Hybrid bluegill are fighters

Saturday, May 7, 2011
Dave Trostl, Burlington, Kan.. fishing below the historic Caplinger Mills historic bridge, a popular spot for visitors of all ages. (Submitted photo)

When David Farmer, Springfield, pulled out a pound bluegill from Stockton Lake last week, he thought he had hooked a 5-pound bass.

"It's amazing just how hard these bluegill fight," Farmer said. "If they got as large as a bass, you would need 10-pound test line to hold them."

Imagine what Farmer, or any other angler would think they had on their line if they had had hooked the 5-pound hybrid bluegill Ken Holyoke found when he drained out his Georgia pond.

The monster bluegill would have topped the world record but since it wasn't taken by rod and reel, it technically doesn't qualify for the official world record status.

Holyoke had spent years developing hybrid bluegill. The result is a fish that grows 300-percent faster than pure-strain bluegill. The hybrids he has grown are so aggresive that they have been known to strike a bare hook.

The big fish was 15 inches long with a girth of 24 inches and was nearly four inches thick.

Bob Watson, Columbia, recently hooked a big bluegill that weighed more than a pound and he said, "I thought I had a record fish the way it fought. I can't imagine hooking a bluegill weighing 5 pounds. You would need a catfish outfit."

In Missouri, the bluegill and sunfish grow big. The record bluegill was a 3-pounder. The state record green sunfish weighed more than 2 pounds and was caught from Stockton lake back in 1971.

It's great to get the larger 8-to-9-inch perch, but they are usually far and few between. Small perch and bluegill are just as good to eat and only a little more difficult to clean. With perch or bluegill, you have several options about cleaning as well as cooking.

The standard fillet technique is wonderful if your fish are the giant size, but if they are in the 6-inch range, you need to do something else.

"My grandfather was a panfish expert and he even developed his own short-handed knife to better handle the job of cleaning these smaller fish," Watson said. "The knife was nothing more than a paring blade that was cut to a length of about one inch. You don't need extra steel getting in your way. The panfish was cut on either side of the dorsal fin and the fin removed with plires. The skin was cut along the same line to the back of the head and then along the gill plate, but not down to the stomach area. The corner of skin, at the head and gill plate, was pulled back.

"Using the short knife he cut just through the backbone, following the gill cover cut. He didn't cut off the head as he slipped his thumb into the cavity and pulled in different directions. In one hand would be the head, skin and viscera, while in the other was the skinned body with the tail attached. The tail was cut off to make more room in the frying pan."

Cooking these panfish with the bones was the secert to enjoying them. It sounds like the way my mother would cook fish. They were shaken in flour and put into hot bacon fat and fried until they were golden brown. When the meat puled from the skeleton, they were done.

Small bluegill are also ideal for mock shrimp. This mouth-watering dish is made from perch that have been boiled to the point where they just turn opaque and then are chilled and served with cocktail sauce and a slice of lemon on a bed of lettuce.

Small perch, like crappie, can be fillted by cutting from the gill plate to the tail on each side of the backbone. Take the rib cage out with the cut. Laying the fillet skin down, make a J-like cut around the ribs. A quick seperation of the skin and you are done. In cleaning any panfish, it's important to keep your knife sharp. Also, work at a height where your back is straight. Cleaning these critters will take a little extra time, but, oh, are they worth it.

From now through summer, perch and bluegill are easily caught and furnish a lot of fun for the entire family. It doesn't take a lot of gear to catch them and they hit everything from worms to popping bugs. Nearly every body of water in the state has perch and bluegill and most are under-fished. Kids love to have the action and adults grown-ups know even a small bluegill hooked on ultra-light gear can produce plenty of fight.