Ultimate Bluegill Catch & Cook With the Griz
Dick Grzywinski, better known as the Griz, is a fishing legend in the Upper Midwest. Here, the Griz and his buddy Lance demonstrate how they catch bluegills through the ice and fry them up afterward. Rather than filleting bluegills, the Griz prefers to scale and gut them. Follow his technique for the ultimate panfish fry.
Chapters:
0:00 Intro
0:55 Catching bluegills through the ice
7:33 Scaling and gutting the fish
9:21 Frying fish
Read the full story here:
44 Comments
As a 46yo man from the southeastern US, I agree. Knock off scales, remove guts and cook whole. So much meat gets wasted by cutting off the head
I just want to thank grizz for sharing his knowledge with us as a fellow mn guy I can’t get enough of his know how
I agree. The skin (scaled) and tail fin are great eating!… not fins behing the gills, dorsal and ventral fins. I use crushed original recipe Cap'n Crunch breakfast cereal as a breading fried in peanut oil. It's amazing!
Cabelas (Bass Pro) sells a rotating drum scaler that will remove scales from up to 30 panfish in about 20 minutes. It's super easy. The "waste" water is some of the best garden fertilizer you will ever have.
If you like the idea of biting into a box of toothpicks…..do it his way……….otherwise ……fillet 'em…..
I liked and subscribed from the opening statement. Lol. I agree…. I love bluegill. Mmmmmm
If you're not an idiot, you can get the carcass reasonably clean with a good knife and technique. I'm not eating the damn eyes, so there isn't much that a competent fish filleter should be leaving behind if they actually take their time.
Damn! This cat loves him some bluegills.
Pretty much how I used to clean and cook them with a couple slight differences. Quit fishing as you can't catch any that meet the size limit and hardly ever will as they are overpopulated with stunted growth. Then if you do happen to find a legal size school you can only keep 10 on a lot of lakes so you'd have to go at least 3 times just to get enough for one person to eat as I do not know anyone above age 10 that is not going to eat 30 bluegills in one sitting. So if you have a family of 5 that's 15 fishing trips just to get enough for one meal that is if you can even catch enough for a meal in one year of fishing. Not worth the hassle because guess what there is a possession limit so you can not even keep enough in the freezer to build up to a meal as it's illegal to have that many in your possession. Whole system is 🤬so just gave up on it.
God made bluegills round like a tortilla. Just heat it in a microwave, put it in a tortilla, fold it, and eat.
I filet Bluegill, Shellcrackers and Crappies. You ain't man enough to shoot me.
I don't fillet all the large mouth bass I keep either
This is what a well lived life looks like
The real tip is you keep your wax worms (or “waxies” for the 💡 in the loafers bunch) in an empty Copenhagen tin. That and learn how to fillet the damn fish.
I cook bluegills because they are easy to catch and delicious and I can keep like 50 here a day. Almost enough to feed me.
What are you using for bait? Looks like it’s in a Copenhagen can.
I just don't eat them period.
wonder why he didn't bleed them at the lake heard it makes them tastier?
I can't tell what they're using for bait it looks like it's in a dip can. Is it a mealworm or wax worm?
Whoever is to lazy to filet a blugill should be slapped.
You do you, if you think you need to shoot me for filleting my gills, well, bless your heart dumbass 😂
I honestly thought that blue gill was a Southern fish. I am surprised to see them so far north to be ice fished.
How about we agree you eat them how you like and I eat them the way I like. Don't think I need to be shot. Grew up eating them the way you just did it. You actually lost a nice chunk of meat on the top of the head. Got tired of picking bones and worrying about swallowing one. Plus, my mom over cooked everything. It wasn't enjoyable.
I scale and hand filet mine. No electric knife. Very little waste, even the meat over the head. Hold the carcass up to the light and it's see through. Fry them just like you did. But, I can hand mine to a 6 year old and not worry about a bone. I don't waste anything. Even the cheeks or wings of a walleye. I'll duck and cover now!
i learned to filet fish, including blue gill when i was about ten! I filet a bluegill so good that the only thing left that you may want IS the tail! I give you the skin, ALL the meat, and NO bones! And you better not try to shoot me! My Grandpa, God rest his soul, taught me to filet and I don't think you would like what he would do to you;)
The heads have so much meat and flavor he is just cutting away. Some teach this Unc something.
My dad and I hired The Griz for a day of bass fishing about 25 years ago and that guy is a fishing machine! Never met anyone who loves fishing as much. It was a really fun day as well as productive! I soooo wish my dad was still around to share this with him.
Ya I can fillet them lot faster than all that bullshat
Yupp glad I fillet mine now. That is so much of a wasted time. If I'm doing 40/60/80 fish no way would I ever do that bullshat. Why the f does anyone one to pick through bones eating fish. Such a waste. So glad this ideology and way of cooking panfish is dying and gone up north. You can fillet them without wasting meat
This is the exact way my great grandpa cleaned his pan fish. Mom would fry them up in oil with some flour, salt, and pepper.
I noticed in the beginning they were in a Frankie's boat—-the famous down to earth guy—Frankie Dusenka "Frankie's Bait Shop" in Chisago City, Minnesota. Might have been Frankie's dad running the operation back in those days. What a team of Minnesota fisherman! Nothing better than a pan of sunfish! At Big Fish Lake in Central Minnesota, we cooked them in butter–and "yes", we filleted them. We are going to try the Griz's method. I think he is on to something.
As a Korean, I cringe when I see people filleting fish and throwing away 50% of the fish. I used to live in Maine and sunfish were the tastiest fish you could eat. Live in NJ where there are no clean fish you can eat. Just catch and take a photo and release.
So this dude is going to shoot ppl?
Half the fish?
Small bluegill like that,no wonder you dont filet them
Very much, enjoyed watching, learning from these two young boys, they know their craft.
Just look at those sausage fingers. Works with hands his whole life. You can tell.
Great video, brings back a lot of memories. Thanks
My Grand Dad and my Dad were of the same mind. Scale'm.
Nah, there are too many worms in bluegill. I've rarely ever filleted a mess of bluegill that I didn't have to pick the worms out of.
Before I keep bluegill I'll fillet one at the lake to see if it has those small black seed-like parasites. If it has too many I just won't keep any fish.
The yellow leach-like worms are easier to deal with and usually few and far between.
I've scaled and fried more than I could count when younger.
Now I fillet just so I'm not feeding my family fried worms. lol.
I'll stick with lake erie walleye
150,000 views and only 3000 likes….
My old man would never fillet a bluegill. Same here. He always eat the tail,& picked ‘‘em clean. R.I.P. pop.
Great video well done
Bluegills are a bag of bones. I KNOW you can't eat those 'cause I damn near got killed by a bone when I was 7.
Old Men have more opinion than sense sometimes.