to bug repellent cheap cigar. 

[TurbineBlade]

Ha!  Backwoods cigars are a guilty pleasure of mine as well....or at least they were.  I can remember going through several the last time we camped on the Savage last summer.  I've been trying to clean up though -- can't give in to temptation. 

Whatever you do, keep those hexagenias off of you.  They leave welts!  ;)

Gene

[namfos]

When I was made a friar of the Church of the Significant Rise Form on the banks of the Holy Water during the Trout Bum BBQ III in '97, I was required to ingest 3 very large "Michigan Caddis" (Hexagenia limbata) chased with my choice of single malt (Macallan 18) Nutty/proteiny tasting. Not at all like chicken. Somethow I managed to avoid the full submersion baptismal part - I think all the other friars were too inebriated to wrestle with a guy 20 years their junior. ;-)

Mark 

[arthur...@gmail.com]

Thats hilarious!

Art 

Sent from my iPhone

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[TurbineBlade]

Ditto -- that's a good one Mark ;).  

Gene

On Wednesday, June 22, 2016 at 5:54:12 PM UTC-4, arthur noglak wrote:

Thats hilarious!

Art 

Sent from my iPhone

On Jun 22, 2016, at 4:37 PM, namfos <mark....@gmail.com> wrote:

When I was made a friar of the Church of the Significant Rise Form on the banks of the Holy Water during the Trout Bum BBQ III in '97, I was required to ingest 3 very large "Michigan Caddis" (Hexagenia limbata) chased with my choice of single malt (Macallan 18) Nutty/proteiny tasting. Not at all like chicken. Somethow I managed to avoid the full submersion baptismal part - I think all the other friars were too inebriated to wrestle with a guy 20 years their junior. ;-)

Mark 

On Tuesday, June 21, 2016 at 10:20:46 AM UTC-4, TurbineBlade wrote:

Whatever you do, keep those hexagenias off of you.  They leave welts!  ;)

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[namfos]

It also has the advantage of being true. ;-)

Mark

[TurbineBlade]

“Tragedy is when I cut my finger. Comedy is when you fall into an open sewer and die.”
― Mel Brooks

Gebe

[namfos]

Very very funny man, that Mel.

[Dave Stephenson]

Man, those pictures remind me of being a kid; not that it's been 40 years since feasting on sunnies. But it felt good to be able to contribute to the family larder by digging some worms and catching dinner for my mom. Down in the brackish waters of SE Virginia it was nothing to catch a stringer of deep purple Bluegills that would average 1lb + back then. Too much nitrogen and crap in the water now for that to be common.

[TurbineBlade]

I wish I could say that fishing for and eating sunfish reminds me of being a kid, but I didn't start fishing until I was in college.  However, much like trains, fishing for sunfish is fun for ages 3 to 100.  If I had to choose just one fish to catch the rest of my life, it would be bream!

Gene

On Saturday, June 25, 2016 at 8:05:47 AM UTC-4, Dave Stephenson wrote:

[Carl Z.]

You were able to fish the Hex hatch and not get baptized?  I must walk around too much when fishing the hex hatch.  Wading in chest deep water in the dark seems to lead to getting wet.

Carl

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[namfos]

So you've fished the Holy Water, Carl? 

The baptism I avoided was apres fishing, the whisky-drinking-cigar-smoking-wrassle-your-ass-into-the Holy-Water kind. Self-baptism was readily and easily committed independently and in broad daylight when I misjudged depth of truly crystal clear water while stepping off the bank. ;-) Much hilarity ensued. 

Mark

[namfos]

You need this t-shirt, Gene.

[andrewm...@gmail.com]

This thread has inspired me to keep all of the sunnies and blues my kids and I catch this weekend in WV. They always ask if we can eat what we catch, and I say "no" just because I don't want to go through the process. But this weekend, for America and my kids, we are going to fry some bream. Thanks guys. 

[Carl Z.]

Mark,

I fished near Greyling last year, but just two evenings and the hex hatch was down.  Supposedly it was OK before I got there and really even better after I left.  I hooked up with quite a few brookies, but I think I only heard one "gulp" in the evening.  There was some Led Zeplin coming from one of the cabins that made it a rather surreal experience at dusk.

I plan on going back some time.

Carl

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[Dalton Terrell]

Looking forward to heading back to Northern Michigan (Traverse City-ish) and finding some hexes over the next week. I didn't get baptized last year in my first hex experience but my cell phone did in the no longer waterproof pouch.

Dalton

[namfos]

Carl:

The northern half of Michigan's mitten is really nice. I haven't been back there in too damn long. Nowadays if I do my fishing in the dark, I prefer to be on a lake and in a boat. Wading in the dark of night is, at this point in life, asking for it. ;-)

Mark

[namfos]

Andrew: 

Think of dressing out those fish as an anatomy lesson for your kids. Boys seem to dig it most and for a longer period of time, though our youngest, she's now 26, still likes to watch me clean my catch for the frying pan. She's also the only one my my womenfolk who will eat fresh fish too. But then again she has a sort  of professional interest: she's a RN.

Mark

[TurbineBlade]

Glad to inspire someone to enjoy an awesome resource with their family! All it takes is that first step folks. "I am going to both fly fish AND keep a few fish today. This doesnt make me a bad person." For the lifelong brainwashed, you'll only hate yourself for an hour or so. Less if you have beer.

And yes, I'd wear that shirt to any stream or fly fishing event!

[Carl Z.]

Gene,

To properly dispatch fish with the appropriate respect, you need a priest.

They are only asking $300 for this one.

Carl

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On Thu, Jun 30, 2016 at 6:42 PM, TurbineBlade <doubl...@gmail.com> wrote:

Glad to inspire someone to enjoy an awesome resource with their family!  All it takes is that first step folks. "I am going to both fly fish AND keep a few fish today.  This doesnt make me a bad person." For the lifelong brainwashed, you'll only hate yourself for an hour or so. Less if you have beer.

And yes, I'd wear that shirt to any stream or fly fishing event!

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