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<\/p>\nA lot of anglers wonder why people fish bluegill when they are so small.<\/p>\n
One reason is that they taste good. Bluegill has a mild fish flavor without being overly so.<\/p>\n
Most people pan-fry bluegill and that makes them taste even better.<\/p>\n
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Contents<\/p>
Absolutely, perhaps only second to Walleye. Bluegill has a lovely firm white flesh that when pan-fried flakes nicely and holds its shape.<\/p>\n
Other fish with softer flesh sometimes cook up slimy, but not bluegill.<\/p>\n
Cooked bluegill is not overly fishy either.<\/p>\n
It has a mild fish flavor that pairs nicely with herbs, spices, or even just lemon and butter.<\/p>\n
Bluegill are perfect when cooked over a campfire in a pan with light oil. They are also good when cooked at home as fillets.<\/p>\n
You can braise them, fry them, or saut\u00e9 them.<\/p>\n
As a lakeshore lunch, they are hard to beat when simply fried with salt and pepper.<\/p>\n
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Worm mimics are good lures for bluegill, but they love live bait too, especially worms.<\/p>\n
Unlike other fish, you will need to thread the worm onto the hook to cover the hook completely.<\/p>\n
To catch blue gill you can cast out into a pond or a section of slow moving water in a river or pool.<\/p>\n
Smaller bluegill will hang new weed beds into which they will dart when predator pike, bass, or trout come near.<\/p>\n
You can fish for bluegill with a cane pole, spinning rod, or casting rod. Bluegills are small enough that a light weight, light action rod is fine.<\/p>\n
Aim for a 6-7 foot pole, with a lightweight reel – spinning reels in the 2,000 series range are good.<\/p>\n
You don’t need braided line to catch bluegill and a better line choice<\/a> would be mono or fluorocarbon.<\/p>\n Once you get the rod set up, you can cast out and then just either let the hook drift or reel it in slowly.<\/p>\n Small flies are awesome for bluegills. If you are jigging, Crankbaits and spoons work okay.<\/p>\n The best bait for bluegill are worms but worm mimic lures work amazingly well too.<\/p>\n The perfect set up for catching bluegills would be a small spoon with a minnow head.<\/p>\n Soft plastic worms are also good as jigs.<\/p>\n All that you need to do to clean bluegill is to gut them.<\/p>\n Take a pair of kitchen scissors or a sharp fillet knife and make a slit from the anus up to the pectoral fins along the belly.<\/p>\n Remove the guts and clean out in blood you see. Give the gut cavity a rinse and the bluegill is ready to fry.<\/p>\n The best way to cook bluegill is to fry them.<\/p>\n You can leave the skin on and just gut the fish.<\/p>\n Bluegill has a nice and mild flavor that you can enhance with garlic, salt, pepper, and butter.<\/p>\n The fish is cooked when the flesh feels firm and begins to flake.<\/p>\n Take the bluegill out of the pan, peel back the skin and then enjoy. Lemon, butter, and salt makes a basic tonic for bluegills.<\/p>\n You can go fancier and fillet the fish, dredge in egg, flour, and salt with pepper to taste and then fry it.<\/p>\n Bluegill serves up nicely with most sides include potato salad, mashed potatoes, and mixed veg.<\/p>\n In my opinion, bluegill tastes much better. Perch has soft flesh which can turn mushy or slimy.<\/p>\n The flavors are slightly strong with perch and bluegill is very versatile on the menu.<\/p>\n The entire category called Pan Fish or panfish are good eating. These include bluegill, sunfish, and perch including crappie.<\/p>\n Sunfish, perch and crappie have a slightly sweet taste, but they can be very soft when cooked.<\/p>\n Bluegill on the other hand has a mild flavor and the flesh is firm.<\/p>\n Walleye are similar in texture to bluegill with nice firm and flakey bites.<\/p>\n Cod and bluegill taste similar.<\/p>\n One problem in comparing cod and bluegill is that cod are often much larger, and it is more likely you would fillet the cod over pan-frying it.<\/p>\n If you fillet bluegill you lose a lot of the fish in the cleaning process<\/a>.<\/p>\n The smaller bluegill filet is often overpowered by seasonings and while the texture is firm, you gain a lot by leaving the skin on as you cook the fish.<\/p>\n Also, anglers like to enjoy the crispy tail of pan-fried bluegill.<\/p>\n Unless you are lost in the woods and have no way to make a fire you can eat bluegill raw.<\/p>\n You lose a lot of the natural flavor of the fish when it is eaten raw.<\/p>\n So long as the water in which you catch the fish<\/a> is not heavily polluted raw bluegill is okay.<\/p>\n Again, it is much better cooked, and you lose a bunch of risk of waterborne illness when you cook bluegill over eating it raw.<\/p>\n If you’re instead a catfish fan, it’s important to know when they spawn.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Best Lures<\/span><\/h2>\n
How Do You Clean Bluegill?<\/span><\/h2>\n
How Do You Cook Bluegill?<\/span><\/h2>\n
FAQ<\/span><\/h2>\n
What Tastes Better Bluegill or Perch?<\/span><\/h3>\n
What Fish Is Similar to Bluegill?<\/span><\/h3>\n
Does Bluegill Taste Like Cod?<\/span><\/h3>\n
Can You Eat Raw Bluegill?<\/span><\/h3>\n