# Small fish recipes?



## 72shane (Sep 16, 2010)

I have a stock pond that is over populated with rock bass. They wont get any bigger than 4" or so. I was wondering what would be the best way to clean/prepare them to eat? Scaleing, de-heading, and gutting like i normally do will work but its slow. Any ideas? Thanks....shane


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## Oldcountryboy (Feb 23, 2008)

You could skin them out but 4" isn't gonna make a very big bite? You can skin them out by slitting a cut from the back of the head all the way to the tail, going around both sides of the top fin. Then make a slit down the belly all the way to the tail and around the both sides of the bottom fin. Then make cuts on both sides of the head from the top slit to the bottom slit. Take a pair of pliers and pull the skin, scales and all down to the tail and off. Using your pliers grab the fins and rip them out and then twist the head off. The entrails will come out still attached to the head. 

With a bunch of little 4 inchers, I think I would scale them out and just remove the head, fins, and entrails. Then I would can them for fish patties. That wouldn't be faster cleanning but I think you would enjoy the meal better.


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## 72shane (Sep 16, 2010)

I wonder if i grind them up, bones and all, mix the meat/bones with cornmeal, form in a ball , drop in hot oil....would it cook away the bones reckon?


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## Paquebot (May 10, 2002)

72shane said:


> I wonder if i grind them up, bones and all, mix the meat/bones with cornmeal, form in a ball , drop in hot oil....would it cook away the bones reckon?


Yes, yes, yes! Scale, remove head, entrails, and tail. Use side-cutters or kitchen shears to trim the sharp dorsal and anal fin off. Then into the grinder. Never made fish balls but converted a lot of otherwise junk fish into delicious pan-fried patties. Salt, pepper, onion, and cracker crumbs for basic recipe. And an egg for a binder. 

Martin


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## 72shane (Sep 16, 2010)

Paquebot said:


> Yes, yes, yes! Scale, remove head, entrails, and tail. Use side-cutters or kitchen shears to trim the sharp dorsal and anal fin off. Then into the grinder. Never made fish balls but converted a lot of otherwise junk fish into delicious pan-fried patties. Salt, pepper, onion, and cracker crumbs for basic recipe. And an egg for a binder.
> 
> Martin


Shoot yeah! That sounds like a plan! I'll give that a try...thanks.


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## Paquebot (May 10, 2002)

Being small, you won't have to worry about removing the spine. If you have a 3/16" plate for the grinder, that would work best. 1/8" hamburger plate makes the texture a bit finer than you might like but better than fish sticks!

Martin


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## 72shane (Sep 16, 2010)

I know i have a 1/8", i use it all the time. I have a few others ill have to check the size. Looking forward to trying it...thanks again.


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## Oldcountryboy (Feb 23, 2008)

Paquebot, I've never grinded fish bones and all in a grinder before. Do you have to flatten out the patties purty flat to cook the bones crispy? What's the biggest fish you've ground up with a grinder?


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## Paquebot (May 10, 2002)

Oldcountryboy said:


> Paquebot, I've never grinded fish bones and all in a grinder before. Do you have to flatten out the patties purty flat to cook the bones crispy? What's the biggest fish you've ground up with a grinder?


The fish involved in the OP's are just little things where even the backbone isn't very hard. Grinder will crush them up to where they might be the consistency of cornmeal. 

Biggest that I've ever ground would have been about 15 to 18 pound Northerns. A friend used to do a lot of ice fishing for walleyes but also often caught some nice Northerns. He didn't care for Northerns so he'd give them away to whoever wanted them. Of all his friends, I was the only one who also wanted them for the roe. Thus I'd end up with all the females. They would be skinned and the backbone and fins removed. None of the small bones were ever removed. After running them through a 3/16" sausage plate, and making a fish cake patty about 3/4" thick, seldom detected that there were bones in it. 

Martin


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## poorboy (Apr 15, 2006)

You can filet them little ones ( much quicker than scaling), then chop in pieces, teaspoon o' salt inna pint jar, pack fish in on top, pressure can, Homemade Tuna...:goodjob:


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## Oldcountryboy (Feb 23, 2008)

Thanks Martin, I'm gonna give that a try. It sounds good, and easy! I might enjoy that better then canning them and then making fish patties.


