Thanks for the post Jay. They are fun to catch, fighters for their size to say the least. Tasty is correct! How did you end up cleaning them.

Good Lord, you've got your work cut for you.......that's a lot of filleting!

He is a expert after yesterday's catch. I once ate Bluegill and crappie during the same meal. That was a mistake for the Crappie. To me, the Bluegill were NOT as good. Perch are close!

Kfedka- 1st batch from Tuesday I cleaned like I clean small perch (video link following in next reply). The batch from Thursday, since it was so huge and I was tired of picking bones out of my gums and stabbing my throat, I filleted. Used an electric knife to cut the fillets off. Then hand trimmed the ribs and skins. As MotoBoat suggested, by the end I WAS getting better at it and attaining a much better-looking and less wasteful fillet. I'd never filleted panfish until Thursday. Froze two packages of fillets as the wife said she was already tired of 'em after one meal. One thing I'd seen on YouTube re: panfish fillet-ing was people dunking their crappie fillets into a tub of ice water immediately cutting 'em off. What does this accomplish? Does it just waterlog the fillet? I did it this time just cause I'm not certain if it improves things. MotoBoat- Bluegill was a first. Never had crappie. Maybe I'll find a nice crappie lake - like Liberty - and try my hand at catching them. I've yet to see a crappie at Silver and game wardens (as mentioned elsewhere) say they're not attaining the 9" size limit anyways.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjTlFwQb7D0

Hello Jay K, that's a nice batch of bluegills there. I noticed you said you were "cutting off the fillets with an electric, Then hand trimming". Next time around, give this a try. When you cut the fillet with the electric, STOP just at the tail just before you would cut through the skin to make the fillet. Then flip the fillet (skin still attached to the tail) over at the end of the fish. Then use the electric knife to slice the meat off the skin. After a few tries, it almost becomes one slice to have a skinless fillet. I like to take a pair of shears (sissors) and cut around the ribs. To me it is easier than using the fillet knife. ANd if there is a youngster wanting to help with the cleaning, the shears are a safe way for them to be involved also.
It's good to hear you enjoyed them, and as has been said before, They are fun to catch.
Thanks for sharing your adventure

Great mess of 'gills but way more work than I'd want to undertake. I have to agree with you on the crappie at Silver, for the past couple years we've only been able to catch carbon copy 8" - 8 1/2" specimens, and I've been waiting for the size limit to be lifted. Way too many small ones, and they aren't getting any bigger either. I rate bluegill right up there with perch and crappie, they're definitely fine eating. Thanks for the nice report! :-)