Panfish

[valk_tourer]

I ready alot about panfish like crappie, and such.  Is crappies good to eat?  Can you get enough meat off them or do people usually just put them back in the water?

[dwayne]

I as a rule only keep crappie that are 12 inches or better.  The meat is sweet but a bit more mushy in comparison to perch or walleyes.  Now gills and sunfish, I have no interest in keeping.  I am sure many on here will dispute me on it.  Personal prefernce thing......

[PIKEGUY]

Crappie is a good eating fish. I agree with dwayne though, not much meat on the smaller fish.

[killitandgrillit]

As the name implies, I usually eat what I catch. I eat pretty much all types of panfish, and IMHO crappie is as good as almost any other fish (except 'eyes, and I take them for pure volume of meat).  Perch would rank right up there as well. After you coat and fry them, you cant really tell one fish from the other, except by texture. Walleye is a little firmer.

[dachmation]

Crappie is a very good eating fish as well as gills and sunfish, you just have to make sure you dont keep the real little ones as there is not much meat on them. Of course perch and walleye are great too
Mike
 I try to keep only crappie 10" inches and over
                         gills        8"+
                         perch     8-9"+

[JigAwhopper]

Usually you don't get much meat out of them,  even the bigger ones.  They're kind of flat like a pancake. If you don't keep many and to get most out of them,  you can fry the whole crappie ( after cleaning and scaling) and just pick the meat off the bones.   When I feel ambitious and catch my limit of 25 panfish, or   10 crappies,  I make fillets and end up with skinnless, boneless strips,  that look like chicken fingers....yummie!

[CrappieGuy]

Crappies are great eating especially in the winter when the water temps are colder and meat is firmer.  Crappies 12" and over have a lot of meat on them.  They are easy to fillet and give you a nice chunk of meat, much bigger than a perch of the same length.  Just coat them in your favorite breading and fry.  I like Zatarain's fish-fri breading, most Sam's club stores sell it in big plastic jars or you can order it from their website  zatarain.com

[richstick]

In the panfish world, crappies take 3rd in terms of taste behind gills and perch.  All three are more flavorfull than a walleye.  People like walleye because it's a bland fish.  Panfish are almost sweet - eating gills is like eating potato chips! 

[oakorchardfishking]

IMHO i think crappie are the "poor mans walleye". there is enough meat on them for fileting if you dont keep the small one! in NY state the minimum is 9 inches for crappie. i have taken my limit home of 25 and ended up with a nice meal for my son, daughter and myself with a side dish of rice and vegitables! the crappie meat is quite a bit softer but much sweeter... especially winter crappie! if i had to rank panfish in order of preference...
crappie
perch
gills

dont think im against gills either though because i put them last... I LOVE THEM ALL!...LOL

[Polar]

I ready alot about panfish like crappie, and such.  Is crappies good to eat?  Can you get enough meat off them or do people usually just put them back in the water?

All panfish are great eating.