Spring Panfishing

[rbranstner]

Well I love when the snow melts and everything starts to warm up but I really love when when the ice goes off the lakes and the panfish are up in the shallows. I got out twice last weekend and I am finally getting around to posting the pics. I brought my father in law out for his birthday and we had a great time.

A bucket full of panfish.








The Father in law and I.


Cleaning the fish.




I wanted to go this weekend again but the weather wasn't suppose to be good. I ended up smoking both days instead.

 

[wlkwichita]

Oh My!! Bluegill and Crappie!! Two of the sweetest and tastiest fresh water fish! What nefarious plans do you have for the delectable fishies??

 

[meateater]

What a Crappie day!

Oh how I love Panfish, good stuff.

 

[hounds51]

Nice fish! you got me itchin to go. By the way I also have a Lund boat, and love it.

 

[roller]

I love to catch both crappy and blue gill but I like to eat the Blue Gil more. I know you had fun and a good time with your father-in-law.

 

[cajunsmoke13]

Going to be some good eating. Nice catch.

 

[beer-b-q]

Nice catch those are some great looking Crappie & Blue Gill.

I had a couple of friends who went out and caught a bunch.
They were a couple of idiots because now nobody will let them fish in any of their ponds because of the number of fish they took.


269 Crappie and 9 Bass! Way over the limit on Crappie...

 

[Bearcarver]

Awful small bass too....

BC

 

[Bearcarver]

Nice bunch there RB !
Takes a lot of filleting, but boy are they ever tasty!!!!

Bearcarver

 

[eaglewing]

How about a tutorial on your filleting method since all you guys MUST BE experts buy now!!!

 

[rbranstner]

Oh boy thats a lot of fish to take out of a lake (depending on the lake side). It doesn't take long to clean out a lake if too many people do this. What is the limit on Crappie there? They must have been way over. Its only 10 per guy here in MN. We didn't pick up that man so I didn't have to check in the book to see what the limit was. It use to be 15 but I think they lowered it to 10 and you can take 20 sunfish per person.

 

[gofish]

Nice haul rbranster! How'd they tatse?

(We have spring Striped Bass running here in the Chesapeake Bay and I havent been able to get out

)

 

[cowgirl]

Great looking fish! I went out last weekend but didn't bring many home. Congratulations on the nice haul!

 

[rdknb]

looks like you and fil had a good time. I need to get my license and do some fishing, I live on the Chesapeake Bay and have plenty of fishing gear, just need the time

 

[fourthwind]

Nice bucket of slabs and gills.. Dont get a lot of good panfish here. do mostly Walleye and trout. I sure remember the days when I was a kid in Indiana, and I would go get myself a few slabs and smallies in the morning, and have my momma fry it all up in beer batter for lunch.. ahhh the yummmy memories.

 

[rbranstner]

They are frozen in the fridge now and will be pulled out to fry or boil in the future. I also like to make fish chowder some times. When I get a bunch of Northerns I also love to make pickled fish.

 

[smoke 2 geaux]

Roll the fillets in seasoned corn flour (fish fry) and fry at 365 til crispy. Split a loaf of good french bread down the middle. Scoop out some of the soft bread on the inside til your bread looks like a canoe. Brush the inside with a light layer of garlic butter and brown until slightly crispy. Fill one side of the bread with your fried fish fillets, a little lettuce, some onion and top with some coctail sauce and a few shots of Tabasco. Replace the top piece of bread and cut into pieces.

That's what I'd do with em.

Enjoy! Nice catch.

 

[Bearcarver]

Rules here in PA are:
Gamefish (Crappies, Catties, Gills, Perch, etc) ---- Combined species---50 per day.

Bass have to be either 12" or 15", depending on what time of year (Not open during spawning season).


BC

 

[beer-b-q]

They caught them in farm ponds, that is why nobody will let them on their property to fish now.
Here is Kansas the limit on Crappie is 50 and on Bass 5 and they must be 15" long.

They were stupid, they told everyone they knew how many they got.

 

[5lakes]

rbranstner, a coworker of mine pickles Northerns also but won't give me his recipe (it IS very good). If you don't mind, could you post yours? I'd love to try a proven way to do it, since I've never done it before.