A great way to cook a panfish on the ice is to just gut it and throw it on the coals of a fire. It dosen't burn like you would think it would. the coals directly under the fish are smothered out by the fish bloacking air to them. When they are done the skin will peal off nicley and the meat will have a very light smoke flavor. I have also done this with a small nothern but first I salted the inside. The tail, being smaller than the body, wanted to burn before the rest was fully done so I had to move it so the tail was out of the coals.