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## GBov (May 4, 2008)

I never NEVER would have thought of grinding small fish up, bones and all!

Do you still have to scale them or will the scales grind up too?

Do the bones really all grind up safe for kids to eat?

I know my grinder does a good job and I have that size of plate.............

Will it work for all small fish? 

The kids and I have a contest going on who catches the smallest fish. Have resisted fishing the pond that borders teh park we play at because they get so upset at letting the little fish go so if we could fish patty them, well, they would be thrilled at taking the "winner" and all its friends home to dinner!

And that will tell you all you need to know about our fishing ability :smiley-laughing013:


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## Paquebot (May 10, 2002)

GBov, you've never eaten fish sticks? Ground up fish! If you ate them in the 1950s and 1960s, they quite possibly were carp and buffalo fish netted in Wisconsin and processed in Missouri. 

We always scaled the bass family but skinned the Northerns and suckers. Minnow type, such as creek chubs and dace, wouldn't have to be scaled. One would never think of scaling smelt and I can eat a pound of those in one sitting!

I also can't think of any fish that we have which would not be good for fish cakes but never tried them all. Also seldom ate them plain. Go back to reply #4 for basic ingredients and then search for fish cake recipes for variations. My mother usually had a hand-cranked grinder set up in her kitchen at all times. She was also an avid angler who brought home every legal fish that she ever caught. Whatever it was, we ate it! 

Martin


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## Oldcountryboy (Feb 23, 2008)

GBov, sounds good doesn't it? I hope to go do some fishin this weekend. No matter what I catch, it's coming home with me. The rough and small fish is going in the grinder, the rest directly in the frying pan. Can't hardly wait?


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## Paquebot (May 10, 2002)

Remember, though, if it's a fish that you normally would not eat as a filet, it won't taste any better ground and cooked as is. That's what the onion, salt, and pepper are for. Even recall my mother sometimes throwing in a pinch of sage. But as stated before, look for fish cake recipes. Some of the best are from Europe where almost all of the freshwater fish are "rough"!

Martin


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## backwoodsman (Jan 21, 2010)

Around here alot of small panfish/roughfish etc get ground up. We dont do it but many do. You can fillet those little panfish out lickity split with an electric fillet knife. Wifes grandfather never threw a fish back and he filleted them all with one. You can skin those panfish just like a catfish too if are dressing them whole. Farmers and landowners use to love to see him coming. He'd thin one of those stunted ponds out of bluegill and crappie in no time. If your a trapper or turtler those scraps will come in handy too.


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## GBov (May 4, 2008)

Oldcountryboy said:


> GBov, sounds good doesn't it? I hope to go do some fishin this weekend. No matter what I catch, it's coming home with me. The rough and small fish is going in the grinder, the rest directly in the frying pan. Can't hardly wait?


All we managed to catch were a dozen one inch Bluegills and half a dozen American Flag Fish (2 inches long lol) in the minnow trap. Oh, and lots and lots of water weed and fire ant bites.

HATE those nasty little things :grumble:

But the baby fish didnt go to waste, they now reside in the pool next door. Its an empty house so the pool is more a breeding pond for mosquitoes than anything else.

Anyone know a good recipe for REALLY TINY fish? I swear, when it comes to fishing if we didnt have bad luck we'd have no luck at all :hysterical:


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## big rockpile (Feb 24, 2003)

Little Fish = Big Catfish

big rockpile


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## quietstar (Dec 11, 2002)

I recall platters of spicy Gar Balls on Louisiana plank tables in the shade of Oaks hung with Spanish moss. For almost any fresh fish you can Grind well, season and fry or bake for wonderful eating...Glen


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## jwal10 (Jun 5, 2010)

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y51LJ_s64_k[/ame]

Fish fry.
Even the little ones make great Chowda'....James


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## backwoodsman (Jan 21, 2010)

Yep the electric knife works great. Takes a little getting used to so the small ones would be a great place to start. Use a non-electric for removing the ribs and you save a little more meat too. They took the crappie and bluegill size restriction off a local lake and we've been filleting 5" bluegill, warmouth and crappie all summer.


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