Let's Eat!!!

They don't call them panfish for nothing! Bluegills, crappie, perch. All just right for the frying pan. Nothing better than a batch of freshly fried fish, even during the summer months. Here are a few tips to getting your catch ready to cook and some ideas to kick up the flavor a little.

I hear it all the time, especially with summer crappies, that the meat gets "mushy". As the water warms, the meat in them does get softer, and if you've eaten crappie caught through the ice, and compare them to crappie caught this time of year, you'll notice, there is a difference. So, what to do? Ice them down. Chilling the fish right after you catch them will firm up the meat. I would also, after cleaning them, keep them in an ice water bath for a couple hours.

I also hear that during the summer, bluegills can get to tasting "green". Sort of weedy flavored. Must be the change in habitat from the cold water months that does something to them. I'd do the same thing as with the crappie, keep them on ice. After you clean them, you can soak them in salted water or milk, and that should take care of that "weedy" taste. I'd soak them for a couple hours in the refrigerator, then rinse them well.

With all fillets, before you bread them for frying, dry off the fish well. I have some time tested secrets to both add flavor and keep the breading on the fillet too! Now, the classic way is to set up a dredge. A dish with flour, one with a beaten egg and milk mixture, then breadcrumbs. Works great, but can be messy. Be sure, though, to season the flour and bread crumbs with whatever spice combo you want, and to YOUR taste. There are a lot of really good spice mixtures out there, so do some experimenting.

What I like to do is a little different. I found a trick that REALLY enhances the flavor of the fish, plus will help keep the breading on while frying. Dry off the fish like before, then coat the fillets with, get this, YELLOW MUSTARD!!! Then, bread them just as you usually would. It may sound strange, but it works. Bluegill are already sweet, but there's just enough vinegar in the mustard to really make the fish POP. It really does work, and the mustard flavor doesn't overpower. It only enhances.

Another trick is to use ranch dressing to coat the fish. Milder flavor for sure, but the buttermilk in the dressing, plus all the added spices really hit the mark. I like to use a cajun spice blend in the breading, as the flavor really works well with teh ranch dressing spices.

The fish have really been cooperating this summer, especially the crappies. I still have a freezer full of walleye though, so at this point, they're all going back in the lake or getting sent home with fishing partners.

WKYC OUTDOORS UPDATE

There is now an email update service available to you from WKYC. It's an email update of Betsy Kling's Friday Fishing Forecast plus our weekly video story. To sign up, go to www.wkyc.com/outdoors and the form is at the bottom of the page.

This week, look for PART 2 of Trolling Tips with walleye pro Gary Zart. This week, Gary will be discussing trolling with jet divers. Part 1 covered dipsey diver basics and is available on-line through the link above.

Big week coming up, as Monday I get certified in "Passport to Fishing" training, plus Thursday I'll be exploring Yellow Creek in Bath, Ohio with Mike Greene from Metroparks, serving Summit County. Should be a fun story to shoot, unless the weather goes rotten!

For FREE fishing reports from around Ohio, please log on to our partner site at www.ohiogamefishing.com and check them out.

I'm Carl "Big Daddy" Bachtel, thanks for stopping by.

To contact Carl with feedback, story ideas, outdoors photos, anything at all, you can email him at cbachtel@wkyc.com.