The Perch are Biting

Although I've been doing a lot of paddling lately, I haven't been fishing much. Recently I have been seeing schools of perch swimming by, so I decided to catch a few to eat yesterday. It went pretty well despite the windy conditions, and the yellow Mr. Twisters on an 1/8 oz jig were the ticket.

Bet that was one tasty meal!

I just got them filleted and got almost 1lb 6oz of meat. I'm also making about a quart and a half of fish broth. This is the first time I've filleted panfish and made broth in over 35 years. Lately I've only been keeping a couple fish and frying them whole. I am looking forward to eating them. The broth is almost done, but I need to go and get more oil to fry them up later.

The broth turned out pretty good. I added some noodles, wild mushrooms and topped it off with some grated parmesan cheese.

When it comes to cleaning and eating pan fish I have only had large bluegill. They 're a bugger to clean but one of the best eating. I've never cleaned perch. How did you cope with the bones? Broth looks really good .

I never knew perch where good eating till an old friend told me how good they were. Then I would take one of my 3 kids in the Grumman aluminum canoe each week, catching bluegills and perch, then home for a feast. Ummmm, good eating, Cleaning a mess of panfish and perch was kind of a hassle, but great memories.
Those are nice size perch Al.

Yum, perch are one of my favorites.

Very lightly battered perch and pickerel are my favourite fish n chips.
What is this fish broth all about?

Looks delicious, yellow perch are good eating.

Penns Woods said:

When it comes to cleaning and eating pan fish I have only had large bluegill. They 're a bugger to clean but one of the best eating. I've never cleaned perch. How did you cope with the bones? Broth looks really good .

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The big difference between bluegills and perch that I noticed is that the perch are harder to scale. As far as the bones in that fish stock I pour it through a strainer.

Perch are very good eating, after all, they are a smalll cousin of the walleye.

Odyssey said:

What is this fish broth all about?

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I've always liked making different kinds of soup and thought this would be a good way to make use of the carcases instead of throwing them away. I'd been doing it since college, my room mate say's it saved him after he had his wisdom teeth pulled. My wife hates it, I'm not even sure if I'm allowed to make it in the house anymore.
One time early on I was making it from bluegills and I included the skins. At that time I was boiling it hard for around two hours ( fish stock only takes about 45 minutes to an hour on a low boil). It was a very strong broth and judging how it made my mouth tongue and lips stick together I think it would have made an excellent glue.

lowangle al said:

My wife hates it, I'm not even sure if I'm allowed to make it in the house anymore.

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Seeing Al's post reminds me of the time I was up on the New York AuSable River and hooked a large brown trout to bad to let go so I took him back to the camper to cook up for dinner. Believe me you do not want to fry a large trout in a truck camper. I had the privilege of living with that smell for a few days.

Penns Woods said:

Seeing Al's post reminds me of the time I was up on the New York AuSable River and hooked a large brown trout to bad to let go so I took him back to the camper to cook up for dinner. Believe me you do not want to fry a large trout in a truck camper. I had the privilege of living with that smell for a few days.

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I think trout have an extra fishy smell, probably from still having the skin on them and you need to fry them longer, and sometimes the smell does hang around for a while.


The cold handled frying pan worked great. It heated up quick and this one has a pouring spout that made pouring the oil out easy. It also cleaned up quick by wiping the oil out with a paper towel and then dowsing it with boiling water.


This is about one portion. My friend and I just ate the rest, so those seven fish made three decent portions. That would have been the same if I fried them without being filleted. This way there was less fish but more breading and no fussing with bones. I did not remove the pin bones and I didn't need to, I only chewed on a couple.

lowangle al said:

I think trout have an extra fishy smell, probably from still having the skin on them and you need to fry them longer, and sometimes the smell does hang around for a while.

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The cold handled frying pan worked great. It heated up quick and this one has a pouring spout that made pouring the oil out easy. It also cleaned up quick by wiping the oil out with a paper towel and then dowsing it with boiling water.

View attachment 158110
This is about one portion. My friend and I just ate the rest, so those seven fish made three decent portions. That would have been the same if I fried them without being filleted. This way there was less fish but more breading and no fussing with bones. I did not remove the pin bones and I didn't need to, I only chewed on a couple.

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STOP IT, I'm getting hungry

When I was a kid in the 1950-60’s we caught yellow perch off piers in Lake Michigan using cane poles with a couple of hooks and minnows for bait. Easy to catch and great eating. By the 1970-80’s they mostly disappeared from the lake. About the same time the commercial fishery ended also. Too bad, it was great fun and cheap to do. Now it seems it is sport fishing for salmon and trout, mostly from expensive charter boats.