Gobbler Nation

Can’t chase turkeys again until next spring so I’ll settle for these guys. They were eating caddies flys today and I just happened to have a few tied up.


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Hard to beat em in some hot grease!

They are very yummy! Pretty impressive on a fly rod.

Yep, and a little TarTar sauce on the side !

That's 1 of the things I missed about going to WV for spring turkey. We would always go fishing 1-2 afternoons.
Hard to beat quick deep fried gills & crappies with the occasional cat thrown in. Like eating candy!!

Yes sir, those are hard to beat! Crappie is right there with them.

Heh buddy that’s a lotta fun on a fly

Very nice

I'd rather eat small flake fish gills, sunfish, perch than larger flaked fish walleye, cat and pike...... I'll eat um all but given preference and someone else filleting them I'll take the smaller fish

I spoiled the family on bream. Filleted and skinned, no bones. Fried. Gil

I like most all inland fish. Perch, gills, crappies, walleyes and northern.
Perch being my favorite.

Hognutz wrote: ↑January 9th, 2023, 1:22 pm I like most all inland fish. Perch, gills, crappies, walleyes and northern.
Perch being my favorite.

Yeah your perch.... Ones round here may as well clean like smelt

I will agree Crappie, bluegill, and perch are in my opinion the best tasting fish. My son says catfish but I say no it must be panfish.However I won’t turn down a bass now and then.

for me its walleye

TINEnSPUR wrote: ↑January 11th, 2023, 4:15 pm I will agree Crappie, bluegill, and perch are in my opinion the best tasting fish. My son says catfish but I say no it must be panfish.However I won’t turn down a bass now and then.

I'm with ya small flake fish.. Take them all day over larger flaked fish walleye, like etc....

Batter and cook is huge too

wisgobbler997 wrote: ↑May 31st, 2022, 6:31 pm
Can’t chase turkeys again until next spring so I’ll settle for these guys. They were eating caddies flys today and I just happened to have a few tied up.


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I have to agree on a bunch of Bluegills.

I’m particular to yellow perch caught through the ice. I think it’s the same family as the bluegills

I concur. Perch have a unique sweetness that is hard to beat. But I will never turn down a plate of gills, crappie or walleye. I've eaten a bunch of them all.
Oh wait, I've got a bite!

Obviously, you have never eaten Redear Sunfish (Shellcrackers). Last year we did a blind taste test with about 15 folks, fried and grilled, bluegills, shellcrackers, and crappie. The shellcrackers were the hands down favorites and the crappie was a distant third. We don't keep anything which can't be filleted. For those who don't want fried fish, I put a little olive oil on the fillets, sprinkle them lightly w/ some of my homemade bbq rub and grill them on foil for 3-6 minutes. They never make it to the tarter or hot cocktail sauces.

They are a little out of my stomping grounds.
I can't cast that far!
Any panfish, in general, works for me.
Did you have any yellow perch in that blind taste test? It very well may have skewed your result.

As a former Fisheries Biologist, I've eaten about everything which swims and is edible, and a few that weren't. Yellow perch, walleye, and sauger are on the top of my best fish list. You don't know what you're missing if you've never eaten fried buffalo ribs or fish cakes made with red horse or suckers. I worked on a project for four years involving paddlefish and it is without doubt one of the most versatile and best eating of all the fresh water fishes. I've blackened paddlefish, fried it, broiled it. grilled it, and boiled it cubed in shrimp boil as an horsdoeuvre. Stripped bass has firm flesh and can be cooked in a myriad of ways, but my favorite is cajun blackened. After filleting sauger, we always boiled the heads and backbones to make our "fish stock" which was a gelatin at room temperature and was the base for a great sauger fish chowder or soup. I really feel sorry for folks who don't like or appreciate fresh water fish, and I agree, a mess of bluegills is hard to beat. My girls were raised on butter braised bluegills w/ scrambled eggs as a premier camping breakfast. As my youngest daughter would say, "YUM"!

I not a fishery biologist but I have caught and eaten most everything that swims in the upper Midwest. I totally agree with the perch, walleye and sauger statement. As I stated before, perch leads the list for me because of its unique taste.
Any of the panfish are worthy also. I go out of my way for a deep fried bluegill.
An overlooked fish up here is the northern pike
Kind of pain to fillet but actually a very tasty, flaky white meat.
In the end, it's what you have fun catching and then eating. It's a fun game!

Hognutz wrote: ↑March 5th, 2023, 6:40 pm I not a fishery biologist but I have caught and eaten most everything that swims in the upper Midwest. I totally agree with the perch, walleye and sauger statement. As I stated before, perch leads the list for me because of its unique taste.
Any of the panfish are worthy also. I go out of my way for a deep fried bluegill.
An overlooked fish up here is the northern pike
Kind of pain to fillet but actually a very tasty, flaky white meat.
In the end, it's what you have fun catching and then eating. It's a fun game!

Sally would on the pike by far her favorite fish to eat...

She had good taste, Tom. In more ways than one....